How much business data do you track?

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How much business data do you track?

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jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 12:12 pm Post subject: How much business data do you track?

I track quite a lot, but have just spent a few hours this morning adding yet more data to what I track, typing in close to two years of figures in the process

All of which confirms a suspicion that I'm still managing to grow my business and indications to the contrary are only the result of a totally out of line period of several weeks in sep/oct where things went into overdrive, thus making the following months (what with the xmas holiday dip that effects me) look bleak.
But it makes me wonder if people get so wrapped up in the day to day running of things, they don't keep good track of it they are actually winning?

dpack

Joined: 02 Jul 2005
Posts: 46231
Location: yes

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 12:15 pm Post subject:
time for a holiday dear

gil
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 08 Jun 2005
Posts: 18415

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 12:20 pm Post subject:

I've certainly found myself concentrating more on day-to-day production and ironing out practical issues (steep learning curve, but not steep enough) than on how much I've made overall, and how far the business has come since last July.

Too easy to get into fire-fighting mode. I'm hoping that routinisation and the new QA system will have a positive effect in reducing technical hitches. It's production data I've been tracking.

hedgewitch

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 12:46 pm Post subject:
I think I'm looking in having a partner. I tend to be on the front line with customers, but he is able to take more of an overview. If I was on my own, I think I'd be just completely sucked in to day-to-day running of things.

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 1:37 pm Post subject:

I do quite a lot of monitoring and projecting - spreadsheet nerdism is my thing, really.

However I've decided that the big thing I need to work on this year is credit control; what we do is so seasonal that it's very easy to think you're in clover at the end of November with oodles of money in the bank; and then come the end of February have loads of people owing money that isn't quite due yet and not enough to pay the payroll.

Not that this has happened this year, oh no. *cough*.

We've also decided to allocate a small amount of money each month for marketing and not wait until we don't have enough work, but to keep plugging away at getting new business steadily. As you say - it's very easy to get sucked in to the day to day stuff and not look ahead and plan - we try and update the business plan and figures every six months or so.

Penny Outskirts

Joined: 18 Sep 2005
Posts: 23385
Location: Planet, not on the....

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 4:03 pm Post subject:

My OH monitors things like a hawk. On a daily basis - we know what the bank balance is to the penny, what our gross profit margin is, how many tops we've printed this week, month, year, what % increase we have year-on-year, how we're performing against target, how much we owe..........you get the picture!

He's a star, and we wouldn't have achieved half what we have without his attention to detail. I do the people side

hedgewitch

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 4:38 pm Post subject:

Penny wrote:

That's pretty much our split, Penny. Mr hedgewitch is also v good with people... sadly I don't know one end of a bank statement from another and I still have to move my lips when working on a spreadsheet. I'm fine monitoring/managing spreadsheets, just not too hot at setting 'em up. But I'm doing my best to learn. And I must admit, this is a lot easier without the back-biting of office life.

jema
Downsizer Moderator

Joined: 28 Oct 2004
Posts: 28237
Location: escaped from Swindon

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 4:43 pm Post subject:

Chez wrote:

I do quite a lot of monitoring and projecting - spreadsheet nerdism is my thing, really.

That remark has provoked quite a self analytical debate with me. The fact is I'm well qualified and if I say so myself very well qualified for the nerdy bits here

and have done a good job this time round. Even my missing figures I put in today have an explanation (downsizer.net's fault

)

But despite, that in a previous business many many years ago, I totally failed to get to grips with this sort of overview, getting bogged down in the daily work and failing to do anything useful to sort out costs etc

So am I doing it now as it is a fun nerdy thing, or because I am now a big grown up businessman and it needs doing

hedgewitch

Joined: 26 Nov 2005
Posts: 5834
Location: Daft wench GHQ

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 4:49 pm Post subject:

jema wrote:

So am I doing it now as it is a fun nerdy thing, or because I am now a big grown up businessman and it needs doing

Maybe a bit of both? Nothing wrong with enjoying something that needs doing

chez

Joined: 13 Aug 2006
Posts: 35935
Location: The Hive of the Uberbee, Quantock Hills, Somerset

Posted: Thu Mar 01, 07 5:14 pm Post subject:

hedgewitch wrote:

jema wrote:

So am I doing it now as it is a fun nerdy thing, or because I am now a big grown up businessman and it needs doing

Maybe a bit of both? Nothing wrong with enjoying something that needs doing

Exactly.

I enjoy it. But it can be quite scary - looking at those 'parachute jump' months coming up on the graph and knowing that you're going to have to deal with them.

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