3 Levers To Pull
Money. Sales. Profit. In that order.
If you’re considering starting a newsletter-centric business (or any side hustle), pin this article to the wall behind your monitor.
‘The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing.’
Walt Disney
You need money
100% of businesses need cash flow.
Cash flow - specifically, balancing the cash volume entering and leaving your business - is what keeps you in the black.
Even if you’re family-backed, venture-backed or have your own resources, you need to focus like a sniper on how you’re generating, collecting and spending your available cash.
Everything else is distraction. If there’s no cash, your business dies.
You need sales
Peter Drucker famously said, ‘the purpose of business is to create and keep a customer.’ Because customers give you cash for whatever they buy from you. Everything else in your business is a cost centre.
So you need to sell. The path to getting money is to get very good at selling stuff.
You need profit
Your economics have to work. It’s not hard. Buy or manufacture something cheap, add some value, and sell it expensive.
The difference is gross profit. Gross profit is what pays your expenses, wages, taxes and dividends. What’s left over is free cash that you can use to grow your business, or you can squirrel it away for the hard times.
Always aim for free cash at the end of the month. Every month.
The takeway…
Get these three things figured out so you have some levers to pull and some operational freeboard. They are the foundation for building a successful and sustainable business.
