You can’t cut your way to real success.

When you look at expenses, you’ll probably find yourself in one of three situations: 

1. Unsolvable: When debt is really high or your rent is out of whack, data probably won’t save you.  When your data tells you that everything must go perfectly for you to make money, you need more than data can deliver.  Everything else never goes perfectly. 

2. Open to a one time cut: Maybe you have an outside marketing firm that’s not delivering.  That shouldn’t be a hard conversation (your data should show you why they are or are not making you money).  It’s harder if you’ve taken on too many staff.  Firing folks shouldn’t be easy.  But in both cases, a cut can make a big difference.   

3. Not so important: As a small business owner, it can surprise and/or aggravate you when lots of little expenses add up. But, really, if you’re a solid business, driving yourself crazy about expenses won’t make you rich.  Sure, if you’re paying a lot of credit card fees, getting your clients to switch to ACH is a good idea.  But it’s not going to make you rich. 

Once you’ve gotten to stage three, you can and should focus on building revenue.  And maybe review your expenses once in six months.