Quarterly Organization Series: How to Audit Your Online Business
4 words most business owners don't want to face:
Have you assessed your _____?
Depending on how smooth your business has been running up until this point, those words may either light you up or make you want to run away.
I may seem like a bit of a nerd here, but I LOVE doing business audits.
It's a time where you can get a good look at your business and decide how you want to move forward.
This is one of those business tasks that may not seem THAT important but in reality, it's one of the most important things you can do.
Keep reading to learn what the heck a business audit even is, why (and how) you should audit your business, and the 3 most important areas of your business to audit.
It won't be painful, promise. Let's dive in!
What is a Business Audit?
According to good ol' Google, a business audit is typically used on the financial side of things. - usually due to tax and IRS standards.
In this article though, we're gonna be talking about your business as a whole.
A business audit in that sense is an assessment of your current structure, standards, and procedures.
The Benefits of Auditing Your Online Business.
Doing regular business audits, especially as a solopreneur, will help you learn what's working and what's not working on a deeper level.
Most likely you are running all the "departments" of your business and that means things can get a little muddy.
» Small things may get overlooked which can turn into big things.
» You may be spending too much time focusing on things that don't matter.
» Your priorities may have shifted but your practices haven't caught up yet.
You might read that and think, "Oh, it's not that big of a deal." Hate to break it to ya, but it is.
If you're not assessing ALL areas of your business, you may realize a year, or 5, down the road that you have veered wayyyyy off-path without even realizing.
How to Audit Your Online Business.
Before diving into how to conduct these audits, let me introduce you to your new online best friend - ClickUp.
ClickUp is a project management software and one of the best tools to help you audit your business (and keep everything in one place).
When you audit your business, you may notice there are some tasks that need to be done to get your business back where you want it.
If you're using ClickUp, you're able to create those tasks right inside the platform - assigning due dates, milestones, goals, etc.
Business Audit #1: Your Time/ Tasks
The most important thing to audit in your business is the tasks you're doing and the time it's taking you.
One of my favorite parts about ClickUp is the ability to give tasks a time estimate and track that time in the platform.
In a time/ task audit, there are two main questions to ask:
1) What type of task are you doing?
Admin = checking emails, sending invoices/ contracts, scheduling content
Technical = web design, graphic creation, video editing
Executive = Strategic planning, vision casting, general overview
2) How do you want to proceed with this task in the future?
Keep = you continue with this task
Delegate = you hire someone for this task
Delete = you get rid of this task completely
Automate = you find a way to automate this task
If you notice a majority of your time is doing admin tasks, you may want to start looking at hiring a Virtual Assistant to delegate those tasks too.
If you notice you're spending a lot of time doing tasks that aren't moving your business forward, you may want to delete those from your day-to-day.
I bet most of your tasks can be automated, delegated, or deleted from your business operations.
If you're not in a place to hire someone, there are many software and tools to help you automate much of what you do.
Business Audit #2: Your Offers
In the first few years of business, you're experimenting with the types of offers you create.
You may find yourself creating something new every quarter or every month. There's nothing wrong with this but it can get quite overwhelming.
If you've heard of the 80/20 rule, you know that 20% of your efforts will result in 80% of your success.
This means if you have (on average) 10 different offers or products, only 2 of those are moving you forward.
That means the other 8 may be dragging you down because they're either:
» taking too much time and not providing results
» competing against each other and confusing your audience.
When auditing your offers, there are a few questions to ask yourself:
1) Do I like this offer?
Did you create it out of a need from your audience & it's something you enjoy or because someone else told you to?
If it's the latter, get rid of it.
2) Does this offer compete with something else I have?
Do you have many courses related to Instagram or content creation? If so, determine which is doing better and get rid of the other.
3) Is this offer bringing in income?
If the offer is one you enjoy and relevant, but not bringing in any income, it's time to make some revisions.
If you're holding onto it because it seems good to have, it's time to get rid of it and move on.
Assessing and auditing your offers is like cleaning out your closet.
Are you holding onto that one pair of jeans because "one day" they'll fit again?
Or you have a shirt that still has the tags on it but you keep telling yourself you'll find something to wear it to?
Chances are neither of those things will happen. And it's the same with your offers.
Simplify your offer suite and I promise your business will improve.
ClickUp Template
Never have an outdated offer or lacking system again. Includes audit checklists, task lists, and workflows.
Business Audit #3: Your Numbers
Ahh, the fun part.
Remember when I said most business audits involve tax and IRS things? This is that kind of audit (kind of).
Knowing your numbers will make or break your business. It's a fact.
The most important number to know when it comes to business is profit.
Profit = Revenue (income) - Expenses (spending)
As an online business owner, generating a profit should be quite easy since there isn't a lot of overhead costs to running the business.
There's typically no office space, a low amount of employees, and many platforms have a low barrier to entry when you're starting out.
If your business isn't making a profit, this audit will help you learn where your money is going and where you can cut costs.
Pro tip: Look at subscriptions FIRST, I saved over $800 a year by switching to a lower version of Teachable (a course hosting site). I realized I was paying for something I didn't even need.
When auditing your offers, you'll figure out which offer is bringing in the most income.
Once you've determined that, you can audit your different strategies to decide where you can increase leads, engagement, conversions, etc.
Business, at its core, is a numbers game.
I don't care what anyone says. You can be successful, to a point, without knowing this information but you won't get as far as you want.
Fast track your workflow
Get the clarity you need to build the business of your dreams, and one that runs on autopilot
☑️ Understand your business on a deeper level
☑️ Stay in your zone of genius
☑️ Make way for future expansion
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