End of Financial Year Pain to Bliss

Just three days to go till we finally see the back of those endless health insurance advertisements on commercial television.  I can’t wait.  But that won’t be the limit of the End of Financial Year Bliss I’ll be experiencing thanks to the Business Connector networking evening on 17 June.  Thanks to David Harvie’s presentation on the night, I’ll be focusing on the insights he delivered to ensure that the 2014-15 financial year is better than ever.

David noted that the key to success in business is to ensure that your personal goals and values are reflected in what you do.  This, he says, allows you to fully immerse yourself in your business, whilst also maintaining any personal goals, and having time for the things that make you happy.  Instead of looking at the end of the financial year as an excuse for a spending frenzy as well as a planning no-go-zone, focusing on your values allows you to think more clearly about what you want to get out of your time in your job, and facilitates more effective long term planning.

The research backs up Harvie’s argument.  Companies that value their employees have been observed to as much as triple their return on equity and assets (see Nelson, 2012). But it’s not enough to just shower an employee base with gifts.  Employees need to feel properly engaged to consider themselves valued.  The same goes for managers and business owners.  People need to feel that their work is appreciated, and that it aligns with their personal values and goals.  Only then will business owners feel engaged enough to improve productivity and performance.

But Harvie also noted that managers and business owners of small businesses have a tendency to forget to pay themselves.  When the end of the financial year is nigh, it’s worth considering how much you’ve paid yourself from the businesses you’ve run, rather than just thinking about overall profit for the business.  Once a business owner has been adequately recompensed for the enormous amount of work they put in to a business (including taking time off to renew energy levels), they are more likely to be able to contribute meaningfully to the ongoing growth of the business.

All useful lessons from the last Business Connector event.  And there was some great food and people in the room with whom to share ideas about how to focus attention around values.

Don’t miss next month’s Business Connector Networking event on 2 September.  Our speaker will be Matthew Pinter!

And you can hear more from David Harvie on business capitalisation here: http://www.businessconnector.com.au/news/is-this-the-time-to-take-money-off-the-table/