Do you worry about your business? Does your wife hate your business because you are always distracted?

Your phone never stops. You are up till late invoicing to make sure you get enough to pay the staff. You are avoiding your creditors.

You need an 'Expense Ballast'!

This is the one of the amazing 'Six ‘B’s’ of consistent business’.

It may be difficult to pull off but you will be able to sleep at night, run a business and keep your wife happy.

 Whether you are starting a business, or an old hand at it, do you have consistent work?

As I said on the resource page, I have surveyed 1,000 business owners over seven years to get these statistics.

Their is an amazing bond between your average ‘job’s size’ and the so-called ‘ups and downs of business’.

I discovered that most businesses have a high proportion of either small or large jobs and they hate those so-called ‘ups and downs’ of business.

n.b. I call it the so-called 'ups and downs' because I don't believe they exist!

Fluxuations in demand revolve around the balance of both:

your job size and

the size of your actual clients.

It's also affected by the 'ballasts' you put in place. These 'financial buffers' help you ride out unexpected economic crashes, your illnesses, going on holidays and growth opportunities (see here). 

My surveys showed that businesses with 90% small jobs and 10% large jobs were in trouble.

They were making a fortune one month and scratching to pay the wages the next.

 Whether you are starting a business or making one grow, you need new clients. A continual flow of them.

You can get new clients buy paying for advertising/marketing or you can develop systems that generate free business.

Both work.

Both need to be tested and measured. You could be surprised by the results.

Milk marketing war. A lesson in promoting your high profit lines.

Before we get to Kelloggs, let's talk milk.

Remember when milk sold for $2.60 to $3.75 per litre?

Then we had a supermarket war and they dropped their price to $1 per litre.

Do you think the supermarkets just absorbed that price cut?

No.

They increased the price of other products.

Women’s hygiene products, vinegar and toothbrushes all went up – and nobody noticed.

The supermarkets aren’t stupid.

They know they have high profit lines and those they have to sell at a discount. They spend their money promoting their high profit lines to balance things out. You can too.

Start a business and grow consistently.

 “My ’Growth Ballast’, what’s that Paul?” I hear you ask.

Firstly, what is ballast? Here's a definition for you:

 "ballast:

 You want business stability, don't you? Of course!

Here is how to get your business to grow with stability.

Your ‘Growth Ballast’ is a trick only a handful of business owners use.

Clever entrepreneurs take advantage of the imaginary ‘ups and downs’ in the business world. They've recognised these 'ups and downs' are a great time to expand their customer base.

Everybody loves getting a big client.

I know you feel like a ‘world beater’ when you get your first big client.

The ‘$’ signs glow from your eyes and you may begin planning your next overseas trip.

Unfortunately having a client that gives you 10% or more of your total business is a risk.

Why?

You begin to gear up to serve the needs of that client. You put on extra staff to handle the work. You increase your inventory to cope with demand.

You are at risk of losing all this, if you lose this client.

You may have borrowed money to cope with the expansion. How will you pay it back if some competitor comes in and undercuts you?