Show me the money, honey!
The goal of every business is to turn a profit, and many (if not most) business owners work for years before they become respectably, and 
consistently, profitable. But what happens when you achieve a positive profit margin? What do you do with the money?
Profit is the bottom line, but many business owners don’t know what to do with it. We spend a lot of time planning strategies to get to a place where we have more profit coming in, but neglect to take any time to consider what we would do with the extra money once we have it!
Here are some ideas to help you make the best use of that money.
You Have Choices.
Isn’t it good to have choices? In business, it is the best vantage point. When you consider what to do with your profits, consider the following:
- Take care of your employees – Your employees are the backbone of your business, and keeping them happy should be a big consideration. Can you offer your loyal employees more benefits, a raise, a bonus? If you are not sure what they would want, ASK!
- Take care of your clients – Is there a loyalty program that you have been thinking of doing that just needs a bit of capital to get it off the ground. Could you do a customer appreciation event at your location, or somewhere central to your client base? Thanking those who got you to where you are today is a great way to ensure that they will be around to help you get to the next level of success.
- Invest back in the company – To keep the momentum going, certain adjustments will need to be made if you want to continue to thrive. Have you been putting off making changes in advertising, software or hardware upgrades? Now that you have the funds available, this may be the perfect time to consider proposals for some of those changes. Try new marketing strategies, or invest in technological tools to make jobs a bit easier and more efficient.
- Increase your presence in the community – Give back to the community that has supported you with social action objectives. Donate to several charities, help to fund community projects and donate your time.
What will you do with the profits from your business? Think about it now before it happens so you can be prepared with choices when it does.
photo credit: Chris Butterworth, 401kLimits