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Track Your Numbers
88 Plays1 month ago
In this episode of the Uncommon Wealth Podcast, Phillip Ramsey dives into the integral part of business success that many overlook—tracking and analyzing business numbers. Phillip opens the episode with insights into how too many entrepreneurs shy away from the seemingly mundane yet essential task of understanding their business metrics. With a background rooted in disciplined financial practices from his pharmaceutical days under mentor Mark Johnson, Phillip illustrates the power of routine number tracking.
The episode sheds light on the Entrepreneurial Operating System (EOS), a transformational framework for business management praised by Phillip. He shares his personal journey of utilizing this system to keep tabs on key financial metrics such as revenue and expenses. SEO keywords peppered through the discussion include "business metrics," "financial tracking," and "Entrepreneurial Operating System," underscoring their importance in pursuing a unique business path. Phillip emphasizes the value of consistent number tracking, noting its critical role in informed business decisions, especially during pivotal moments such as buying out a business partner and navigating financial rebuilding.
Key Takeaways:
- Importance of Routine: Establishing a consistent routine for tracking financial metrics can simplify year-end processes and strategic planning.
- Key Metrics: Identifying and tracking essential business metrics, like revenue and expenses, help in making informed business decisions.
- EOS Framework: The Entrepreneurial Operating System helps businesses streamline operations by focusing on core metrics and long-term vision.
- Joy in the Journey: The process and daily operations of tracking and understanding numbers bring satisfaction and sustainability, beyond the end results.
- Flexibility and Reflection: Regularly reviewing tracked data provides insights into past challenges and triumphs, allowing for strategic realignment and growth.
Notable Quotes:
- "At the end of the day, this has been a learned behavior for me as I look back at my whole career path." - Phillip Ramsey
- "The greatest part about this that Mark knew is if we continued to do it monthly and did it well, it would develop a routine." - Phillip Ramsey
- "The best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second best is today." - Phillip Ramsey
- "Numbers tell a story if you can read them." - Phillip Ramsey
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Transcript
Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast
00:00:02
Speaker
Everyone dreams of living an uncommon life and the best asset you have to achieve your dreams is you. Welcome to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast.
00:00:14
Speaker
We're going to introduce you to people who are living uncommonly. We're also going to give you some tools and strategies for building wealth and for pursuing an uncommon path that is uniquely right for you.
00:00:28
Speaker
Hello everyone, my name is Philip Ramsey and you're listening to the Uncommon Wealth Podcast. Thanks for tuning in. Holy cow, we've got another great episode for you today. Something that I feel like a far too many people neglect or they're scared to do it.
Why Tracking Numbers Matters
00:00:43
Speaker
But how do you track your numbers in your business?
00:00:47
Speaker
Or personally, you could totally deviate this and make this all about personal. I'm going to make it about business. I think it's important. But when I start coaching people, this is really where we start is what in the world are important numbers for your business and have you track them.
00:01:02
Speaker
Could be kind of boring to some people, but I love it. Okay. So here's the deal. At the end of the day, this has been a learned behavior for me. Um, as I look back at just my whole career path, there was an individual that actually was a mentor of mine. His name was Mark Johnson and it was back in my pharmaceutical days.
00:01:19
Speaker
And Mark was like relentless on our expense reports every month. Go through, save your receipts on whatever expenses you had, save your mileage for whatever you had and track it every month.
00:01:32
Speaker
Take a picture of the receipt, put it all together. It was like craft day for Philip. It was like cut and pasting, truly cut and pasting because we didn't have a lot of digital stuff back then. Gosh, I'm dating myself, but I would just put it on a piece of paper. i would put the date on everything. I would circle the the expense. And then I would submit that every month. And okay, so the greatest part about this that Mark knew is like it was only due once a quarter or once a year, one or the other. It was one of those. Okay.
00:01:59
Speaker
Uh, but what he knew is if we continued to do it monthly and did it well, it would develop a routine and it would be far easier at the end of the year when everyone else is trying to do this stuff and do retroactively, you know, they don't have the receipts like we did. we were all done and it was completed. it looked great. Um, and so I had this like instinct knowledge of how important it was to stay on top of your numbers. Okay.
00:02:26
Speaker
So now flash forward, I get this business and I got introduced to this thing called the operating.
Understanding EOS for Business Management
00:02:30
Speaker
So EOS entrepreneurial operating system. um It's a book out there, super powerful, but basically you try to run your business in five different pages, casting vision or values, who your client type, um where you want to go in 10 years. And then the probably the biggest thing for me was the scorecard. It was called,
00:02:51
Speaker
And then you find try to figure out what's important to your business and what things that you should track. And then every week you track those those numbers. So for us, revenue is a good one. um Expenses is a good one. So every week I go in and I look at all of our bank accounts and I go through, okay, what are the expenses for the week? What is the revenue for the week? And what are we trying to achieve you know for the year?
00:03:17
Speaker
We have that every week. Since... 2019. This is our eighth year doing it. So we did it all 2019, 2020, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25. And we're in our 26, obviously. We're in our eighth year of tracking all these numbers.
00:03:38
Speaker
What is fascinating is we sometimes we'll change our scorecard on what we're going to utilize and what we're going to track for the year. But for the most part, it stays pretty consistent. like These are the numbers and the EOS system kind of coaches you this way.
00:03:53
Speaker
If you are on a desert island and you needed to track the specific things that are the most important to your business, what are those seven or eight things, metric measurements that you'd want to know on that desert island to know like, we need to board a path. We need to board a plane. We need get back there because things aren't going well.
00:04:09
Speaker
Those are the things. So for us, revenue expenses. And so for the last seven years, i can go back and see like 2019. Where were we on the fourth week of the year in revenue or expenses or all these different things?
00:04:25
Speaker
And also at the end of the day, like numbers tell a story if you can read them.
Overcoming Business Challenges with Data
00:04:29
Speaker
And so when I bought my ah business partner out 2023, our numbers didn't look great. Like expenses were high.
00:04:37
Speaker
ah Revenue was down just because we were trying to reacclimate. Like what's the new normal? What's the things that we really want to focus on? How can we serve our our existing client base in an uncommon way?
00:04:49
Speaker
It was a complete rebuilding. So from 2023 2023, probably March till 2024, March, things were pretty kind of negative because in 2020, 2022, we had our highest year ever. 2023 was not the case. What happened? Well, I bought my business partner out. That's what happened. But you'll be able to speak to that stuff and then you can see how it impacts you.
00:05:12
Speaker
And so as we kind of continue to build the business and started to to grow this in a way that I thought was an uncommon way, we could start seeing revenue start, start going up. We could start tracking things that are important to us.
00:05:24
Speaker
um And we can have a record on the past, which is so powerful. I'm telling you guys, like now that I've done it, For so long, I'll never stop doing it. And the best time to plant a tree was yesterday. The second best is today. So if you haven't done your numbers, I would challenge you to try to figure out the seven metrics you want to measure and start today.
00:05:47
Speaker
Even if it's the third or fourth week in January or the in March when you're listening to this or May or November for for all intents and purposes, start tracking it. Because then, as you do this, you'll be able to see some trends and things that you can address. You can start thinking about like like a c CFO.
00:06:05
Speaker
You can start thinking about your business a little bit different. So, if you don't track your numbers now, I would start. If you are tracking your numbers, take a look at those. See what stories they tell.
Finding Joy in the Journey
00:06:17
Speaker
That's what I got for you. I know it's not the most sexy topic, but I think it's important, especially when uncommon path, because I believe the more and more I'm into this, the joy needs to be the day-to-day operations, the journey. The joy needs to be in the journey, not the end result. Because at the end the day, like my goals are always changing. Even when we achieve the goals, I'm always like, we can do better.
00:06:39
Speaker
Let's try to refine those things. So... There's a little glimpse inside my brain about numbers and why they're important and what you could do to start making them important in your life. Thanks for listening. Till next time, track your numbers.
Closing Thoughts and Promotion
00:06:52
Speaker
That's all for this episode brought to you by Uncommon Wealth Partners. Be sure to visit UncommonWealth.com to learn more about our services. Don't miss an episode as we introduce you to inspiring people who are actively pursuing an uncommon life.