Achieving Year-End Excellence: Five Focus Areas for Business Leaders

We need to look at exactly where we are in the business and what reasonable goals that are a little bit pushed. But at this point in the year, thinking of it being the last quarter of 2024, what is it can we do? What strategic partnerships and allies could we possibly have this year that if we just bring them in to finish 2024 strong, how could you collaborate with somebody to be able to do that? How could you be set up with marketing and assets and giveaways and value creation so that you kick off 2025 in the the right way? Good day and welcome to the Wealthy Entrepreneur Podcast. I'm your host, Bob Govero. Great to have you here with us today and thank you for investing this time in yourself and continuing to learn, collaborate and expand your mind, your leadership and your business to take it to the next level. Listen, I love working with entrepreneurs. I even love more working with entrepreneurs who are committed to developing the best version of themselves. And that's what we're here to do. And what we want to talk about today is the top five things that we need to do to finish the year strong. Now, before I jump into that, I just want to remind you that this is the place where we dissect the elements that contribute to entrepreneurial success, from mindset and leadership to profits and revenue. This is the Wealthy Entrepreneur Podcast. And, and I'm really excited about the topic that we have today. So I'm going to give you five ideas and hopefully these five ideas, we're going to get through this fairly efficiently today. But these top five ideas are something to get you started to think about how we finish the year strong. There's something that I continue to focus on finishing our year strong. And I got to tell you, we started implementing these five things about a month ago, and we are going to finish the year strong. So the sooner you can start implementing these end of year sort of projections, plans, strategies, tactics, the better you're going to finish the year off. So the very first thing that we're going to have to adjust as we get to the end of the year is we need to look at exactly where we are in the business and what reasonable goals that are a little bit pushed. We want to stretch them a little bit, but something we need to revisit our goals and our direction and, and say, what are we planning to accomplish? So I got to tell you, you know, there were, there were months this year where our team did not hit our goals. We fell short in a couple areas. And it all comes down to accountability and the team overall just taking their foot off the gas a little bit. I'm sure you can relate. It's something that we continue to focus on and accountability is such an important component of continuing to stay on track with achieving our goals. But at this point in the year, you know, thinking of it being the last quarter of 2024, what is it can we do? Well, let's revisit our goals and redefine for the last quarter what exactly it is that we want to accomplish. What are the top three to five items that if we accomplish those things, we're going to finish the year on a high note. And I know we've got those outlined in our business. It's time to focus for you on what those are. And then here's the we need to share them with the team. We need to share them with the team because the team has to be bought into achieving those goals. Otherwise, if we're just thinking about them or we're putting them on paper, it's not going to happen. So let's get the team bought in. Let's share that vision with them. Let's share those goals with them. Because if they believe in them and they're behind us in it, it's going to be much easier for us to accomplish those goals together. So the second element of what it is that we need to do is to get the team motivated, get them inspired. Now's a really good time. We're nine months into the year and we've likely got all of our results. And I'm specifically talking about the calendar year. So let's thinking of finishing 2020 for the calendar year strong might not line up with your business year end, but the calendar year, how do we finish that one strong? There's likely a lot of stuff that we've done really, really well in 2024. There's likely some stuff that we wish we had done better. But now's the time to maybe highlight the things that we've done really, really well. To thank everybody for doing a great job, to thank everybody for their individual contribution, those that deserve it, and recognize exceptional work and performance by individuals on your team or the overall performance of your team. But say we're not quite there yet. Get everybody inspired about the things that you're still continuing to want to accomplish in 2024. Set the parameters Once you've set once you've outlined those goals, set the parameters with your team and get them inspired to want to pursue those goals and to finish the year strong and to share you Know, maybe there's even an incentive that if those goals are achieved between now and the end of the year, what that could look like for the team. So that is, number one is redefine those goals. Number two, inspire your team. Be the leader they need you to be. Bring energy in, bring positivity in. Talk about the excitement that's available to finish the year strong, despite maybe the success or failure that we've realized already in 2024. Let's look to the positive movement of the economy. Let's look to consumer spending starting to increase once again. Interest rates are dropping. It's time for everybody to get excited to finish 2024 strong. Geez, I'm getting excited about this right now for you. So let's, let's bring that energy and that excitement to our teams. They need it, right? If we're not bringing them excitement and they're going through and doing the, the same thing day to day, they're not necessarily going to inspire themselves. They need us. They need us to lead them. So come up with revised goals and, and become the leader that your team needs to finish the year strong. Number three, push strategic sales and marketing campaigns. Okay, so here's the thing. We've got three months left in the year. We've got the ability to identify the top three to five things that we could do to generate more revenue. Some of it might be strategic partnerships. What strategic partnerships and allies could we possibly have this year that if we just bring them in to finish 2024 strong? How could you collaborate with somebody to be able to do that? We're actually working with one of our partners and launching a webinar in the coming days that's focused on the contractor space. How can those contractors really help manage their cash resources and finish the year strong as well? So there's collaborative opportunities, but there's also product services that you have that people might need in order to start the year in 2025 in the right way. So make sure that we're coming up with three to five strategic moves that we could make from a marketing standpoint. From a sales standpoint, maybe it's reaching back out to our customers, offering a new product or service. Maybe it's reminding them of the great things that we can do. There's lots of things that can be done right now to reintroduce those customers with us to have a proactive sort of growth plan with respect to sales and marketing. And. And you know what, Even if it's not so much generating sales for the rest of the year. How could you be set up with marketing and assets and giveaways and value creation so that you kick off 2025 in the right way. So focus on the three to five things that you could do from a sales and marketing perspective that will allow you to get that growth to end the year or to start 2025 off on the right foot. And again, I know I mentioned strategic partnerships. Maybe there's webinars, there's giveaways, there's maybe creating a landing page with a free document that explains the value that you bring to the market and maybe some insights for your potential customers to get them excited about what it is that you do. And maybe purchasing or working with you or hiring you, whatever that looks like. Maybe expanding your marketing and coming up with a new initiative to end the year would be great. Again, strategic partnerships, I think, are super powerful, especially as we want to end the year. If there's a way that you can get in front of a strategic partner's audience that really is your audience, you just don't have them yet. And then a way for them to get in front of your audience because they do great things and they're not working with your clients yet, there's this collaborative sort of opportunity that's available that I think strategic partnerships is very, very powerful to end the year as well, on the right foot. Number four, to end the year strong. Here's what we've seen 2024. Especially in the summer of 2024, we've seen a lot of businesses struggling. One, consumers are having a harder time committing to buying from us. And this is a generalization. We're still continuing to grow. I'm sure you're still continuing to grow. If you're not, it's okay. It's happening. Consumers are pulling back. It's okay that it's happening. But let's continue to find ways to get out of that routine, because there are ways for us to continue to push our business. But the other thing that we've seen, aside from buying patterns, is that people who have bought from us paying their bills, people have slowed down and paying their bills. We've seen aged accounts receivable, meaning monies that people owe you. We've seen that delayed in getting people paid. So we're seeing that as a trend. One of the top ways to finish the year strong is to go out and create a method to get that money back in your business. Let's finish the year strong with high cash flow, getting those funds back into your business. So a couple Ideas for you. If you have people that are owing you money, first and foremost, create a policy. This is our policy. This is how we go and we collect money. This is the process in order to collect the money. Here's who's responsible for it. Maybe even give an incentive for those that are working on accounts receivable to get that in to end the year strong from a cash flow perspective. Second, make sure you're accepting all forms of payment. Let those customers pay you. You know what, if you're losing 4% because you're taking American Express as a payment method, so be it. I would rather have that payment with 4% of a cost across the board than, you know, the 10 to 20% cost of bad debt because we just couldn't collect it. The longer these stay outstanding, the more challenging it's going to be for us. So let's make sure we're accepting all forms of payment. Let's make sure we're reaching out to customers, let's create payment plans. You know, let's make sure we're establishing communication, getting everyone on the same page. We can offer payment plans. So between now and the end of the year, there's three months. We could definitely get that information together, have a discussion with the clients and then propose a three or four month payment plan. Let's get aligned, let's create a system and let's make sure we're opened up to all forms of payment. Absolutely. And then lastly, to finish the year strong, number five. I'd be remiss if I didn't talk about year end tax planning. So one of the things we want to do as we approach the end of the year is think about the tax planning opportunity. So a few areas that I want you to consider in your business. Is my business structure optimized for me? If you are a sole proprietor, a partner, your tax rates are getting high. If you're not utilizing a corporation status, you want to be looking at that. If you're getting to the end of the year and you've got surplus cash that's in your business, is there an opportunity to get that money out, protect it, get it out of your retained earnings, get it out of your operating company? Something to consider as you're approaching the end of the year. Do we want to be thinking about family trust planning? Family trust planning might allow us to get access to more future tax savings and capitalize on future tax opportunities. Because if we have multiple beneficiaries that are beneficiaries of the sale of our business down the Road, there might be an opportunity to expand on that. Get access to multiple lifetime capital gains exemptions. Just a quick side note, lifetime capital gains exemption, it's if you sell the shares of a qualified small business corporation. And at the time, it's qualified by the fact that 90% of the assets inside the business when you sell are actively used in the business. So that means no investments, no real estate, no intercompany loans. It all starts to cause confusion and disqualify you for your lifetime capital gains exemption. Now, as of 2024 in Canada, this is specifically for Canada, your lifetime capital gains exemption is 1.25 million. That allows you to not pay tax for the first 1.25 million of proceeds on the sale of your business. Now, if you have a family trust in place with multiple beneficiaries, that's 1.25 million per beneficiary based on the value that's been created since the trust has owned the company. So we can't just put a trust in tomorrow, sell the business the next day, and hope to split the capital gains with all of our beneficiaries has to be in place more. So I'm talking about this as a discussion to say let's not all try and become accountants, but let's just be aware of the tax planning opportunities that might be available to us to bring some of that accumulation in business growth to other people and to save a substantial amount of tax. For every beneficiary that would be able to maximize their lifetime capital gains exemption. You're just over $400,000 in tax savings. So it's not a small amount, especially if you've got multiple beneficiaries, kids, spouse, siblings, other family members that you might want to get in there. Parents, there's opportunities to make sure that we're, we're maximizing that. Other things to think of as you're getting to the end of the year, and this is a big one, I always get asked, Bob, what should I spend money on in order to save tax as we approach the end of the year? And I would say, me, spend it on me. But if you don't want to spend it on me, because I'll take your money and pay tax on it. We really don't want to spend unnecessarily is the main point. You know, let's not spend $100 to get a $20 tax rebate. Then I'm left with $20 as savings versus me having $100, paying $20 in tax, having $80. I would much rather have the 80. However, there's some tax planning opportunities that we could consider. If you're thinking of paying bonuses out to your employees in 2025, we can actually report them as an expense in 2024, where you have up to 180 days to pay out a bonus and be able to claim it in the previous year. So looking at a bonus for you, your kids, your spouse, potentially your employees, some of your key members, if you're going to pay them a bonus in 2025, you can actually record it in 2024, as long as you pay it out within 180 days. Other items to consider, if you're looking at having to make capital purchases or you're looking to have to complete a repair and maintenance on a facility or something like that as you're approaching the end of the year, you could look at if it's, if it's planned to take place in 2025, you could look at bringing that into 2024. As you're incurring these capital items, these expenses, we can get them into 2024 and, and make sure that we're taking advantage of the tax savings opportunity that's there. So good example would be if you're looking at buying a new piece of equipment or machinery for the spring market, let's say you're a contractor, you need an excavator and it's, let's call it $100,000. I'm assuming it's substantially more than that. But if we buy that excavator December 31st, we can actually put it in, capitalize it and depreciate it and get 15% of that value in that year in 2024 versus not being able to get any of the tax savings value to the end of 2025. So that's strategic timing and maybe being a little bit more strategic with some of the things that we can purchase and expense in our business. So just as a bit of a recap here, and I'm sure there's more tax planning opportunities that we could continue to talk about as well, Making sure we're maximizing all of our deductions, making sure that all of our expenses, if they didn't go through our business account or credit card account, making sure that we're summarizing those and getting those to the accountants and the bookkeepers, because if you don't do that, they don't know it exists. So super important there. But just as a bit of a summary of the five things that you can do to finish the year in the right way, you know, with great success. So, number one, do a review of your goals. Assess where you're at, assess the three to five things that you really want to get accomplished. And in 2024, put a focus on them, Share them with the team, get everybody aligned. Number two, you know, be the leader. Get everybody inspired in order to achieve those goals. Share with them the insights of what you guys have accomplished together, the what the future holds. Get them excited about it, and, you know, share with them that if you just were to accomplish these three to five things to end 2024, the business would be in a really great place. More opportunity, more financial resources to reinvest back into the business and continue to make it better. So just a really great way to step up as a leader and inspire your team to finish the year strong as well. Number three is to look at strategic sales and marketing initiatives that you could put in place now to not only increase revenue potentially for 2024, but to hit the ground running in 2025 in a great way. I talked about strategic partnerships, I talked a little bit about creating new marketing campaigns, but continuing to look at how you can get in new audiences and expand your clients. You know, expand the people and the eyes that are seeing what it is that you do and sharing with them. Maybe it's. It's reaching back out to your existing clients, doing some email marketing campaigns, some communications with them, some of the things that you could offer to help them finish their year strong, whatever that is. If it's in personal wealth, if it's in personal health, if it's in business, sales or marketing, whatever it is, maybe now's the time to reach out and create a strategy for you to sell to your prospects and your clients to help them finish their year strong as well. Number four, let's get our cash flow on track again. Accounts receivable have been a major challenge for a lot of businesses this year. We've seen it. Payments have been slowing down. One, and I didn't mention this earlier, but if we can stop getting paid after we're doing jobs and get paid, you know, throughout the period of time that we're doing, the work at the start is great. Making sure that we get paid prior to the end is super important as we watch our accounts receivable grow. So we want to make sure that that's, that's part of the process. But as far as accounts receivable, let's create a policy. Let's make sure that someone is actively communicating with These customers, making them aware that the fact that they owe money and making sure that we're accepting all forms of payment so that there's no excuse for them to not do it except the credit card. Let's get that cash in your pocket. 96% of that cash is very good. Let's get that in there. And so that you have cash resources to finish the year strong and invest in growth in 2025. And last, but certainly not least, make sure that you're thinking of strategic ways that you can get expenses and save tax in 2024, or looking at your business structure to make sure that you're optimized for how you are set up for 2025. Listen everybody. This is a, this is a huge topic for me. I always love this time of year to rally the troops, get everybody re excited, finish the year strong so that we can head into the next year with a lot of momentum. And it's certainly exciting for all of us to be in this position right now. Regardless of what has happened. We, we have the opportunity as leaders to reinspire and provide direction for everybody so that we can finish 20:24 strong and be ready to capitalize on the fact that the market is ready for us in 2025 to have our best year yet. If this has been valuable to you, please leave a comment. I would love for you to comment. Make sure you hit the follow button and that you're following this podcast. I'm so thrilled that we're able to be here and to be able to support you and be part of this together like we're on this journey together. We're wanting to finish the year strong as well. If you know anyone who you feel could benefit from hearing a few pieces of guidance or top five things to finish the year strong, please share it with them. We're here to work with all entrepreneurs and ensure that entrepreneurs have the right financial and strategic information to change the world and and you and I get to change that world together. So I'm thrilled that you're here. Thank you for listening. Drop your comments, make sure you follow and I look forward to seeing you next week. This is the wealthy entrepreneur. I have been your host, Bob Govreau. Thank you for your time today and we'll see you next time.