Page 210 - The $100 Startup_ Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love

may not be comfortable with this option.

PRICING REVIEW. As discussed in Chapter 11, you should review your prices
regularly to determine whether a price increase is in order. In addition, consider
adding appropriate upsells, cross-sells, or other income-generating tools to your
arsenal.

CUSTOMER COMMUNICATION. This involves not just dealing with emails or
general inquiries, but initiating communication through newsletters and updates.

A key rule for all these activities is to initiate, not respond. Doing this for just
forty-five minutes a day can bring huge rewards even when everything else is
crazy and you spend the rest of the day putting out fires. Onward!

Monitoring Your Business

Regardless of your growth strategy, you’ll want to pay attention to the health of
your business. The best way to do this is with a two-pronged strategy:

Step 1: Select one or two metrics and be aware of them at any given time,
focusing on sales, cash flow, or incoming leads.

Step 2: Leave everything else for a biweekly or monthly review where
you delve into the overall business more carefully.

Some members of our group were much more diligent about tracking metrics
than others, with a number of people talking about being obsessive over data and
others saying they had “no idea” about what was happening in the business. (My
opinion on this approach: Personalities and skill sets vary, but be wary of
delegating all financial knowledge to someone else. Having no idea about money
stuff is usually a bad sign.)
The metrics you want to track will vary with the kind of business. Here are a
few of the most common examples.

Sales per day: How much money is coming in?