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What if I could show you how you can slash your giant list of things to do? 

I’m going to give you my process, so you could slash that list today. When you do, I promise, you’ll be more effective, you’ll make measurable progress, and you’ll feel better about how you spend your time.

How do I slash my “To Do List” without creating more stress?

The goal is to reduce the tasks on your list and feel confident that everything won’t fall apart.

You start by realizing that you’ll have a bigger impact on your results if you focus on doing a great job on a few areas of your business, rather than spending your work time rushing through your list and checking off a bunch of tasks.

When you’re in “check off” mode, you’re often not clear on why you’re doing the work, and you’re not asking yourself this one important question:

What does my business need right now?

When we’re in a state of overwhelm, most of us can’t see the answer. We see every task on our list as “important. That creates a sense of urgency, and it’s why we always feel like we’re behind.

A big “To Do List” is the Kiss of Death for people like us.

When you’ve got a big list of important things to do, you’re likely to be in high gear, dipping in and out of projects all the time. You feel like you’re working hard, and you’re doing the things you’re supposed to focus on, but you probably don’t feel confident that you’re on the right track. It feels messy and hard, and you wonder if you’re wasting your time.

Or, you might be the opposite. You might have a huge list of things you know you should do, but you still feel stuck. You know that you don’t have the time and resources to do all the things on your list. You want to work smart, but you can’t get clarity on where to start, and what will have the most impact on your results. You’re experiencing decision overwhelm, and you feel like you’re wasting your time

Wasting time is more expensive than wasting money.

Don’t risk doing a little of a lot of things, but not completing anything. 

Imagine that you have a piece of lumber setup with 10 nails that you need to finish hammering into the lumber. You’re allowed to hit the nails 10 times.

If you hit each nail 1 time, you’ll start 10 nails, but you won’t finish nailing any of them into the lumber. And in fact, you might not even be able to see that you’ve done anything.

But if you choose to focus on just 2 nails, and hit them 5 times each, you’ll finish hammering in 2 nails. You’ll be able to see the impact of your 10 hits. You’ll be clear and confident about the progress you’ve made, and what’s left to do.

Give yourself permission to remove tasks from your plate, so you can focus, and see the impact of your efforts.

3 steps to deciding what your business needs right now

1. You have to start at the end to find where you should begin. 

When we’re prioritizing, it’s too hard to sort through and make assessments about all the things we “could” do. So we don’t make a decision. We default to “doing all the things” or we spin in circles, analyzing our options from all angles, and ending up exhausted.

When I’m working with a client, I always ask them about outcomes, usually in the form of a question like this:

• If you woke up X months from now, and ONE thing had changed in your business, what would that ONE thing be?
• In your perfect world, what would have changed in your business in 3 months?
• When you focus on outcomes, it gives you clarity on the destination. Once you know where you’re headed, you can make a plan to get there.

Here are some examples of an outcome:

• My sales have grown
• I’m emailing my list and getting more sales
• I’ve got more time to do marketing because some tasks are off my plate

2. Make your outcome specific and measurable.

If you’re headed to a vacation rental in a city 500 miles away, would you ask for directions to the city, or would you use the address to get directions that take you all the way to your rental?

You’ll make better decisions when you take the time to get specific about your outcome.

You’ll come closer to achieving your outcome when you find a way to measure your progress.

Here are some examples of how to make outcomes specific and measurable:

From: My sales have grown
To: My sales have grown by 10% each month. I’m tracking my sales in a spreadsheet every week.

From: I’m emailing my list and getting more sales
To: My Welcome, Abandoned Cart, and Browse Abandonment flows are complete, and I have sent a campaign every week. I have a spreadsheet to track my campaign sales and I have identified my 4 best campaigns.

From: I’ve got more time to do marketing because some tasks are off my plate
To: I have freed up 2 hours a day. I have a customer service app and I have trained my new Customer Service VA to manage all  customer service inquiries. I have created canned responses and training videos so that my VA has the information she needs to do the job, and we’ll be covered if we have to train someone else on this job.

3. Work in your zone of genius 

Give yourself permission to stop doing all the things. Even though you think you can’t afford to get the help you need, I’m going to encourage you to change how you think about this.

I see too many store owners bogged down and frustrated by tasks that aren’t in their zone of genius.

If you’re hesitant to hire for tasks, I would encourage you to start with “one time” tasks.

These are often set ups or installations that require a particular set of skills. A few good examples are things like upgrading the theme on your store, or custom coding, or migrating to a new email provider, or setting up the framework for email automation.

Before you hire someone to do a task, you must understand the outcome you want, and have a clear picture of what a good result looks like.

Remind yourself that you don’t have unlimited time or unlimited energy. Like money, time and energy are resources. When you spend them doing work that is not in your zone of genius, or that you’re not even good at, you’re spending your high value resources on work that you’re not qualified to do.

It’s like hiring the CEO of a fortune 500 company to rewire your house.

This Blog Post and Podcast will show you how to budget for this:
https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/how-to-have-more-cash-in-your-business-episode-164/

Remember this when you’re facing overwhelm:

Give yourself permission to slash your to-do list. You’ll be more effective, you’ll make measurable progress, and you’ll feel better about how you spend your time.

When you’re deciding on your priorities, ask yourself “What does my business need right now”.

Focus on specific, measurable outcomes, and use them to decide what your business needs.

Work in your zone of genius as much as you can. Wasting time is more expensive than wasting money.

Get the details on this week’s episode:

The magic of transforming debt into profit with Ciara Stockeland

I’m excited to introduce you to Ciara, a brilliant mind who’s become a superstar for many in our Inner Circle community. She’s a pro at guiding e-commerce store owners out of the murky waters of debt and into the realm of profitability. Many of us struggle silently with financial challenges, but Ciara wants to flip that script. Her insights have transformed so many of our members’ businesses, and her advice might help you redefine your approach to your online store’s finances.

Click HERE to listen to the interview, or keep scrolling to learn how having a profit plan can change everything for your business.

The Debt Dilemma

Does this sound familiar? You’ve built a business and learned how to generate sales, things are humming along, but you still find yourself struggling financially, barely making a living wage, or worse, not paying yourself at all. You’re left feeling like an imposter – successful on the outside, but privately failing, especially when it feels like one misstep could take you out altogether.

But what you might not even know is that this is totally solvable. In fact, the most valuable thing you can do for yourself in this situation is to identify what is causing the breakdown. Recognizing and addressing your financial challenges is a little like finding a missing piece in a puzzle. Once you identify where your bucket is leaking, the complete picture of your business’s health becomes clearer, so you can get closer to stability.

 Why Profit Beats Sales

The first and most important mindset shift Ciara advocates is to shift your focus from sales to profit goals. While setting and meeting high revenue goals may feel good and seem impressive, what truly matters is how much of that revenue you retain as profit. Having a million-dollar business is meaningless if the profit isn’t there.  And no one talks about this. You only ever hear people bragging about their “multi six-figure businesses,” never about their 5% net profit increase. It’s time we celebrate actual financial success, not just the illusion of it!

Scaling Up Your Sales (And Your Problems)

Often, online store owners say they can’t think about profit until they get more sales. But without a profit plan, merely increasing sales won’t resolve underlying issues. Ciara recently encountered a business owner considering expansion to solve her cash flow problem, without recognizing that bigger sales would only make her existing problems bigger.

So many store owners end up feeling like the store owns THEM. And then they’re stuck. But having a profit plan can prevent a business from being trapped by its own growth.

When you focus on profitability instead of revenue, you find both financial freedom AND peace of mind.

When Should I Focus On Profit?

The best time to prioritize profitability was yesterday. The second best time is now. In the entrepreneurial world we hear so much “wisdom” that just isn’t true. That you won’t be profitable for 5 years, or that you should re-invest your profit instead of paying yourself. Why would you ever assume you’re going to take a loss for 5 years if you didn’t have to? Why not assume both you and the business will do well?

It’s never too early, and it’s never too late to focus on making your business financially successful, by analyzing and adjusting your financial strategies NOW.

Whether you’re just starting out and wondering where your next sale will come from or have been in business for a while and making hundreds of thousands, it’s critical to aim for profitability starting now.

Profit & Loss, Demystified

A Profit and Loss (P&L) statement can be simplified by viewing it as five main categories or “buckets.” These include:

• Sales
• Cost Of Goods Sold
• Gross Margin (Sales minus COGS)
• Expenses
• Profit

It’s really just simple math. For example, Ciara recently met with an ecommerce boutique owner who just started, and she was frustrated because despite consistently having $5k months, she was $1k in the hole every month. When they looked at the buckets, it was the margin that was too low to make the math work. So the next step was to look at the pricing and product mix. Could she raise prices and set slightly higher sales goals? Once she identified the problem, the solution was fairly simple.

By focusing on these 5 buckets and their relationship, you can pinpoint where your store may be underperforming, identify areas for improvement, and make informed decisions to enhance your profit.

Money Mondays

Ciara recommends a “Money Monday” routine, taking just 15 minutes to review last week’s sales and costs of goods, inputting them into a spreadsheet to calculate the gross margin. This practice helps you understand your financial health weekly (instead of however infrequently you actually sit down to look at your numbers), and gives you back control over your finances. By looking straight at your cash flow, the steps you need to take become clear.

 Benchmarking for Success: What’s Your Margin Goal?

When establishing profit goals for e-commerce or brick-and-mortar stores, particularly for those new to this, Ciara says to aim for a 60% gross margin and a 20% net profit. These targets are benchmarks to strive for, understanding that it might take months or years to achieve them, depending on individual business circumstances. If you’re dealing with debt, your net profit might need to exceed 20%. Adjust as necessary, depending on your financial situation, but these figures provide a solid starting point for setting your profit goals.

Finding Your Financial Guru

Ciara didn’t start out a money magician. Once upon a time she was a boutique owner with VERY messy books, and a loose grasp on profit. She found her Financial Guru in the form of Randy, a fractional CFO who helped her most by creating a completely judgment-free zone. And so she knows firsthand that the process of sorting out your finances can be painful. You’ll have to make hard choices.

Ciara says that every single store owner who comes to her is interested in eliminating debt, but they’re not necessarily committed. It’s that commitment to success that earns you the biggest reward of all – financial freedom. No matter what challenges or opportunities arise, you have the freedom to make the best choice for yourself.

This profit-first approach offers a clear, actionable path for e-commerce entrepreneurs looking to secure their financial freedom and peace of mind. Whether you’re struggling with debt or just hoping to earn a bigger paycheck, Ciara’s method can help you get there.

Take your next step toward financial clarity by checking out Ciara’s website HERE.

RELATED LINKS:

Ciara’s Website: ciarastockeland.com

A Profit First Expert Shares How To Manage Inventory

https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/a-profit-first-expert-shares-how-to-manage-inventory-episode-82/

Do This Now And Be More Profitable

https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/do-this-now-and-be-more-profitable-episode-204/

Will You Take Charge And Pay Yourself More?

https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/gross-profit-will-you-take-charge-and-pay-yourself-more-episode-188/

Pricing To Maximize Profit

https://thesocialsalesgirls.com/pricing-to-maximize-profit-episode-167/