If you have ever asked yourself any of the above questions, you probably fall into one of the following categories: The “The person who wants to find some Feng Shui in their business” type. Or The “The person who has been in business for a while: they have consistent revenue but no idea where it all goes” type. Or The “You are so successful! - AND - your income potential is far greater than your reality” type. And Finally!!! The “You already increased your revenue - AND - your bottom line hasn’t changed” type. Do any of these sound familiar…..yup, thought so. In Episode 3 of my show, I want to examine the “4 Stages in Your Pursuit of Profit”. I will explain the 4 business types above help you to identify which type you may be and how I can help you to correct the behavior that has created these issues. Take a look. It may be a “stiff drink” but once you take that drink, you will feel infinitely better!
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Chris:
Welcome back, everybody. We're in episode three of the Pursuit of Profit. I'm your cohost, Chris Angel. Here with your hostess of the mostest... What did I say?
Leanne:
Three.
Chris:
Is that what I was said?
Leanne:
I was feeding you hand motions.
Chris:
Oh. Awesome. And your hostess of the mostest, here with her hand motions telling me that it is indeed number three. Number three. Awesome.
Leanne:
We're such goofballs.
Chris:
I love it.
Leanne:
Hi, I'm LeAnne.
Chris:
That's how we keep it real.
Leanne:
And I'm a goofball.
Chris:
Me too. So, what I want to know to start this episode, Leanne, is we call you the nation's profit coach and I want to know what a profit coach is.
Leanne:
A profit coach is somebody who is not a CPA because I'm not. I am a financial planner, but my practice sits somewhere between the two because if you have problems with your business financially and you want to be more profitable, if you go to your CPA they cannot help you because they're helping you with a rear view mirror. If you go to a financial planner, all they want to do is invest your money. So, where does somebody go when they want help financially, making more money or taking more money out of their business? And that would be a profit coach. And to my knowledge, I'm the only one in America.
Chris:
Yeah. Well, I think it's because you have a really unique skill set of, you're super strategic in terms of how you think about money and where it goes and what to do with it and all that, which I think sometimes with CPAs you can find some people who understand tax strategy. But again, to your point that's a rear view mirror of looking how you spent money and how do we classify that for tax purposes, not looking forward for what do we do to help your business become profitable?
Leanne:
Absolutely. So, my practice is really devoted to helping people alter their behavior. What they actually do with money when they are looking at money in their bank account.
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
Some would say change your behavior, so they get a different result in the form of profit with their business, so that's what a profit coach is.
Chris:
I want to add one more thing to that too because the other thing that you compared it to is like a financial planner, somebody who's going to invest money for the future. That's way down the road, and that's not necessarily about your profit in business. And I think what I like about this distinction of a profit coach and what you do as this hybrid of things is that you actually helped me as a business person increase my profit now so that I actually have money to invest.
Leanne:
Yes. That's the goal.
Chris:
Yeah. There's nobody that really does that work.
Leanne:
No.
Chris:
There are other people out in the market who will actually go out and show you how to market so you can make more money from marketing, but that just shows me how to generate more revenue, it doesn't necessarily show me how to keep my profit, so I can do things with it.
Leanne:
Right.
Chris:
Anyway-
Leanne:
You see it very clearly.
Chris:
Yes. I just wanted to speak to that because I think it's an important distinction of what you do.
Leanne:
Thank you. It is. And I find that when I'm working with people they have access to like I'm good at strategy, and I'm good at investment strategy, and I'm going to business, right? So, we're constantly kind of go on all three but at the end of the day, people want to know how to have more profit now, right?
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
And that only happens with a plan. Profit never happens on accident, so that's why we have a profit coach. I'm the only one.
Chris:
Yes. I love it.
Leanne:
To my knowledge.
Chris:
It's awesome.
Leanne:
So, today we're going to talk about the four stages of entrepreneurs Pursuit of Profit.
Chris:
Yes.
Leanne:
Right?
Chris:
I love it. Yep.
Leanne:
The podcast is called Pursuit of Profit, the Facebook page is Pursuit of Profit. And I like what that means because it's about saying, "Hey look, profit is something worth pursuing." I think when we're in business, and we think kind of ethereally about money, but we need money very practically in the here and now. And there is something powerful about being in pursuit of profit, not just more money in the bank account. So, what we're going to be talking about today, and before I forget because I probably will forget, you're going to see me looking down, but I'm working off of this cool handout thing.
Chris:
Yes, I saw that last week. It's awesome.
Leanne:
The handout thing is something that you can get and you can download, so all you need to do is go to Facebook Pursuit of Profit, like my page there, and send me a message on Messenger, and we will send you this handout so that you can actually see this and identify which of these is you. And then really, the action steps that need to happen for you immediately, so you have more profit this week.
Chris:
Yes. Like now.
Leanne:
Like now.
Chris:
You could have profit like this week. Yes.
Leanne:
Yes, yes.
Chris:
So good.
Leanne:
So, we're going to look at four different places. And I'm sure there are more places, but I don't know, something like 10,000 plus entrepreneurs have come through my workshops, webinars, and my practice. And so, whenever we're talking about stuff like this, I'm not making it up. I've seen tons of thousands of people do this. So, these are the four that kind of stood out to me the most. And the way we're going to frame this conversation, Chris-
Chris:
Yes.
Leanne:
...is Hey, you're here, and what I know about you as a business owner, and what I'm betting is happening with your money, what your behavior is with money, and what you probably need to go do. Like right now, if you want to change the picture on that.
Chris:
So, there's where we are today-
Leanne:
Where we are today,
Chris:
It's probably how we're behaving with it. And then here's the thing we need to change if we want to-
Leanne:
Yep.
Chris:
...we want to be somewhere else with that.
Leanne:
Yep.
Chris:
Our money situation. Okay.
Leanne:
Yep. So, we're going to start with the person that I call, I want some financial feng shui.
Chris:
Okay. Feng shui.
Leanne:
I want some financial feng shui. So, that person is probably and most definitely the person that's looking at me, whether webcam or eye to eye and saying, "I have a feeling, I have a sense that my habits with money and my mindsets with money are holding me back. I have this great potential to do amazing things to my business but one of those two things are both together or holding me back." And they say things like, "Oh, my money stuff is just a mess. I don't understand it. I don't like it." So, it's chaos.
Chris:
Yeah. Feng shui.
Leanne:
Yeah.
Chris:
Is that where the feng shui came from?
Leanne:
Yes.
Chris:
Yes. My stuffs a mess.
Leanne:
You want some financial feng shui, so there are people that are watching this that are probably like, "Yeah. I want some financial feng shui." So, what I'm betting is happening, and it's not just a bet, I know it was happening. What I know is happening is that you are commingling personal and business money. You don't know what to do with receipts. You don't know where to put them, you don't know how to categorize them, and you don't have a plan for your business financially other than work more. So, this person is just like, "Fine. I'll just work more." So, what this person needs to do, if you want financial feng shui and you feel like your habits, your thinking are holding you back and it's just chaos. What you need, we kind of talked about this in the last episode is to simplify.
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
You need to simplify. And what I mean by that is simplify the moving parts financially of your business. Let me give you an example. A guy with a really successful business, we're talking 90, 100 grand a profit a year after paying himself, he's a really successful little business. He has his own employees, he's awesome, right?
Chris:
Yep.
Leanne:
He hired me to actually go through his financials and see what money leaks were there if I could see them. And one of the things I noticed was all these parking things, parking, parking, parking, parking, like three or four a day. And what I figured out is I'm like, "Oh. He's using one of those city apps to pay for parking." And so, because you need move around because he had different appointments at these places. So, a $2 transaction would hit his account, a $3 transaction, at 50 cents were hitting. Well, all of those parking apps allow you to buy a chunk of time, and so I went to him and I'm like, "Dude. This is not killing your profit, but this is killing your cash flow. It makes no sense. Buy The chunk of time and let one transaction hit your account and bill against it."
Chris:
Oh, sure. Right, right, right.
Leanne:
That's just an example of simplification. But if there are areas where if you feel like it's crazy and it's too much to manage, and we have to simplify the moving parts of your business financially, and this person needs some education-
Chris:
Yes. Okay
Leanne:
... on what to do and not do with money, and do and not do with receipts.
Chris:
Oh.
Leanne:
And then the third step for this person is they need to, actually, this is true for all entrepreneurs, is understand which expenses they have that they can hold accountable for a real return on investment instead just, "Oh, it's just a business account and everything's a write-off." That kind of crazy creates crazy, so that's why these people, some people are at a place financially with their business where they want some financial feng shui. What do you think?
Chris:
Yeah. Absolutely. What popped up for me was do these people have sort of a... It almost feels like if it's messy and it's chaotic, it's because money just kind of comes and goes without much awareness of it happening. I just spend stuff and whatever. It's like I don't even pay attention to it.
Leanne:
Yep.
Chris:
Is that-
Leanne:
That's true. That's absolutely true.
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
That's a great insight because it's not so much that they're moving so quickly, it's more that the person at this place has figured out how to create revenue.
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
And they figured out how to... They bought the stuff they needed to buy but it's out of control because it's not in their control. They have no idea what day the Spotify [inaudible 00:09:57] is going to come through for the business, right?
Chris:
Yes. I think that's so true. If I looked at my own stuff and I'd just look at there's a lot of recurring billings in my account that pull on, I don't know what day they pull. And if I had to remember, "Oh, you can get an overdraft." Or you're like, "Oh, I totally forgot that was pulling and I just need to move some money around." And I think it's really easy for people to just go, "Oh. Well, there's money there, and so when there's money there, I just don't worry about it."
Leanne:
Right.
Chris:
And that's what creates the chaos. And then I go... And it's never a problem. Maybe this is important too for feng shui people. It's never a problem until it's a problem.
Leanne:
Right.
Chris:
Right? You're like, "Oh, yeah. It's good. There's money there," until there isn't, and you're like, "Oh, crap. What did I do?"
Leanne:
Yeah. Yeah. That's a great insight, Chris.
Chris:
I'm only speaking hypothetically because it's never happened to me.
Leanne:
Or me. No. Right?
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
A really good example of this as well are, especially if we've got companies that are working or business owners that are working kind of in the digital space, they have pretty big chunks of money. I'm thinking of Amazon Web Services or places like that that are very expensive services that come through. I actually was working with this lady who had a $2,000 surprise, right? So, she was running her business, and she completely forgot about this annual subscription payment that came through. So, look, we spend money, and we just need to know when we need to be prepared for it. Oh, and taxes too, right?
Chris:
I like that. Oh. Oh, yeah.
Leanne:
Oh, there's taxes too. So, if you're in the place where you need some financial feng shui, it's because you're kind of unintentionally just looking at the bank balance and have no idea what's coming your way, and it has a huge impact on your peace and a huge impact on your-
Chris:
Of mind.
Leanne:
Yeah. Your peace and a huge impact on your profit, right?
Chris:
Right, right. Yeah. That's good.
Leanne:
So, simplification-
Chris:
Awesome.
Leanne:
Any way you can simplify if you're that person is kind of the key. So, then the next one is the person that's been in business for a while. They've been in business for a while and then here's what happens. I'm hearing lots of these stories right now.
Chris:
Wait, wait. Do you have a name for this one?
Leanne:
Yeah, I call them you've been in business for a while.
Chris:
Okay. That's the name. I'm like, "Okay." All right. Good. I love it.
Leanne:
The stories I'm hearing right now are these people are going and getting their taxes done because tax day was yesterday. They're getting their taxes done, and they see how much money their business made, and they're like, "Oh, my word." They can't believe it, right? They're just like, I made five... I had a guy tell me last week, he's like, "I made $500,000 last year. I literally can't tell you where a single penny of it is because I can tell you what, it's not on my account." So, they are in a place where they've been in business for a while, and they have pretty consistent revenue and it's reliable, but they have no idea where it all goes. And they're just left at the end of the month or the end of the year going, "What the heck just happened? We made all this money but it went somewhere and I have no idea where that is."
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
So, what I'm betting about this person is that they are letting a bank balance dictate their business life. So, they're going online every couple of days, and they're checking to see what their balance is, and they are in a cycle constantly of having to earn more money because they're working really hard and there are too few zeros in the bank at the end of the month, so that is a very frustrating place to be as a business owner. And it is about behavior because we have been in business for a while, we do have predictable revenue, so why are we in a situation where we don't have the money we want at the end of the month or worse, don't know where any of it went when we see $500,000 at the end of the year, and just go, "What?"
Chris:
Right. Ouch.
Leanne:
Where does that money go?
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
Any thoughts?
Chris:
No. Other than-
Leanne:
Okay.
Chris:
No, I just am like, "Yeah. That's spot on."
Leanne:
It sucks.
Chris:
Yes. It does.
Leanne:
And especially what I'm hearing now is people... I got a phone call actually Saturday and this person called me and said, "I cannot believe this. I got my taxes done. I had made all this money, and I have to pay tax on this, this, this, and this, and this." So, they believe they spent their accounts down to zero essentially every month, so they actually believed that that meant their tax bill would be a zero because every dollar we spend is a write-off for business. And I just kind of lovingly said, "You know better than that. You can't spend a dollar hoping to save a dollar. You spend a dollar to save 30 cents and you're going to be taxed on that." So, it hurts. It's painful. So, this person is running their business off of a bank balance, and they're tired of it. So, what that person has to do is recognize reality. It's a stiff drink.
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
But like a stiff drink, you feel better after you've drank it, right?
Chris:
Yes.
Leanne:
We want the stiff drink. It'll be okay.
Chris:
Right. It'll be okay.
Leanne:
So, that reality is recognize that profit never happens on accident. And what this business owner needs is a plan to actually implement in real-time. I'm not talking about here's your 12-month plan. I'm talking about what is your plan for money next month? And then you get in there and you work your plan, and you hold it accountable for the change that you expect, and then watch for a different result, so that's what that person needs.
Chris:
Got it. I love it.
Leanne:
All right.
Chris:
I love it.
Leanne:
Next one.
Chris:
Yes. Yeah. I want to know the name of the next one.
Leanne:
The name of the next one is you are so successful.
Chris:
I like this one. But what's the catch? There's a but in there somewhere.
Leanne:
You are so successful and-
Chris:
And.
Leanne:
Which is actually my favorite word.
Chris:
And.
Leanne:
I love the word and instead of or. Use the word and.
Chris:
Okay. All right. You're so successful and...
Leanne:
And your income potential is far greater than your current reality.
Chris:
Ouch.
Leanne:
Yeah. So, what I like about the people in this place with their business is they walk in here, and they're like, 'Dude, I got this. I have figured out how to shape beards." I love to pick on barbers. I have learned how to poke people with needles, acupuncture, whatever. Right?
Chris:
Right. Yeah.
Leanne:
They have figured out how to be successful, but they're just not seeing the income, their potential. There's so much room for them to grow and grow their income. So, here's what I know about these people. The successful and not achieving their potential is they are spending their profit. They have it. I mean there are some people that don't have profit because of how they spend it.
Chris:
True.
Leanne:
But they have profit, and they are spending it without even knowing it. So, what's usually happening with these people is they're spending money with, it's a write-off mentality, which we just discussed, and they are constantly bombarded with opportunity to be charitable or opportunity to grow their business by hiring certain professionals or whatever. And so, there's constantly this tug of war with them. They are successful, but they're spending all of their profit, and so, unfortunately, that success is not translating when we push money across the table into family life, or into big fat bank accounts, or retirement accounts. Right?
Chris:
Right. I think here's a question that pops up from me on this one. I think at some level when you're a I'm a successful and person, I'm at that stage of my pursuit of profit, there is this like I've stepped into abundance now. I've reached some abundance and until this stage of my pursuit of profit, I haven't had this. So, now that I'm here, I'm getting very philanthropic, very generous, very free-spirited with my money. I'm like, "Okay. Let's sprinkle a little bit over there and let's go on this vacation over here." Because it feels good. I finally got to some abundance.
Leanne:
Yes, yes.
Chris:
So, what's the problem with that? Why is that a problem?
Leanne:
It's not a problem.
Chris:
But it is a problem until when... Yes, I get that and I'm sort of trying to seed it here a little bit, right? It becomes a problem when what?
Leanne:
It becomes a problem when you aren't, as a business owner, recognizing that you're spending your profit, right? So, there's this thought of, "Well, I can be charitable, and I can do those things, and there's write-offs that are available and I understand we want to go on business trips to fabulous places and make our business pay for them." I want that too. But when we're talking to a business owner who isn't seeing the money going home, and they want a six-figure at home income, and their family deserves that, and their family deserves health insurance, and their family deserves retirement accounts, like, okay. So, this person is successful, but how are we channeling that success financially into something that's tangible for the family on the other end of that, even if that family is a single man?
Chris:
I think that's it. I think that's what I feel like until you... When you get to abundance, when you're at abundance, finally, it feels like all the profit is there to be spent, like that's its purpose. Its purpose is to provide for things. And I think once you've been in that abundance stage long enough and you've experienced enough of it, not that money not getting pushed across the table, I think the shift that happens is you go, "Man. I don't have anything set up for retirement. Man, I don't..." I think we start to see profit have a different purpose once we've been in abundance long enough. It's not to buy things, it becomes how do I protect my legacy? Am I right or am I not right?
Leanne:
You're right. What's really weird about being an entrepreneur, lots of things are, but one of them is there's this risk. You go, you take this risk, and you mentally think, "Okay. I'm going to make a lot of money doing this," but we do mental accounting. We have no idea what that even means or how to quantify making a lot of money. And so, you're right. Once we get into abundance, there's a shift that happens where you're maybe not spending to make money. But what people over here need is a plan for filling up the bank accounts and filling the coffers, so that the financial structure of the family is solid. Right?
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
And that doesn't mean that you aren't going to spend. When I'm wearing financial planner hat and people come in nervously, and they think what I'm going to do is tell them they need to get rid of all discretionary spending now. Right? That's what they think. That's what they feel like I'm going to do to them. In reality, I want to see people find huge abundant chunks of money that are just spent for fun instead for other things, but not the cost of taking care of oneself long-term.
Chris:
There you go.
Leanne:
That's just part of the American thinking, it's not unique to entrepreneurship. But entrepreneurship creates the opportunity for exponential huge bank accounts, right?
Chris:
Yep.
Leanne:
But the guy who is successful, or the gal that is successful, and they spend their profits, so they don't build those coffers, and then they wonder why they can't pay their tax bill. And then they wonder why the only way they can get out of their businesses to sell it.
Chris:
Yeah. So good.
Leanne:
So, it's a positive and negative all at once.
Chris:
Right. It's a part of the journey. It's a part of that pursuit of profits, on the road to the pursuit of profit. Yeah.
Leanne:
For sure. So, this person in their pursuit of profit, here's what they need. They need new to-dos. That's really what they need. They just need a few new to-dos. They need to identify, I'm sure our audience is tired of me talking about this, profitless spending.
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
We all have profitless spending. That doesn't mean it's bad, but we need to minimize our profitless spending. And when you recognize what you're spending as a business owner, as profitless spending, and you call it that something magical happens, right? I know people, I'm not even kidding, in like the last 30 days, we've actually made less. We're like, "Okay. Here's all your profitless spending. We know about it. You have a special account for it, go get it." And after two weeks of that though, they come back to me, and they're like, "I don't want to spend all that money."
Chris:
Nice.
Leanne:
I'm like, "Ding, ding, ding. I know." Because it's profitless spending. So, part of the game is thinking about it as profitless instead of thinking it like, "Oh, it's a write-off." Right? It's shifting not thinking.
Chris:
Right.
Leanne:
The other to-do the has to happen is it's profit planning, right? You got to have a profit plan and you've got to know how to implement what you do with money when it hits your bank accounts. You need a different to-do other than logging into your bank account, seeing how much money you have, and going, "Is there money? Is there not? Or there is a lot of money in there because I am successful." And maybe you're that person who's like, "I want to work less."
Chris:
Sure.
Leanne:
I worked with somebody this week who was like, "I guess I don't have to keep as many appointments as I've been doing. I can cut back." I'm like, "Yeah. You can cut back as long as we do the profit plan the way that we're supposed to." So, this person needs new to-dos. They already figured out how to be successful, now we need new money to-dos.
Chris:
Yep. I love that. I love it.
Leanne:
I do too. I love to see it happen. It's so exciting.
Chris:
Yeah. It's such a fun part. It's a fun place to be.
Leanne:
It is. It is.
Chris:
To be at that space.
Leanne:
And I'm sure you can feel me just bursting at the seams as I talk about it, but what I like about all of these people, even if it's the feng shui person who just needs to kind of get their rear in gear with the financial stuff, I love the process of coming alongside. My business partners think I'm crazy because I like the mess. I want to get in it.
Chris:
Right, right, right. That's good.
Leanne:
I want to just like, "Let's get in. Let's roll up our sleeves. Let's do this."
Chris:
Yep.
Leanne:
Because I love to see the results on the other end. There's a part of me that's been like, "Hey. I should create a course that..." And I will, like a course on what I do, but then a big part of me is like, "But I want to be in the mess."
Chris:
That's good.
Leanne:
I'm sick. I know that though. I'm sick,
Chris:
Yeah. I think you'll never run out of clients for the service of it though because most people don't want to roll up their sleeves and get the dirty stuff for themselves through a course.
Leanne:
No.
Chris:
It's like we'll pay the course, and we'll be like, "Ah, yeah. It was really good but I don't want to do it myself. Will you just help me anyway?"
Leanne:
Yeah, yeah. Thanks, Chris.
Chris:
I think you have job security there.
Leanne:
Thanks, Chris. I like that because I love entrepreneurs. That's why I do what I do.
Chris:
Awesome.
Leanne:
Okay. So, our last guy or gal, this is the one that makes me the most sad, pen away, is the person that we call you already increased revenue, good job. And-
Chris:
Oh, no.
Leanne:
...your bottom line hasn't changed.
Chris:
Oh.
Leanne:
So, you got out there, you took all the courses on how to market better, you made more money, you hired the right people, you did... I was working with this couple that had four different consultants, four, on how to grow their business, and how to do things. Four, right?
Chris:
Wow.
Leanne:
And they already increased revenue, but their bottom line hadn't changed. This one is totally common and this is actually, to be honest, the hardest person to move because they have such a deeply entrenched belief, which actually is super cultural for Americans, and that belief is if I have more money, I'll be happy. If I have more money, my marriage will be better. If I have more money than dot, dot, dot, dot. And I mean, yeah. That's a problem in our culture, right? And so, that I make more money mentality is so entrenched in people's minds that it's very difficult to get somebody to pull back. Go ahead, Chris.
Chris:
I mean I think you're going to get there, but I think I identify with that. I'm like, "Yeah. More money. Let's go." I mean more money gives me more options, more choices. But your response to that is what?
Leanne:
My response to that is, yes, money does give you more choices, but the more you earn, the more you spend. And so, the net almost never works out. All you have to do is look at, culturally, just our families in America, our debt to income ratio, our retirement savings is the lowest in the world.
Chris:
Whoa.
Leanne:
Most families are literally one paycheck. And listen, I'm not just talking about teachers or people who, I don't know. I'm not just talking about-
Chris:
Right. People making under 100,000 a year. People-
Leanne:
No. I'm not talking about those people. I'm talking like I know attorneys, doctors, high-performance people that are living paycheck to paycheck because their lifestyle is so expensive, right? So, it's the same problem. The more we earn, the more we spend. So, what has to be created is a different muscle and that muscle is the muscle of building savings, right? And being really wise with money and that kind of stuff, which we'll talk about another time. But the business owner who has already increased revenue, and our bottom line hasn't changed, what I'm telling you is happening with them is they are completely enslaved to That cultural line. They believe it hook, line, sinker.
Chris:
Wow.
Leanne:
And they really believe, "Okay. I'm going to change my business by growing it." So, here's where I like to go with that.
Chris:
Yep.
Leanne:
When I meet a business owner in year one, let's just make a hypothetical one up.
Chris:
Okay.
Leanne:
Meet a business owner in year one, how much money did you make in your first year of business? And they say, "I made $100,000." And we're like, "Okay. How much profit did you have?" And they're like, "None. We lost money that first year. We had a business loan. We made no money." Great. So, what do they do in their second year? 200, then 300, then 400, then a million, right? Let's scale them up. So, when I meet them in their fifth year of business, let's say, and they have $500,000 of revenue, and I go and I sit with them, this is not hypothetical, this actually happens in my business where I'm like, "Okay. So, you made $500,000 in your business this year. How much profit do you have?" And they're like, "We don't have a profit." So, the spread between making 100,000 to 500, we've increased our revenue by $400,000, and yet, we don't have more profit. I know people who have $100,000 or less of revenue, and they have an 85% profit margin.
Leanne:
I also know people who have two and $3 million businesses who don't have even $15,000 of profit, so making more money as a business owner does not make you more money. So, if you're that person or business owner who is already increased revenue, the bottom line hasn't changed them, that mindset has to go away. And your job is that you have got to let go of that thinking and accept that you need to take profit first off the top of your business, which is kind of a crazy revolutionary thought. I've been teaching people to do that for like 12 years, right?
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
Where we take some of that profit off the top and send it to safety so that we force our business to live on less. And then the second most important thing that this person or this business owner has to do is figure out how to keep more of what they're making. When they figure that out, and they stabilize that part, and they keep what they're making, then that business owner is ready for exponential profit because they've already figured out how to keep what they're making and if they make more, than it just scales the profit up.
Chris:
Yep.
Leanne:
Did I answer your question?
Chris:
Yeah, absolutely. Yes. Thoroughly. I just keep coming back to I feel like sometimes the solution is just so simple, like it's not complex, right?
Leanne:
No.
Chris:
But getting there is so mysterious almost. It's hard to pinpoint. And I think some of that's because it's in the behavior, it's not like, "Oh, we'll just write checks out of this account instead of that account." There's behavior and worldviews, and perspectives about money and how money makes me feel, and whether I have power or ego attached to it, or shame attached to it, and all these things that are sort of actually running the machinery in the background, right?
Leanne:
You're right. And if you think about what the entrepreneur life is like, entrepreneurs are wired, hardwired to grow their business. They just are. It's like we need to grow our business. But when I sit with people and I say, "Why? Why do you have to grow your business? What's the answer?" They're always saying to me, "Because then I'll have more money." And so, I think the reigns have to come in where it's like, all right. We get really clear in all of these places that people are at, what intentionally are we going to spend? Because we are in business, that's a direct expense of business that we can hold accountable for return. And then we need to monitor that, and I'm not talking about geeking out over spreadsheets every Saturday, like come on. We're talking upfront investment is probably, to be honest, if it's through my practice, it takes a month, sometimes two months to take an entrepreneur once a week through an hour meeting, right? Where we get them to the place where they understand where money's coming from, where it's going to, which ones are profitless spending, which ones are profitable spending, and we have a profit plan, right?
Chris:
Yep.
Leanne:
But once they have that, my favorite thing is to see it in their offices. Their profit plan is up on the bulletin board right here.
Chris:
That's awesome.
Leanne:
And they look at it, and they do their weekly thing, profit first, and then they do these other things.
Chris:
Awesome.
Leanne:
So, it's about behavior, but it's also about, how do I say it? It's also about embracing that you can't do it the way you've always done it and expect a different result. And profit is not just going to happen when you make more money. But what will happen is you'll spend more [inaudible 00:32:02].
Chris:
Yep. Yeah. That's guaranteed. If you don't alter your behavior.
Leanne:
Right.
Chris:
And maybe [crosstalk 00:32:08].
Leanne:
I like to get business owners to the place where they've got their thing pinned up there, and they're delegated. They are delegating to a bookkeeper, and the bookkeeper knows how to do the charter accounts. We set it up and are things moving, right? It's doing what it's supposed to do. And then when we get them through that, and they start to see profit, it's like now let's talk about what's possible over here with your family. You want a different house? You want retirement accounts? You want to put your kids through private school? What are those things that need to happen over here? But with entrepreneurs, I can't do financial planning for them, real financial planning that changes their life and their future unless we address today and their behavior with money.
Chris:
Yeah. Oh, man. It's like-
Leanne:
My job is crazy.
Chris:
I mean, on one hand, I'm like, I'm being president in this conversation as a cohost, and on the other hand, I'm in this other world in my head being thinking about all the money things and in one hand it's very refreshing to talk honestly about the money stuff, right? The money frustrations and the money fog. And then on the flip side, it's not encouraging. It's like what have I been doing? Where have I been? What? Where could I be now if I had done this differently up to this point?
Leanne:
It's a stiff drink, but like a stiff drink, you feel better after you drink it.
Chris:
Yes. I think that it should be one of your taglines. I think that's good.
Leanne:
I think we just did that.
Chris:
Pursuit of Profit, it's like a stiff drink, but you'll feel better after.
Leanne:
Better than a body wax, right?
Chris:
Oh, yes. Right, right. That would be a terrible tagline.
Leanne:
That's' a terrible, terrible tagline.
Chris:
Yeah.
Leanne:
So, that's what I want people to think about, right? And recognize it's okay wherever you are and you might be a little bit in awl, and if you want this little sheet that I've been looking down at that just talks about you're here and you probably need... If you're driving in your car and you're listening and you don't see this, then again just go to Pursuit of Profit on Facebook, like my page, send me a message, and we'll make sure you get a copy of the sheet.
Chris:
I love it. It's so good. I think we should, in a future episode LeAnne, we should talk about the purpose of profit because I keep... Constantly throughout this episode, my mind kept going to, 'Well if I have money then the purpose is to spend it." But what you've been alluding to is there is another purpose for what we do with this profit to really make your life have more options, more choices, more security, whatever. And I think that would be an interesting future episode.
Leanne:
I think so too. Let's do it next time.
Chris:
Okay, good. All right. But for now, thank you for another great episode. Episode three.
Leanne:
Like us.
Chris:
With the three fingers.
Leanne:
Episode three.
Chris:
Episode three in the books.
Leanne:
We did.
Chris:
Thanks for your time. Love your energy.
Leanne:
Thank you.
Chris:
We'll catch you in the next episode.
Leanne:
Bye, everybody.
Chris:
See ya.