Whether you’ve just started a new venture or are celebrating the fifth year of your business, it’s always a great idea to set goals or review your performance as a business and entrepreneur. Doing so can help your business to steer in the right direction.

After all, knowing how your business can survive this year and another,  and eventually grow will not only help you evaluate your business performance, but also drive you to pursue greater milestones moving forward! Here’s how you can gauge – and improve – your business’ health and navigate the way forward to the new normal.

The numbers game (or why lists matter)

It may seem really simple, but taking the time to sit down and analyze your business’ performance will help you monitor its health. Here are the documents you will need to review and go over:

• Balance Sheet. It shows how your business is doing financially at a particular point in time.  This also shows your business’s assets, liabilities, and equity.
• Income Statement. It shows whether or not your business is profitable at a particular point in time. Also itemizes your revenue and expenses.
• Cash Flow Statement. It shows you where your money goes. Also lists and summarizes your business’s cash flow inflows and outflows from operating activities (e.g. revenues, expenses), investing activities (e.g. assets purchased and sold), and financial activities
  (e.g. loans and loan repayments).

Reviewing numbers might seem scary if you are worried about your business’ performance. That’s why reviewing updated financial documents can help a lot; they can show you which areas you need to improve upon.

Read also: 5 practical ways to keep your cash flow running

Investing in improvement

Learning more about investments during this time can help boost your business. There’s an actual need for Filipinos to boost their business and financial knowhow, which is thankfully being addressed by startups like Brainsparks Philippines.

Brainsparks founder Artie Lopez envisioned his startup “…to be one of the platforms to help bring information and educate Filipino techpreneurs and help them understand how the process really works.”

Learning how investments work will help your business grow. Aside from the profit your products or services bring in, investments offer an additional stream of revenue. And with more funds flowing into your business, you and your team can create more opportunities to improve
your products and services.

Similar to the Ignite 2019 event, there are other local seminars and workshops available that you may want to join to learn more about investments. Consider joining meetups and mixers, too. These networking activities help you find out the tricks of the trade from other entrepreneurs. Who knows, you just might meet an investor interested in scaling your business!

Forging relationships

According to Manila Recruitment, the availability of local talent is one of the main reasons why the number of startups is growing. As such, it’s important to hold on and take care of the talent you already have.

Whether you’re handling a small or large workforce, taking the time to keep tabs on employee welfare is key to keeping your business healthy. You may have bigger numbers when it comes to the products and services you’ve produced, but are these the results of a stressful work
environment?

A business grows not only because you offer something special to your chosen market. Your business grows because of the people putting in the hours and placing their trust in your decisions. Isn’t it only sensible to see if everyone’s efforts are rightfully compensated?

Raising the bar

Now, we’re not saying that you need to give everyone (including yourself!) a raise. Although that may be tempting, not every business has the resources to offer a company-wide increase in pay. Instead, find a reward that works for everybody.

Let’s paint a clearer picture: say your workforce is made up of individuals with young families. Why not tailor their rewards to their priorities? An outing catered to families would be something everyone will look forward to!

Take how local ad agency IXM sought to change the work-life balance conundrum. By allowing employees a chance to file for breakup leaves, heartbroken workers now gained some much-needed time for self-care.

Take how local ad agency IXM sought to change the work-life balance conundrum. By allowing employees a chance to file for breakup leaves, heartbroken workers now gained some much-needed time for self-care.

We will get through this

In every crisis, lies a great opportunity. Take heart. Like any challenges you’ve been through in running your business, this season shall come to pass. In a nutshell, here are the things that can help you in reviewing your business performance.

1. Review your finances
2. Identify areas of improvement
3. Set business goals even in this challenging time
4. Invest in learning about investment
5. Focus on your people

Read also: 5 practical steps to manage your finances during and after a crisis