If you can’t measure it, you can’t improve it.
– Peter Drucker
When you think about this quote, you can see almost straight away that this is true. For example, if we’re going from A to B we need to check with the map now and again to see how far we’ve gone and if we’re going in the right direction. Or if we’re trying to lose/gain weight, we need to jump on the scale or do a body measurement every once in a while to see if we’ve made an improvement. It’s the same in business. If you can’t measure every part of your business, you can’t manage or grow it.
For example: Do you know the number of your website visitors in the last 30 days? And do you know what percentage of them turned into paying students? If you don’t know the answer, if you can’t measure them, then you can’t possibly manage or improve them.
Business Review should ideally be done every 90 days to check where you are at the moment. Since this might be your first time doing a review, it is a good idea to start with your WHY first, as this would be the very thing that’ll keep you going when you are faced with challenges ahead.
Here’s this week’s Daily Prompts:
Day 1: Why did you start a dance business?
Really dig deep and be honest with yourself when you’re answering this question, as this is very personal and different for everyone. Find what really drives you and what motivates you being a dance instructor/business owner? What lits you up every time you teach a dance class. Is it when you see your students improve? Is it about the income you receive? Is it about leading a group of people that you particularly enjoy? Do you get more excitement from teaching dance or from performing dance? What are you hoping to get by running a dance business
Find the answer to this and keep coming back to it when things are tough. Your true WHY is the reason you keep going even when you want to give up.
Day 2: List the reasons why your students chose you over your competitors.
Why do you think they chose you? Ask your current students and find out, or check out the reviews and comments you get on your Facebook page. Write down the keywords and phrases that keep coming up. When you see a regular pattern, then you can take that as your unique selling point. This is what makes you stand out. This is your superpower.
Day 3: What worked and what didn’t work so far?
Write down the things from your plans that worked and didn’t work. If you never made a plan before (which you definitely should do going forward), try to remember what student-attraction and student-retention efforts you have done before that were successful or that simply didn’t work. Did you generate a new revenue stream (eg. from online classes)? Did you complete a project behind schedule and under budget? Did you sign up 10 new students last month as you said you would? Did you waste money on Facebook ads that didn’t work?
Day 4: What story is your numbers telling you?
Are your leads going up or not? Are the numbers telling you you’re going to be out of cash if you don’t fix something? Are people referring others to you or not? Are your numbers telling you that a certain kind of customers is better than another kind? Is your audience responding better to one ad than to another ad? Numbers always tell a story. So what are your numbers telling you?
Day 5: What did you learn and what could you have done differently?
Based on all of the above, what could you have done differently this past quarter? In light of what you’ve learned and what your numbers are telling you, what could you have done differently and what you should continue doing going forward?
In the future, you should do this review ideally every 90 days (quarterly), BEFORE you start creating your next 90 day plan. If you’re making it a habit of asking and answering these questions at every quarter, you’ll be surprised at how much this can accelerate your business growth!
