The Importance of Knowing Your Numbers, with Leandra Nisbet

Speaker A: Hey, everybody. Um, and welcome back to this week's episode of the Maeve Ferguson podcast. And I am so, so delighted to be able to completely geek out today with the incredible Leandra Nisbet. Now, Leandra and I are kindred spirits because she is also all about the numbers. And just this morning, actually every second Thursday, I have a Mastermind call with the ladies in our Mastermind, and one of the things that we were sharing, we always bring things to the table that will help each other. And, um, one of the things that the ladies on the Mastermind were sharing was this incredible spreadsheet. And, um, well, 7:30 this morning, I was literally doing a little dance and they were all laughing at me because they were like, you are far too excited about spreadsheets. This is just not normal. But it makes me very, very, very happy. And, um, Leandra essentially works with experts course to help them really launch their business and become very impactful with their operations. And the whole angle that we're going to be talking about today is this holistic approach and being able to use numbers to their advantage to make decisions and listen, if you've been listening to the podcast for any length of time, you will always have heard me say, you got to know your numbers. I see so many people in this online space, they are thinking that they're running a business, but you ask them some of their most basic KPIs, and they don't. So they're key performance indicators. They're key numbers they literally don't know. And that, to me, always kind of makes fear run through my veins, because if we don't know our numbers, we can't be making accurate and correct decisions based on data. And then what happens, a lot of people is that they're actually making decisions on their business based on emotion, based on how they're feeling that day. And that is not running a business that's having a hobby. So I am, um, so, so, so chuffed. Leandra's going to be doing most of the talking in this session. I cannot, cannot wait to unpack all of her brilliance around using these numbers, um, to your advantage inside of your business. So welcome to the show, Leandra. As I said, I am so happy to hear have you here. So just give us kind of, um, a little bit of an introduction to all of our listeners about you, your brilliance and your exper.

Speaker B: Well, thank you. I'm thrilled to be here. And yes, we can definitely get excited about the numbers together. And I don't know who wouldn't be excited about a Great spreadsheet and working formulas, so nothing wrong with that. Um, so just a little bit about me and my background. Um, as you said, I'm Leandra Nisbet, and I'm the founder and owner of Stingray Advisory Group. And our focus is on helping business owners launch, grow and scale their businesses effectively and efficiently. Um, and I'm really passionate about taking some of the kind of daunting, um, complex business tasks and processes, but things that are still essential for business and making them approachable and actionable. Um, I feel like that's one of the things that we hear a lot, that sometimes, you know, it's so easy to avoid some of the elements of business because it's out of our wheelhouse. It's too confusing. We're just kind of in our lane. You know, people went into business because they had a passion about something, not necessarily because they wanted to be business owners. And so being able to really remember that the business side of business also still needs to be top of mind and help people with being able to use their numbers and be empowered around them within their business, finding and engaging with the right audience and really having a clear plan for moving forward, I think is essential.

Speaker A: Absolutely amazing. Hear, hear. And, um, Leandra, whenever you think about these, you know, these experts, these course creators, they have a skill set, they have expertise, they have brilliance to bring to the world. Okay, what do you see as, ah, kind of the three biggest mistakes that they are making when it comes to, you know, kind of setting themselves up for success, just like you've talked about. And, um, then in a moment, then we'll kind of give them three steps as to what to do instead of those big mistakes.

Speaker B: Yeah, absolutely. Um, so some of the things that I see as people are just getting started that are mistakes as they're trying to really get up and running and do things the right way. One, not separating their personal business finances. Um, it's so common, especially to your point, when you're starting out and transitioning from a hobby into a business to continue running things like a hobby. And that means, you know, you're still using your personal bank account, you're just running things through your regular debit card and just moving on, you know, kind of status quo. But really, once you've taken the steps to create a business, you should be separating out that activity and having your own business account. Not only is it the right way to operate your business, but it's also going to save you so much time and stress in the future by having clear understanding of your numbers, what was actually a business trip to Starbucks versus you just going on the weekend with your family. Um, your CPA and bookkeeper will really appreciate you for having that. Even if you're not working with a professional right from day one in the future, just being prepared, um, and thinking ahead for what your business is going to look like and how you want it to operate. Um, so I would say that's definitely one. Another one is thinking that they can serve everyone. Um, it's so common. Like if we're working with a very early stage entrepreneur and asking them, you know, well, tell us about your goals, who's your target audience? Who are you trying to connect with? And they're like, oh, anybody. Yeah. And generally that is very. Yeah, exactly. Anybody with money, I guess. But I mean it's really not. I, I find it very rare that any offering is for everyone. And I encourage people to remember that you actually don't want, that you don't want to be the end all, be all for everyone. It's great. And it's okay to niche down, to be intentional with who you're trying to engage with, to be strategic with your outreach. It's going to help you from a marketing standpoint. It will help you with branding and positioning yourself in the market. Um, and you're not over saturating yourself by spreading yourself too thin, trying to be everything to everyone. Um, so having a lot more intentionality and focus in that is really important.

Speaker A: Brilliant. Brilliant. Fantastic. Okay, so we've talked there so far about this whole shift from kind of personal expenses. Make sure that we are tracking those effectively versus business expenses. And then obviously the big conversation around niching down whenever somebody is a little bit further down the journey. What's the third mistake that you see people make when it comes to kind of systems operations, tracking the numbers, all of that type of thing.

Speaker B: Um, I would say not having a system at all is a, is a problem. Um, because it's so common again just to be going through the day to day and kind of going through the motions and being so focused on your end product or your output that you're not thinking about everything that's going on behind the scenes along the way. So maybe you don't have a great way for tracking your projects and managing that information. You don't have a system for keeping up with your expenses and the spending that's going on in your business and even tracking income efficiently. Um, sometimes it seems like that's kind of the afterthought. Um, you know, if you're working more in a coaching or consulting space, you're doing the work, you're delivering your product or your offering, and then you're like, oh, I didn't invoice for that or did I send that, or, you know, you're just trying to cobble something together through like a Google Doc and there really isn't a system and a clearly defined process for keeping things running effectively. Um, and that can be a challenge for many reasons. One, you might be leaving money on the table. You're not 100% clear where your money is going all the time. It's hard from a cash flow and planning perspective to operate your business if you don't really know where your money ever is. Um, and I also encourage people to always kind of think about the what's next. So if you ever think about scaling, outsourcing, delegating, it's hard to do any of those things if you don't have processes in place. How can I train my virtual assistant to help me with invoicing or content creation if I don't have a way that I do it, there's nothing to do. Exactly. Um, to really bring them in on. So even though if you might be working as a team of one, thinking about, well, where do I want this to go and sometimes taking the steps and the time to slow down and create the process, create the system, have a platform, an app, a software you're using can really help you as you're moving forward.

Speaker A: Amazing. I love that. And I think two things have really jumped out to me there that I'd love to chat about a little bit more. So one is the whole project management piece. Okay. So I used to work in project management in my corporate career, so it makes me very, very happy. Ah, um, to work on projects, build projects, make sure that they deliver on schedule, etc. And um, I think probably just curiosity wise, what tools and equipment do you use to, and what do you help your clients with in terms of managing those projects, building them and running them? And um, I just, you know, just kind of comparing notes on how you run projects versus how I run them.

Speaker B: Yeah, so I agree. I mean, managing a project is, I mean, I think it's fun. I think it's also something that's very essential, especially the more hands that you have involved in a project. It's just so hard to keep everything up in the air and be clear on where things are at. If there's no, no details, there's no information, there's nothing to reference, um, so with that, I mean we use Zoho projects. I don't know if you're familiar with the Zoho suite of apps or not, but yeah, um, so we use their project management platform. Um, and then personally in my personal life for things that I keep up with, I use Asana. Um, so really I like things that are cloud based, I like things that are easy to access, access on the go. I can easily, you know, check notes or have a link and really use it as a central repository for all things the project. Um, you know we will create projects and within that, for example, it's not just the details of the deliverables and the, the timing of the project, it's links that we put in there within the description for you know, the shared doc with all of the assets for the project or we have details for who's on the team for this project and every, I mean pretty much everything that you could think of we try to put in that place. It's not. We're looking in 15 different places for everything. Everything is linked to that project to make it more effective and efficient.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that because it ties back to efficiency in that conversation that you had earlier as well. Because again, when, you know, one of the things that um, we are incredibly good at in our business, for example, is that very um, very streamlined operations, very, very efficient operations and we can go from going live with a brand new course in about nine hours is kind of the, the record as to how fast we were able to bring that to market. And that is all because of exactly what you're saying. It is having the project plans, it is having the resources, the assets all in one place. You're not kind of running all over your Google Drive trying to find random stuff at random times and adding hours, if not days, if not weeks to your different projects that you have going on in your business. So I absolutely love that. So Asana, um, and Zoho as well. So both really, really incredible platforms. We use a combination of Notion and um. So we moved to it just last year, um, tried Monday and all of those things as well. Uh, Notion and good old Google Sheets is um, you know, something that I love to work from as well. Um, because you can also do all of your, your numbers and your tracking and then this is, this is something as well. So you mentioned there about cash flow and one of the things that we do ins business and working with our clients is to build out kind of KPI dashboards so that on any given day they can open up a one pager and know exactly where they stand in terms of their volume of leads, earnings per lead, cost per lead, their revenue for the year metrics, um, versus where they were this time last year. And it is all there for them in a one pager. And uh, it ties lovely into the conversation that you had there about cash flow because cash flow is king. So without cash flow there is no business. And I think what happens, a lot of people who maybe don't have tracking mechanisms like this in place is that they, they don't know when installment plans are going to be hitting their account, when expenses are going out, what their monthlies are, what their expenses are, etc. So can you give us a little bit of an overview of your view and expect on cash flow and managing that and all of those kinds of things?

Speaker B: Yeah, I mean to your point, it's definitely king. I mean being able to understand what's coming into your business and what's going out of your business at any given point is essential. Um, so I like budgeting. I think it's very important to have a clear plan of, you know, where were we before and where are we looking to go. So kind of the budgeting versus forecasting and saying like, how is my, our pipeline looking? What do we have coming in, um, what are we expecting and how is the turnaround time for that? You know, for us, because we do have kind of two sides of our business where we're doing our one on one and advisory work as well as digital spaces. Those are two completely different, um, revenue streams and the way they operate are different. So for example, for us it's important to know if we're working with putting out a proposal for a one on one client and project, what is the typical turnaround time for that? So then how many projects or things do we need in our pipeline to keep everything running the way that it is? If you don't know the history, how long it normally takes for you to go from lead and introduction to closing a, um, into a new client, it's kind of hard to judge that, like are we doing a lot? Are we really doing nothing? Like in the sense of how much is in our pipeline? Um, there's so much data that we have access to these days and so sometimes I think it's easy for people to get overwhelmed by it. So that's why I agree to your point. Thinking about what are those key performance indicators, what specifically resonates with you and your business is important. So for us, I do like knowing what is that Turnaround time. So I can forecast and think of how many people or projects do we need to have lined up or in the works at any given time to think, make sure things are consistent. Um, we're looking at social media analytics. Everybody has access to those, regardless if you're looking at them natively in the platform that you're using or through a third party tool, looking, um, at, you know, cash on hand, actually having an idea of what we actually have access to, um, and knowing our break even. So what do we need to actually have on a given month to make sure everything is operational and then that we're actually profitable? So I think there's a lot of data that we can pull in, depending on how our businesses run and operate and what all is going on, but taking the time to think of what's really going to be moving the needle and impactful for you and your operations. And I also would say, and I think, you know, you can appreciate this as well, thinking about the leading versus lagging indicators within your business, thinking about how much is historical data, uh, it's lagging behind where we are today. So it can maybe be a good predictor of the future, all things being equal. But it's not everything. And I think sometimes we get stuck on, um, the past, the lagging information, like, well, that's already done. So we really can't do anything about that at this point. So thinking about how can you see trends, how can you start to see, you know, what the data is actually telling you and how it can impact the future? That's where the real power is.

Speaker A: Yeah, I absolutely love that. So one thing there just, uh, kind of want to jump, jump on is this kind of the leading and lagging indicators. And something that I often, um, notice is that people are focused on kind of, you know, what sales did I make today? But what you, you know, based on what Leandro's just said, always think about. So if you get 150 leads, for example, this week coming into your business, you know, if you're, if you're running an online business, when you start to know, you know, for every, every lead that comes through, it takes X amount of time for them to convert into Y client for Z amount of revenue. And you then start to be able to see this ebb and flow, especially if you're running cold traffic, to say, okay, you know, 100 leads today, 150 leads tomorrow, whatever that may be, and what that actually converts into on the back end, rather than kind of focusing on, well, how many dollars Did I make today? And whenever you get that flow and consistency and you know your conversion metrics, it's very, very easy then to look at an end funnel. Um, be able to say, okay, well, X amount in at the top end of the funnel equals Y clients at the back end of the funnel when you know your numbers. But obviously the, the most important thing here is to get started with it. Okay? So, you know, nobody's going to be able to kind of throw together an entire KPI historic dashboard over the last five years if they haven't been gathering any data. So, Leandra, let's. Let's start with three simple steps. If you've been. If people have been listening to this episode and they're kind of going, yikes, I'm not tracking anything. What, uh, are three really simple steps to get started, which will mean that they, even just. With these three steps, they'll be in a better position than they were yesterday.

Speaker B: Yeah, uh, absolutely. So I, first, I would encourage people, yes, start small, just get started. Um, don't let it overwhelm you and think that there's way too much to dive into or to go into that. Then it's not that it's not even worth it. Um, so based on some of the things that we've been chatting about today, I would say good starting points. One is the smallest step that you could probably take it. I think looking at your expenses and where your money is going is an important. Is an important note. So to start simple and not be overwhelmed by that, grab your last credit card statement, your last bank statement, go into your online banking, um, and just start looking at your money. Because one of the things that will happen is as you start to have consistency around that, if you can say, okay, well, I'm checking this every week, every other week, once a month, you're going to start to see more information and feel more comfortable and confident around your numbers. It's going to help you with being able to say, like, oh, yeah, like, I forgot that that charge was coming out, or, oh, you know, I wasn't aware of that, or that looks off. You know, it looks like, you know, I went out to lunch and it was supposed to be $79 and they charged me $97. You know, but you're never going to really spot those things if you're not in your numbers on a regular basis. So the smallest step when it comes to looking at the expenses, I would say get into your numbers. That's something that anybody could do starting today and just start to Get a sense of where the money is going and how things are operating. So then you can also start to see where things look off with time.

Speaker A: Beautiful. And just, just on that, before we move on to kind of the second and third step, one thing that I did recently with a one on one client is we actually sat down, uh, I gave her like an expenses tracker. And I know you have an amazing tracker for our listeners here today, but we literally, you know, I went down through all of the costs and the operational cost of running our business and the team and all of the software is involved. Um, and she had these amazing kind of light bulb moments of like, oh my goodness, look at yours versus mine. And oh my good. And she was really able to see she forgot certain expenses that were going out every month. And she didn't even, you know, she didn't remember that she subscribed to this thing. Especially with online subscriptions, especially with annual payments. I find as well, if you pay annually, you know, you almost forget that you had that software. And the next thing you know, February 22nd you get hit with this and you're like, what even is that Having this kind of monthly check and keeping a tab on all of your expenses going out and knowing what is normal, as Leandra said, knowing what is not normal really allows you to kind of keep your, your pulse, um, the pulse of what is going out of your business every single day. So that's amazing. So start small with expenses. We've got that down there as our first one. And you know, you'll be able to tell everybody about your expense planning calculator that we have for them here today. What would be another thing that they could do just to get started to, to start to kind of wrap their arms around getting their numbers, um, tracked and under control in their business.

Speaker B: Yeah. So if we want to stick with thinking about your numbers, so if we've got our expenses and we're starting to see where those are going, I would be looking then at the money coming into your business, thinking about if you have a process for that, for um, not only creating the invoices or sending out, you know, if you're working in the online space. But what are the follow ups? Like what is your process for that? Sometimes it's very easy again, going back into the one on one or coaching side of business. Um, if you send the invoice, you're moving on to the next project or the next thing, you're not following up on that invoice. So a small step that you could take There. If you're using an accounting platform, look at what automations you have set up. A simple one could be setting up an automation for invoice reminders. And what those are is if somebody you've sent an invoice, you could set it up for example 10 days or 15 days after the due date to automatically resend that invoice and just send a nice reminder. Note, you can generally customize the message. It doesn't have to be just some bland message from the platform. Um, to remind your client, like hey, just want to remind you about this invoice because sometimes again you're leaving money on the table because we're not following up on the things that we've already done. We're already thinking about the next thing.

Speaker A: Yeah, I think I love that. And then from my listener's perspective, a lot of them will have kind of digital courses. And um, the big one is obviously for clients on installment plans, um, sometimes for whatever, whatever reason, credit card expiries, insufficient funds, whatever that may be, payments, um, actually fail. And I think it's about having that process of you know, you might see the strike notification on your phone to say so and so's payment failed, but it's actually having that follow up process then internally to make sure that you go back to them, make sure that there's, the card is correct for the next retry of those automated payments as well. And I think it's just rather than um, kind of assuming everything is ground and not realizing that some payments have failed is having that process to, to follow up effectively and make sure that you're getting paid for the value that you are, are bringing. So I absolutely love that. And what would be one more then before we bring this to a close?

Speaker B: Yes, um, I would say this one is a little bit bigger. So I will distill it down into a small step that you could take to get started. But what I would encourage is to think about having a budget. If you don't have one, creating one, if you do have one, revisiting it. I think sometimes the budgets are kind of a set it and forget it type approach that people take. Like we created it and then we move on. But part of the value of the budget is actually going back and using it to see what was the performance that you actually had. So if you're creating an annual budget, ideally you're breaking that down into monthly data for your income and your expenses. But then you're also going back at the end of a month and putting in your numbers how did you perform against your budget? Were you over budget, under budget? Why? Can you explain it? Is it going to continue knowing all of the story and continuing to forecast forward based on that? So a very small step one, if you have a budget, pull it out and revisit it. Is it still accurate? Is it something that maybe you set last year and we really haven't done it yet this year? Um, type thing. If you don't have one, just find a template. Find a tool that you can use. If you have an accounting platform, most of them have a feature built in to help you with creating a budget. Um, and that can pull from historical data to help you get started. Um, if not a Google sheet, there are a ton of tools that can allow you to create a budget. So find one. I mean, you might. I don't even know. There's probably something in Canva these days, but being able to just find something that will work for you and that will resonate with you and then just start there. I mean, I'm not even going to say overwhelming yourself by starting to plug in all your information or categorize or anything, but just find something to help you get started. Um, and then maybe put a time on the calendar to revisit it and do the next step.

Speaker A: Beautiful. I absolutely love that. Love that. So tell everybody all about your expense planning calculator that you have for them. And obviously I'll hook the link up in the show notes down below the episode, but I'm pretty sure that every single listener will want to get their hands on this after hearing this episode. So, um, how can we get, uh, you know, what's it all about, how do we use it? Etc. Leandra. And then I'll put the link in the show notes.

Speaker B: Yes. Um, well, thank you. So our expense planning checklist and calculator is a simplified tool to help people get started with understanding where their money is going. Excuse me. Um, it's a simplified tool to help people understand where their money is going. And it also starts with a checklist. So when you access the resource, it's going to walk you through some initial considerations and things if you are starting to think about investing in your business. So this could be. For example, maybe you're thinking about you need to update your laptop and you've been putting it off. You're thinking about hiring your first assistant or an online business manager. Um, it could be anything large or small and it will help you kind of think about some of the initial things to consider within that. And then within it there's also a link to an interactive calculator, um, so a Google sheet that you can use to start plugging in your information and being able to actually track your progress. Um, there's a couple, I think hidden, um, well not hidden, they're right there. But a couple extra little bonuses within the uh, tool as well. So that way it can be visual. I think it's also important to be able to see the information to keep things top of mind and um, front and center. So then as you are continuing to save, you can go back and update your information. You can look at your progress, um, and keep an eye on the expenses, um, that you have within your business and keep it all in one centralized place. So it's definitely a great place to get started. Especially if you're not using an accounting platform. You're not really ready to jump all out, all um, in to a full platform or suite and still be able to keep all of this information, um, right at your fingertips.

Speaker A: Beautiful. I absolutely love it. And that's kind of just a one liner that we can end the show on where you want the listeners to realize the importance of knowing your numbers in business.

Speaker B: Oh, that's a good question. Um, I would say knowledge is power. And don't be afraid to, um, use data to your advantage and don't allow it to overwhelm you to the point that you're not in control of it because it's your business and you are in the driver's seat.

Speaker A: So there you have it. Knowledge is power. Love it. I will see you all on next week's episode. And thank you so much, Leandra, for coming on, um, and sharing your expertise with all of our listeners.

Speaker B: You're welcome. Thank you so much.