The Brutal Truth: What Every Business Owner Must Do Before January

Speaker A00:00:00

Hey Friends! Ralph Estep Jr here joining you again for our weekly grit and growth business. Live this your weekly business boost. My goal every week is pretty simple to help you take grit and grow your business.I want to thank you for joining me. I want to encourage you to participate in the chat produce. Abby's here with us.She'll be monitoring the chat tonight, helping me keep on pace so I don't miss any of your comments. So let me start by asking this question. How did everybody make out with that massive ambulance Amazon server issue? Woke up yesterday morning.I was like, what in the world is going on? It really makes you question your plans, doesn't it? I tell you, for me, I was amazed at how many services were affected.My wife actually brought to my attention. We've got a couple of those ring video doorbells and she says, ralph, I'm getting alerts at the ring but when I go to look at it, nothing's there.And it made me dig a little deeper. But if you did, if you thought the same thing, it's a good time to consider your risks. So think about that.It's one of those warning shots across the bow. Like I was just amazed at how many services were affected with that. Well, let's get back to our show tonight.I want to talk about that feeling it you reach mid October and you're thinking to yourself, Ralph, where did the year go? If you feel like me as you're not alone, I feel like we were just in January and February.I was in the middle of tax season and now we're getting ready to close out the year. I'm actually meeting with clients almost every day trying to figure out what we're going to do here at year end.And, and tonight we're going to talk about how to close 2025 with clarity and confidence. So many people close it with chaos and confusion.But tonight I want to share some practical steps to help you review your year plan for what's ahead and finish strong without burning out. Listen, nobody wants to burn out. Now, before we get to our listener question, let's start with what's on every business owner's mind this week.It's time for what I call the pressing issue of the week and this year's.This week's pressing issue of the week is the year end push as we're going to talk about tonight because the calendar says we got 10 weeks left, but for most business owners it feels like about 10 minutes. Doesn't you feel like you're juggling your year end goals you're preparing for tax season.You're trying to figure out how much am I going to owe Ralph? What do I need to do? You're trying to figure out if you should just push harder or maybe finally take a breath. So how do you navigate this season?Well, that's really the big question for tonight. And I've got the answers for you. Because the truth is, year end brings some unique pressures. It really does.You're trying to close deals, trying to get that revenue dollars in before the end of the year. Maybe you've set some goals, you've made some targets, you're trying to meet those targets. And at the same time, you're thinking about 20, 26.You're planning ahead while all trying to manage your daily operations. And don't forget about the stress of the holidays on top of all of that.And here's the problem, what I've learned over 30 years in practice is I say that and it makes me feel old every time I say. But the truth is many small business owners skip that reflection period entirely. So many of us just roll into January.We just on a wing and a prayer, as I say, hoping next year will be better. But let me just tell you something right now. I want you to hear this loud and clear. Hope without assessment isn't a strategy. That's my first thing.I want to draw a line in the sand tonight. If you want to really get by and have a better year, you can't just hope for that. You've got to really assess where you are.Because what I will tell you is businesses that thrive in the first quarter next year are the ones that are doing the work right now, maybe saying, okay, Ralph, what are they doing? They're reviewing. They're taking a look at this year, what worked, what didn't work.When you get into all the nitty gritty tales here, in just a few minutes, they learn from what happened this year and they're recalibrating. It's a big word, but it's one of the words that I think we really need to lean into tonight. So does this, does this resonate with you tonight?Cause I'm doing this with my own clients right now.Listen, if you need some help finishing up year end, I'll talk a little bit later about this, but you're welcome to join me for a free discovery call. The best way to do that is if you go to gritandgrowthbusiness.com coaching. You can set up a discovery call with me.Let's talk about what's going on with your business and let me see if I can help you handle that. Year end so let's tonight get started with our pressing issue of the week. How do we handle the year end? Push wisely.Going to give you a couple steps, big three steps here. Number one thing, I don't want you to miss this. You got to schedule time for reflection.I really encourage you, treat it like it's your most important meeting of this time of year. I know there's a lot of stuff going on. You're trying to get into those year end deadlines.You've got Thanksgiving parties and Christmas events and all those type of things. But treat this like it's your most important meeting. Reflect on what worked. Reflect on what didn't work.Reflect on the things that took a lot of your time. Think about ways to, they say, build a better mousetrap.This is a great time to reflect on that because you're going to get busy at the beginning of the year and you're not going to have time to look back. So start there. Schedule time for reflection. Which leads me to the second thing.You really have to take an honest assessment and review what worked and what didn't work. Because if you're honest with yourself, you can sit there and lie to ourselves and say, well, this was a great year. This all worked great.But listen, if you make an honest assessment, you'll make a better decisions in the future. So start there. Review what worked and review what didn't work. Here's a little tidbit a lot of financial gurus aren't going to tell you.Balance that drive with rest. A lot of people don't talk about that drive. Push forward, push forward, push forward.But let me tell you right now, and I've done shows about this, eventually you're going to get burned out. I want you to hear this. Sustainability beats burnout every time. I did an episode just a couple weeks ago called Burned Out. Let's Rebuild.I'm encourage you to check out. You can see all of our website or all of our episodes I should say@gritngrowthbusiness.com I meant to say you can see them all on our website.That's grit and growthbusiness.com because finishing strong means finishing intentional, not just finishing exhausted. So tonight's conversation is all about closing out the year with purpose and with some practical steps that you can implement this week.Reminder, here's a great thing if you want to be a guest on the show. I've actually got a guest lined up for next Tuesday night. I'm not going to spoil the treat. We got a very special guest that's going to join us.She's going to tell us about her business journey. If you'd like to be a member on the show, you can come on for live coaching and tell me about what's working in your business, what's not working?Maybe you're thinking about getting into business. It's a great opportunity for you.If you're interested in that, you go to our website, go to gritandgrowthbusiness.com guest and you can jump right into having a discovery call. We'll talk about it and maybe we'll have you on the show. Well, let's get right into our questions tonight. Let's go to our first question.And this first question comes to us from Tina from San Diego. Now as I go through these questions, if you've got a question for the show, Abby's monitoring the the chat.Just go ahead and pop it right in there for us. We would love to hear your questions. Or if you've got comments, you're welcome to put those in as well.Well, let's get started with our first question. Again. This is Tina from San Diego, California. She writes this. Hey, Ralph, it's that time again.The year flew by and I'm realizing I never really checked how my business did overall. Between chasing clients and managing day to day stuff, I just kept going.What's the smartest way to hit pause, take stock and see where I really stand before the year ends? Well, Tina, let me say this. You've described the reality for so many business owners.I'm sure there are people joining us right now and thinking, Tina, you're preaching to the choir.This is exactly the kind of thing we need to talk about because the truth is so many of us, and I'm speaking for myself right now, we stay in motion because stopping feels uncomfortable. That's that owner drive. That's an entrepreneurial spirit. Just keeps us moving and pushing forward. But here's the truth.You can't improve what you don't measure. And that's why I talked about making an assessment the startest way to assess your year. And here's what I'm gonna tell you to do, guys.Three or four things that are gonna help you build that assessment for the year. And start with three foundational questions. The first one I want you to ask yourself is pretty simple. First of all, what worked this year?Really take a deep think and what worked? What brought in revenue? What brought in Dollars. What was the things that actually worked and made sales for your business?What brought in good clients? And I use the word good clients because it's important that we understand that we can all get clients. But are they good clients?So what brought in good clients and what helped you develop some positive momentum? I'm assuming you've got positive momentum. Let's just assume that to be the case.But if you've got positive momentum, what worked bringing in that positive momentum? So start there. What worked this year? Second, and this one is equally as important. What drained you this year?What was the resource drains on your life? What made you feel like it was a constant struggle without adequate return?What are the things you put a lot of effort into, but you just didn't seem like were getting any traction? It's kind of like that view of running on a treadmill.Yeah, you're, you're sweating, you're, you're, you feel like you're doing something, but you're not getting anywhere. That constant struggle without return. What was it that drained your resources? And here's when it's kind of fun to do. Ask yourself this question.What surprised you? Now, this is just not just a positive thing. These are the negative things too. What were the things you didn't anticipate? Write those things down.Journal those things. Really. Spend some time doing this because the answers are going to reveal what you, what you should do moving forward.It's gonna tell you what you should repeat, it's gonna tell you what you should release, and it's gonna tell you what you should do moving forward. And it's so important that you do that. I'm gonna encourage you right now.Look in your calendar and find 90 minutes of time or something like that where you can go and block off that time to make sure that you've got this assessment put together. Because if you don't assess it, guess what? You're not gonna change where you are.And if you don't change where you are, you're gonna find yourself right back in the same place you were a year ago. So pull out those bank statements. Pull out those credit card statements. Here's one a lot of people don't think about.Pull out your calendar, look at where you spent your time. Look at those siphons on your time. Look at your key business metrics. Listen, you don't need sophisticated software.A lot of people say, well, I need to have this software and that software. It doesn't need to be that complicated. Just an honest reflection and some clear Documentation.I'm going to encourage you to do that, because this isn't just about perfection. It's about awareness. Now, I'm going to ask a question in the chat.If you had to grade your business performance this year from an A to an F, just like you're back in school, what would you give yourself? Would you give yourself an A? Would you give yourself. Oh, maybe a B? I'm not quite there, Ralph. Or a cd or.We only talk about an F. But if you give yourself an F, what would you give yourself? Be honest, in the chat, I'd be happy to hear from you. What is the grade, the performance you give you? As we move on to second question.If you want to participate, just jump right in the chat and you can tell us exactly what's on your mind. Well, let's move on to our second question for tonight. And our second question tonight comes from Marco from Dallas, Texas.I think we have a trend here, Abby. We seem to have a lot of people from Texas. Well, I'm a bit of a Cowboys fan, so for me, that works. But let's get to Marco's question. Marco says this.Hi, Ralph. Every December, I tell myself I'm going to rest. But then I push even harder, trying to get to the end of the year strong.I want to finish well but not burn out. How do I balance that drive to grow with the need to actually rest?I'm so happy you answered that, asked that question, Marco, because that tension is something that every single driven entrepreneur experiences. I've felt it myself. You just want to keep moving. Well, they say a body in motion stays in motion. But here's what I've learned over the years.In 30 gritty years of doing this, a lot of people don't get this. But rest isn't the opposite of productivity. So many people think, well, if I rest, I'm not going to be productive. But that's just not true.Rest is actually a strategic component of being truly productive. And I got. You got to hear this loud and clear. So many people don't get this.Your decision making will actually improve when you're rested if you're constantly tired. Listen, I've dealt with clients that have been in this situation. They are so tired, they make terrible decisions.They don't know what they should be doing, and they just do not understand why they're. I call it decision fatigue because that's really what it is. You've got to take the time. You've got to invest in yourself, and you've got to Rest.Because your creativity is going to flourish when you create that margin, that margin of sleep, that margin of relaxation, that margin of being outside of the business for a little bit. Because your effectiveness, and I want you to hear this, your effectiveness actually compounds when you protect your energy.So let me reframe this and you ask this into question. Finishing strong. See, finishing strong doesn't always mean doing more.A lot of people get stuck with, I say, well, if I'm going to finish strong, man, I've got a race. I've got to get as much done as I can by the end of the year. But let me tell you something, I'm going to give you a little bit of a counterpoint.Sometimes it means doing less. Really, it does. Sometimes it means just absolutely choosing. But see, here's the intentional part.Intentionally choosing to do less, but with greater focus. I'm going to get you to consider this approach. What if finishing strong meant finishing clear?I mean, with a clear head, relaxed, rested, you understanding what's going on. What if it meant finishing healthy? You know, I've mentioned it on my show many times. You can really run your health into a negative situation.I've been in on a health kick. My wife and I have been really working at this. I've lost a ton of weight. I exercise every single day.And the truth is, I've seen it in my own business. It's made me more productive, it's made me more engaged. It made me more. More able to make better decisions. So what if you finished healthy?What if finishing actually prepared you for what's next?See, we're talking about preparing for the end of the year, but what if finishing strong, finishing with rest, finishing with health and clarity actually helps you to start 2026 on a more positive note? So here's one practical step I want to ask you to commit to this week. Just one commitment. What's one thing that you can defer or decline this month?Yeah, I'm giving you a license to say no. So many times we say yes to everything. One of my talent coaches said to me, he said, ralph, you're the kind of guy that says yes to everything.But the problem is when you say yes to everything, you're saying no to other things. And a lot of times you're saying no to rest. You're saying no to rejuvenating yourself. You're saying no to your health. So what's one meeting?What's one project, one obligation that's just not essential this month. Be intentional, Think about those things and Replace that time with genuine rest. I'm not just talking about reduced activity.I'm not talking about, well, I'm going to take the afternoon off and sit at home and work on my laptop or still think about the business. I'm talking about just intentional recovery time. Because I want you to hear this. That's not weakness. That's really wisdom. It's wise to get rest.So many small business owners burn themselves out. They get to the point where there's nothing left in the tank, and then you just make bad decisions. You get into a point of complete weakness.So think about that. Embrace that. And in the chat, I want to ask you this next question. What's one thing you're going to do to recharge before the year ends?And do you believe you're actually going to follow through? A lot of people say, ralph, I'm going to do this, but what are you going to do to follow through? How are you going to make sure that that happens?So I would love to hear from you in the chat if you're interested in that. Or you can send me an email. You can send an email to ralphsgraph.com and I'd love to talk about your situation on the show.Well, let's move on to our third question tonight. Our third question comes to us from Kara from Portland, Oregon. And Kara writes this. She says, hey, Raph, my books are a mess.I think she knows a lot of my clients. My receipts are everywhere, and I don't even know what I spent this year. Okay, let me just stop for a second. That's a problem.So then she went on and asked me that. She said, is it too late to get my finances in order before January? Listen to this part. Or should I just accept the chaos and start fresh next year?All right, Kara, immediate question. Absolutely not. I appreciate your honesty. And you're not alone in this struggle. I've worked with business owners who've had months.Let me just tell you right now, sometimes years of financial documentation and disarray. I'm being nice. It was a mess. It was a disaster. I'm talking about just receipts everywhere. Shoeboxes full of junk. I remember one client.This had been probably 15 or 20 years ago. It was not a business client, was a personal client. Lady's husband had passed away.And I'll never forget, she said, ralph, can you help me with this stuff? Next thing you know, I. I'm seeing box after box after box arrive at my office.So, yes, the truth is, I thought about it as I Was preparing for the show tonight. I actually had one client. I don't remember who it was. It's been a while, though.At one point, I actually did 10 years of books and tax returns at once. You talk about a mess. But here's the encouraging news and care. I want you to hear this loud and clear. It's never too late to create order.You can start that right now. This is a great time to start. Actually, I don't see any benefit in, well, let me just wait till next year starts. Well, let me just put that.Push that pebble down the road a little while. It's never too late to create order. And here's the practical news. You don't have to tackle everything at once.A lot of people dive into, say, rob, I gotta do a ton of stuff to get my stuff back in order. You don't have to do that. You can take one step at a time. Here's what I'm encouraging you to do. Start with just one focused hour this week.I think you can find an hour in your week and just start to assemble this. Pull all your bank statements for the year. Get all your credit card statements for the year.Just pull them out and start identifying your top three expense categories, because it's going to help you get some clarity. Ask yourself, where did the majority of my money go this year? Did it go to payroll? Did it go to supplies? Did it go to marketing?Did it go to subscriptions? Because here's the thing, even that little bit of announce, just one hour of time is going to provide some valuable insight in your business.And it's really going to help you make better decisions. So that's this week. Now next week, grab another hour and start organizing those receipts by month.See, listen, even a basic system makes a huge difference. Yeah, I've got some clients, they go at the beginning of every year and they get 12 envelopes and they write the year on it.And then January, February, you get the idea. They just write all those envelopes by month. It's a start. And it is. Start putting all the receipts by month in those envelopes.And listen, if you start doing that right now, we still got some of October left. We got all of November and all December.By January, you can be substantially ahead of most business owners because a lot of business owners are not going to do this. And they're going to wait till March comes around whenever their taxes need to be done. And let me tell you right now, that just feels overwhelming.I deal with this all the time. Clients come in and get their taxes done, especially small business clients, those that we're not working with on a monthly basis.And I'll talk a little bit later in the show how we can do that for you, but it's overwhelming if you wait till the end.We kind of talked about this a little bit last week, but if you start to set that table now, you start putting those things together, listen, it only takes an hour or two a week, and you can really get ahead. Hey, maybe you got to consider hiring somebody. Maybe hire a bookkeeper, maybe hire somebody like us, my accounting practice to come and help you.Because professional help will help you bring clarity more quickly. Because, listen, either pay with your time or you pay with your money. And remember this principle. Chaos creates anxiety. It just does.Ask yourself when things are chaotic. I don't know about you, but it makes me feel anxious. But clarity, that right there creates confidence.Someone ask you in the chat right now if you got an answer for me? I'd love to hear from you. Who here still has receipts sitting in their inbox or glove compartment? I think that's funny because I'll have.Sometimes clients will come in and I'll say to them, hey, I see you bought a new truck last year. Do you have the receipt? Like, oh, hold on a second, Ralph. I think it's in the visor in my truck. Or you know what? I think it's in my glove box.I think it's right over there. If you're guilty of that type guilty in the chat, I'd love to hear from you, because so many small business owners find themselves guilty of that.Remember, chaos creates anxiety, but clarity creates confidence. You want to live in confidence, or do you want to continue living in anxiety? Not a fun place to be. Let's move on to our fourth question tonight.And our fourth question comes to us from Ryan from Tampa, Florida. Go Buccaneers, as they say. And that's what Ryan writes.He says, ralph, I usually just roll into the new year hoping it will be better than the last, but this time, I actually want to plan it. What's one powerful question I should be asking myself right now to start next year with direction and focus?And it's funny, as I was reading this question, as preparing for the show tonight, I start hearing this song, keep Rolling, Rolling, Rolling, some kind of song I remember as a kid, like, Keep Rolling, rolling, rolling, I got in my head.And Ryan, I appreciate your intentionality because so many people don't break that vicious cycle of just rolling forward without any plan, without any reflection, without looking Back to what really has gone on for the past year. Year. And if you just move forward hoping, you're not going to get anywhere, because planning is a significant shift in leadership.If you really want to get to that point, here's the question that creates clarity. That's what you asked me for, Ryan. And here's the question, and this one is subtle, and a lot of people don't know exactly how to answer it.But here's the question. How do I want to be known for this? Excuse me. What do I want to be known for by this time next year? See, I was even struggling with the question.But this is the big question for tonight. What do I want to be known for by this time next year? Now, a lot of people say, okay, Ralph, I get it. I get it.You want me to tell you what I want to accomplish. No, that's not what I'm asking you. Oh, no, I know what you're saying, Ralph. You want me to tell you what I want to earn.No, that's not what I'm asking. I'm asking you a very simple question. This time next year, what do you want to be known for? See, that's a more complicated question, isn't it?Because really, what I'm forcing you to do is think strategically. So many small business people live in reactionary mode. They're putting out fires every day. They're reacting.But strategic planning, and especially this time of year, it's a great time to set that in order. That is really the crucial component. This. So ask yourself, what do you want to be known for?Now, maybe thinking, Ralph, I don't understand what you're asking. Let me give you some, Some examples of that, Ralph. I want to be known for reliability.I want to be that customer, that client, or that business that when someone calls man, I am right there. I pick up the phone, I get to the job site, I get the job done right. I do it with clarity. I do it with purpose. I do it with value.I provide a solution. So, Ralph, that's what I want to be known for next year. By this time next year, I want my business, I want my company to be known for reliability.That's a great one. How about this one, Ralph? I want to be known for innovation. I want to be that company that does things different.That idea of building a better mousetrap, that idea of there's a better way to do this. I want to be known for that innovation next year, Ralph. That's what I want customers of mine to say, ralph, I Want to be known for that innovation.Another great one. Here's a really strong one, Ralph. I want to be known for exceptional customer care.Listen, I'm going to tell you right now, little rant right now, I think so many small business people have completely lost sight of this. My personal opinion, customer service right now is the pits. My grandmother used to say it all the time, this service is the pits.I don't know about you. I look out there in the economy right now. Customer service is not exceptional. I would even argue it's rare to get good customer service.Maybe that's what you want to be known for. You want to set yourself, you know, out from the pack. I work with small business clients every day.One of the things I talk to them about when I do my coaching service, and I'll talk a little bit about that, how you can become one of my coaching clients. I talk about what sets your business apart. What do you want to be known for? Listen, customer service, customer care is huge. Yes.You can be known for profitability. You can be known for wise stewardship. You can be known for all kinds of things. There's no right answer. It's your choice.But start with defining, what do I want to be known for?And see, once you have that answer, and I'm going to challenge you right now, a lot of small business people, they spend their entire business career just chasing after chaos. They're always putting out fires. They're always reacting.But once you have that answer of what you want to be known for, let me just share a little secret with you. Decision making becomes clearer.Because then every time you go to make a decision, you think, okay, well, I want to be known for this or I want to be known for that. And that's the matrix that you can use to measure whether you're being effective.I use the analogy on the show when I talk about marketing, it's kind of like throwing spaghetti at the wall. Well, if you don't know what you want to be known for, how do you focus on that?But see, when you understand what you're going to be known for, your marketing can start to develop into what your reputation is all about. What do I want to be known for? What is the reputation I want people to take away from me when they pick up the phone and call my company?What am I trying to accomplish? Because your marketing is an extension of that. It's going to be why people reach out to you.And then once you do that, then you can start to build the systems that support that Identity. Because if you don't know what your identity is, you don't know how to construct it.And your time doing this, and I'm really encourage it, this is a great year end task. Your time doing this protects that priority. I'm going to encourage you. Write it down and put it in front of you.I dare say review it daily, review it weekly. Put a sticky note on your computer or on the dash of your truck, whatever that looks like for you. See it and live it.Because I want to leave you with this one important principle as we talk about this part of the show. One clear focus. I'm talking about laser focus. Will outperform multiple scattered goals consistently. It just will.I want to say that again because it's so important that you understand it's just one clear focus. That laser sharp focus, and trust me on this, I've seen it work. Will outperform multiple scattered goals consistently.So now I got a question for the chat. If you could describe your focus for next year in just one word, I just want you to pick one word, what would it be? Type it in the chat.If you're listening to this on the replay or after we release it, send me an email. Just say, ralph, here's what I think my one focus is. If you watch this on YouTube or rumble, you can put it right in the comment section.I'd love to hear what you have to say. But if you could describe your focus for next year in just one word, what would it be? Type that in the chat, send it to me.And I'm gonna tell you something right now. I'll give you a little bit of truth here. Minds, organization, believe it or not, yes, even accountants can be disorganized.So one of the things that I'm really focusing in on 2026 is being more organized. So I've set a goal for that. That's what I want my client. I want my clients to say, now that firm is organized. Those folks are organized.That's what I want to be. That's what I want people to say about my company this time next year that is an organized company.So I encourage you, find that for you and live in that. Make that the reality. See it every day and live that. All right, well, let's move on to our fifth question tonight.And our fifth question comes to us from Grace from Atlanta, Georgia. Now, Grace's question is going to be our main question of the night is our main talking point of the night. And this is what Grace wrote.She said, hi, Ralph. I want to close this year with confidence and not regret. What are the top things I should be reviewing?I should be adjusting or celebrating right now.I'm so happy that Grace said that because one of the things a lot of people don't get, and I'll talk about this in a second, you got to celebrate those wins because you've had wins this year. Because what she. And she ends it with this, she says, so that I can say, yeah, I finished strong. Grace, I want you to finish strong. I really do.I want you to feel that success. Because truth is, this is probably the most important question that we're going to answer tonight.It's the most important question that we can address as we talk about how to finish the year strong. Because what you're really saying, Grace, is you want to close out intentionally. We've talked a lot about intentionality.And Grace, that's exactly what we're talking about here, is closing out intentionally. You don't want to just arrive at December 31st and go, okay, new year starts tomorrow.I'm going to flip the calendar, whatever that looks like for you. Because, Grace, what you're really saying to me is the definition of mature leadership.As you start to develop, as you start to mature in your business, this is what you're talking about. Because you don't want to just arrive. You want to intentionally plan to make some dynamic changes. So I got five ideas to share with you this year.I to help you do just that. So if you're listening, I encourage you, write these down. We'll put them in the show notes.If you want to go back and review the show, you can do that as well. First thing, review your financial position. So many people don't understand this. They wait till after the end of the year.They go, okay, Ralph, what happened last year? You can't do that. You got to know where you're. I talk about in the show all the time. Know what your financial numbers are every week.Not at the end of the month, not when I get around to it. Know them every day. And listen, I want you to look beyond revenue. A lot of people get stuck on revenue like Ralph.I'm going to make a million dollars in sales this year. I'm going to do X number of sales this year. That's great, but that doesn't really answer the question, what is your actual profitability?Because, see, you could be making a ton of revenue dollars, but you might not be making any rev. You might not be making any profitability. I've seen businesses make millions of dollars in sales and have a big fat goose egg at the bottom.There was no profitability there at all. The owner was wiped out. I was talking to a client today. I'm not going to share details, but I said to this client, I said, let me ask you a question.Here's what you've made so far this year. Are you happy with that? And he said to me, he says, oh, what do you mean by that, Ralph? I said, okay, let me. Let me ask you this way.How many hours are you working a week? Well, Ralph, I'm working about 60 hours a week. I said, okay, let's multiply that times 50. Let's make it 50 weeks. Let's say you took two weeks off.I know this guy did not take any time off, But I took two weeks off. I worked 50 hours a week times 60. I'm doing quick math. That's 3,000 hours.I said, if I take your revenue and divide by 3000 hours, you just made $8 an hour. Are you happy with that? And he looked at me like, ralph, what do you mean I made $8 an hour?I said, you told me you work 60 hours a week, and this is how much you've got to show for your actual profitability. And after your expenses, after your overhead cost, all those things, is it worth $8 an hour?He says, ralph, I could go work somewhere else for a minimum wage in Delaware is $15 an hour. What in the world am I doing? That's right. Ask yourself those questions. What are your margins? What are those recurring expenses?I was working with a client the other day. We were looking at his financials, first time he's been in this year. And I said, let me ask you this question. What is this for?He goes, rob, what is that you just mentioned he was paying something $150 a month to be in a membership group. And he says to me, he said, ralph, I haven't seen any of those people. I haven't attended any of those meetings in two years.I said, well, they're still charging you $150 a month. He goes, well, shame on me then, right? I said, yeah, shame on you, because when's the last time you looked at these things?Look at those expenses, look at your reverse. We talked about reserves a couple weeks ago. We had a great chat in the chat room about that. What are your reserves moving forward?Are you prepared for the wintertime if you're a landscaping person or if you don't have, you know, if you're more of a seasonal Business. Are you prepared for that? Do you have a reserve ready? Are you paying off debt? See, because understanding what you kept.See, a lot of people don't get this, like, well, Ralph, my revenue is sore, man. I'm setting a world on fire. But understanding what you're able to keep, not just what you made, that's what shapes your strategy moving forward.So start there. Number one thing, review your financial position. Second thing, equally important, acknowledge your wins.Grace brought this to our attention, didn't she? Acknowledge those wins because you got to see your victories. This is not easy being a small business owner. I say this to new clients all the time.They'll come into me, say, ralph, I want to start my own business. I am so excited. I'm going to work for myself. I'm going to make more money than I ever imagined. I'm going to work less hours.First thing I say to him, you better make a reality check, dude. Because first of all, owning your own business is not for everybody. A lot of people won't tell you that.These knucklehead gurus all over Facebook and TikTok and YouTube are gonna, oh, you can do this. You can make a money as a side hustle. Listen, you gotta have the stomach for it. You gotta have the drive for it. But you are going to work harder.And here's a little secret. You're gonna make less money.Now, over time, I'm gonna make the argument that you can start to develop systems, you can start to bring on people that will help you be more effective. But when you first start out, you're going to make less money, you're going to work more hours. So when you have those victories, celebrate those.Did you land a significant client this year? Can you look back and say, man, Ralph, I never forget this. In March, man, I land a client, and the next thing you know, in June, I got another one.Those are fantastic things. Maybe you have a seasonal business and you navigated a challenging season.I was talking to one of my clients the other day where getting ready for the end of the year. He's a landscaping contractor. We had a long discussion about replacing mowers and what's next year going to look like.We're building his reserve fund. But he said, ralph, I really feel like we had a good year. I didn't go further into debt. I made good decisions. The crew worked well together.He navigated that challenging season well, and I encourage him. Celebrate those victories. That's a positive thing. Maybe for you, a win as you implemented a new system. Maybe you found a better way to do things.You built that better mousetrap. Well, acknowledge that. What did you gain from that? Maybe for you, you had to make a difficult but necessary decision.You're like, Ralph, I never forget this summer, man. I had to make a really tough choice. Maybe you had an employee who had to let them go because he just didn't make sense.So fitting your business anymore. Or maybe there was some other major decision you had to make. Maybe you decided to close your business. You're like, rob, I did the numbers, man.I'm just not getting anywhere. But maybe you were able to make a necessary decision and you got a win out of that. See that as a victory. Document those victories.Listen, I'm going to tell you right now, I think one of the best things you can do is keep a victory journal. Write those things down. This happened. This happened. Celebrate them, because those are evidence of growth and resilience.This whole show is about grit. It's about finding things, the gritty details to get ahead, because the goal is growth. But when you have those growth moments.I had a growth moment this week. This past week, I hit 100,000 downloads in my daily podcast show.Now, that might not seem like a lot to some of these big content creators, but for me, that was massive. The other day, I had a YouTube video go out on my Truth Unveiled Christian podcast show, and it hit 112,000 views. That's a victory for me.In that same show, I'm seeing over 35,000 subscribers. I'm celebrating that, yes, there's a long way to go, but I'm celebrating that because that's evidence that there's growth.There's evidence that I can stay involved in this. So that's the second thing. Acknowledge your wins. Third thing I'm going to encourage you to do is assess your goals.Because it's easy to say, okay, I won this. I got through this hard time, but look back at those goals. I hope you made goals. Go back and look at what did you commit to in January?What were those things you said? I'm not talking about New Year's resolutions. They're useless. But what were your business goals? What were those commitments that you made in January?Now go back and say, okay, what actually happened? What were the results? You got to have numbers to do this.So, you know, part of this is I'm tugging you along here, saying, look, you better have results as you do this. But what happened? Ask yourself, where did you adjust course?But even more importantly, why did you adjust scores See, this isn't about self criticism. That's not what I'm talking about here. It's about learning and it's about adapting your strategies.But you got to go back and assess your goals and figure out what worked, what didn't work, what were those commitments. Start thinking about those commitments for next year and adjust course now it's a great time to make those adjustments. So that's the third thing.Assess your goals. Fourth thing, this one's kind of tough, right? And that's capture your lessons.I don't think any of us like to learn from our own mistakes, but you got to capture those things. What were the lessons that you learned? What would you approach differently this year? What things did you say?You know, Ralph, I don't want to go down that route again, man. I put my hand on the fire, man, I got burnt. But ask yourself, in that lesson, what would you do differently? What insights surprised you this year?What were the things that you weren't expecting? But this happened and I was resilient, Ralph. Or maybe you made bad decisions. It's okay to make bad decisions. Have some grace for yourself.You know, what do you understand now that you didn't at the beginning of last year? Because you've grown. There are things that you're doing now that you didn't know how to do even a couple months ago, six months ago, a year ago.But learn from those things. Capture those lessons. Write them down, put pen to paper, because those lessons are going to become your advantage in the year ahead.But you got to go back and revisit those. It's all about reflection tonight. You're hearing a lot of reflection here. Capture those lessons and learn from them.And last but not least, I get a little philosophical with you here. This is a great time to really reinforce this. My fifth thing is practice gratitude. It's so important. So many people don't think about this.So many of us, I'm going to dare say all of us are so. Are so well blessed with the things that we have. I was just working with a lady this past week.We had a conference call and she actually works with folks in Kenya. She's working with a ladies group of women there who are trying to improve their financial position. And she's teaching them something really simple.She's teaching them the jar approach to saving. And she says, ralph, I'm teaching about the giving jar and a saving jar and a saving and the, and the spending jar.And she says, Ralph, she said, we had a breakthrough this morning. She said, One of the women said to me, now picture this. These are people in Kenya. I don't know much about Kenya.Talk about a third world country on steroids. My client said to me, she goes, ralph, you don't understand. These people live in huts. They have mud floors. I said, what do you mean by mud floors?She goes, no, you get it. Mud floors. And most of the time, their roofs are made out of things that just leaked. They're not. Sometimes they're fortunate they have a tin roof.She. But it's what she said to me, and it struck me. She's one of the ladies.Ralph was super excited because last week in her savings jar, she was able to put away 15 cents. And I thought to myself, 15 cents? Like, I don't even know that I have that little amount of change in my pocket.I'm not one to carry change, but think about that. 15 cents. That's a thing to think about, man. I am so grateful for the things that I have, and I want you to embrace it now.Thank your team, thank your employees for their commitment. You know, as a business owner, as a boss, if you will, as the CEO of my company, I try to take time every week or every day.I try to do it every day, honestly. To thank my team for commitment, I thank my podcast producer, Abby. She's done a great job for me.We've really taken this show and the other shows that I do to the next level, but I don't miss an opportunity to thank her for that. You can do that for your clients. Thank your clients. So many of us take that for granted. Thank your clients for their business. Thank you.It's a great time to do it. Show a little appreciation to them. You don't have to spend a lot of money to do it, but thank them, thank you for the trust they put in you.I say that to a lot of clients. They'll say to me, ralph, you know, I would like to refer a friend of mine to you. I say, you know what? That is awesome.Thank you so much for trusting me, Trusting me with your stuff and also trusting that I'm going to help your. Your friend as well. And another thing, have gratefulness for your own perseverance. You got through a lot this year. Yeah.Maybe you've had some tough lesson. You. You took your licks, as they say. Maybe you're in a. In a. In a title fight, but you're still standing, aren't you?Acknowledge your own perseverance. Because let me tell you something right now, a lot of people Think, well, gratitude, that's emotional, but it's so much bigger than that.Gratitude is not just emotional. It's strategic. You want to be strategic. And that. That gratitude, it strengthens relationships and it renews your vision.Because truth is, business owners, it's all about relationships. I gotta tell you a funny story about that. It's probably been about 15 years ago, I hired a guy to come into my business. He was a marketing guy.I wanted him to really help me take my business to the next level. And I'll never forget this. He was sitting. We actually had two offices at the time. I had an office here in Middletown.I had another office down the beach. And he met me in my office down the beach. That's where he was from. He sat there across the desk from me, and I engaged with him.I said, I want you to help me build a strategic marketing plan. And he said, okay, Ralph, let me ask you a first question. Now, he had already studied the business. He looked at the website. He knew what I did.And he said, I cannot believe it to this day. He said, ralph, what business are you in? And instantly I thought, oh, I hired the wrong dude. This guy clearly doesn't understand.Did you see the sign out front, Public accountant? Did you see the books? Did you see the tax signs? Did you see all the things that you come in the door, dude, have you lost your mind?And he goes, no, no, no. Just. I want you to answer the question. What business are you in? I said, all right, dude, let's play the stupid game. I'm an accountant.He goes, okay, well, that's part of it. But that's not really what I was getting at. I said, okay, we're gonna try another guess. I'm a tax guy. Oh, yeah, that's part of it, Ralph.But that's not the whole thing. I said, oh, okay, I get it. I'm starting. I'm starting to get a little frustrated at this point, actually.I'm like, dude, where are you going with this? I said, okay, I get it, dude. Big picture. I'm a consultant. He goes, no, Ralph, you've missed the mark.I'm like, oh, dude, I definitely hired the wrong guy. At this point, I'm thinking, this guy has lost his mind. He's plum local. He's cuckoo. And I said, dude, you got to help me out.Maybe it had been a long day. I don't remember. Maybe a long week. I don't remember what was going on. But I was like, man, you got to tell me.And he said, ralph, you're in the relationship business. And see, from that day forward, I realized something. All small business owners are in the relationship business.It's all about building, cultivating, and being grateful for those relationships.So as we think about planning for year end and planning for next year, one of the most strategic things that you can do is build that relationship with your team, with your employees, with your vet. Yeah. With your vendors, with your customers, with the people around you. And let me be clear, Grace. Finishing strong isn't about achieving perfection.A lot of small business people think, well, Ralph, if I'm going to be strong, man, I got all these things to do. I got this list that's a mile long. It's not about achieving perfection in so many things in life, especially in small business.It's about closing with presence and it's about closing with purpose. So, Grace, here's my encouragement for you. Here's what I want you to be able to say.If you can honestly say this, Ralph, I showed up, I learned, I steward well. That's true confidence. That is a sign of a job well done. That's how you can end the year strong.That you can end the year saying, I want to finish strong, Ralph, I showed up, I learned, and I steward well. That's where true confidence is. So in the chat, I want to ask you one more question for tonight.What's one win from this year, big or small, that you're proud of? Let's celebrate that. Maybe you're listening to this afterwards and you're like, ralph, I'm really getting into this discussion tonight.Ask yourself that question. What's one way, just one thing you can pick out this year, big or small? It could be super small. I didn't buy a new truck.I decided I wasn't going to spend the money. I decided to look at my expenses. I decided to do one of those things that you talk about on the show all the time.What's one thing that you did that you're proud of? And celebrate that because honestly, that's what it's all about, is celebrating those wins.Now, one of the things I want to encourage you to do, whenever we do a show, my producer Abby will create what we call an action sheet. She does a great job. We just did some reformatting today on the show. If you want to get any of our action sheets, it's super simple to get it.You go right to this website. You go to gritandgrowthbusiness.com action. I'm going to ask you for your email address and Your name, You're going to get a verification email.Once you get that verification email, guess what? You've unlocked a secret. You're going to have a link to our Google Drive.And on that Google Drive, you can see all of our action sheets, not just for tonight, but for all of our shows.So I want to encourage you download our weekly action sheet shows because you're going to find them to be all the things we talked about and how you can implement those in your business. Now, maybe you're thinking, ralph, man, you covered a lot tonight, but man, I feel a little overwhelmed, Ralph. This is not my area of expertise.I'm a good plumber. I'm a good H vac guy. I'm a good carpenter, I'm good at landscaping.But Ralph, this financial stuff, this accounting, this bookkeeping stuff, man, it is way over my head. I could really use some help. Well, I want to encourage you right now. I would love to have a discovery call with you.Maybe we can put together some business together. We can do some coaching together. The easiest way to reach out to me is you go to gritngrowthbusiness.com coaching. It's really that simple.Just gritandgrowthbusiness.com coaching. I would love to talk to you. 15 minute, you know, a simple discovery call. You don't owe me anything. I want to understand your business.I want to understand those stress points, those pain points you have. Let's see if it's a good fit and let's see if we can work together. Nothing I'm going to encourage you to do.If you want to be a guest on the show and like I said, make sure you join us next Tuesday. I have got a super special guest. She's been in business for a long time and she's going to talk about the struggles of starting her own business.She was working in the corporate field and then she decided, hey, Ralph, I'm going to go out on my own. I've worked with her since she first started and she's going to join us next week on the show.If you're interested in being a guest for some live coaching or maybe you want to share some things that have worked for your business, go to gritngrowthbusiness.com guest again. I'm going to set up a 15 minute discovery call with you.Let me understand what you want to talk about and then listen, if you want to be coached on the show, we can do that because I love talking to people. All right, Wrens. All right, friends. As we wrap up Tonight. We talked about a lot tonight, didn't we? We discussed that year end assessment.It's so critical that you do this. You can't just roll forward with that same steamroller. We talked about balancing that drive with rest.I want to encourage you right now, embrace rest in November, December. I'm not telling you to rest on your laurels and not tell you and not keep pushing hard, but invest in yourself, invest some time and rest.Also, this is a great time to organize your finances. It's a great time to plan with purpose. And it's a great time to finally close the year with confidence.We talked about Grace's question and how we can do this. So here's the things I want you to remember. Just a couple quick points. Clarity beats chaos.I'll say that again because I kind of butchered it the first time I said it. Clarity beats chaos and intentionality beats momentum without direction. So I want to encourage you right now, take one practical step this week.Review your wins. Organize that one financial area. Like I said, just take one piece at a time. Just a small step or define what we talked about.We talked a little bit tonight about what you want to be known for. Ask yourself that question, what do you want to be known for? Because in the end, the answer to tonight's question, how do you finish strong?That's how you do it. That's how you start 2026. Ready. Well, I'm gonna encourage you right now.Join me weekly on the weekly show or join us again next Tuesday night for Grit and Growth Business style. I'm gonna encourage you, invite your friends to this. Like I said, we're gonna have a great show next week.Not that we didn't have a good show tonight. We're gonna have a great show next week.I'm gonna bring you more gritty things to help you tackle another real world challenge and help you grow your business with grit and confidence. So until then, I wanna say this to you. God bless you. Thank you so much for joining me this week.I'm right here in the trenches with you every week and I'll see you again next week.

Speaker B00:48:57

Thanks for joining us. Today on Grit and Growth Business, the show where real business owners find the clarity, courage and confidence to build something that lasts.If this episode spoke to you, go ahead and hit that subscribe button so you don't miss what's next. Remember, success isn't easy and there are no shortcuts. But with grit, growth is possible. And when in doubt, just ask Ralph.This show is a production of Ask Ralph Media supported by Saggio Accounting Plus. The content in this episode is based on information available as of the date of its release.Saggio Accounting plus and Ask Ralph Media, Inc. Are under no obligation to update it should circumstances change. Please understand this episode is not intended to be financial, tax or legal advice. Your unique situation deserves tailored guidance.So before making any decisions, consult with your trusted tax professional or attorney.