Envision It
Visualizing healthy cash flow is the first step toward achieving it
By Michelle LaBrosse, founder, Cheetah Learning
How does the word “money”
make you feel? Do you feel that
you have enough money? If not,
how much would it take to make you feel
that way?
Perhaps you’re not really sure how to
estimate what you need or want. Here are
a few tips for doing just that.
First, visualize yourself as a pond.
Money flows into your pond as income and
profits, and money flows out of your pond
as expenses. As a mortgage broker, it’s important to manage the flow of this pond
carefully. Failure to do so could result in
financial rough water. On the other hand,
a stagnant pond does you no good either.
To keep your pond flowing properly —
and to take in more than you let out — let’s
take this metaphor a step further.
When you think about your current
situation, ask yourself this question: How
does money flow into and out of my pond?
One of the best ways to answer this question is to track every cent you spend or take
in for two weeks. Identify all the sources of
money that flow into your pond and how
other money flows out of your pond.
Decide how the money going out of your
pond helps you create the money coming
in. Is the money flowing out being used efficiently to achieve top performance? Or
is the money wasted on things that don’t
positively impact the bottom line?
As you start to understand your cash
flow, you can begin to engineer a system
that is better-aligned with your overall
goals and ambitions.
Next, do some visualization. Many
people have said that you can’t achieve
what you can’t dream. Take this statement
to heart. Visualizing what you want is the
first step toward making it a reality. It creates a goal, and it establishes motivation.
Far too often, mortgage brokers and
other professionals get caught up in the minutiae of day-to-day chores and business operations. This can often distract from your
goals. To keep focused on that end result,
write down your feelings about your business
and your cash flow. In other words, track the
changes to the waters of your pond.
“Visualizing what you want
is the first step toward
making it a reality.”
As you get in the habit of keeping tabs
on your pond, create a budget of how you
want your cash flow to look. And don’t be
shy. Write out your ideal cash flow and
how it will look when you achieve the goal
you have envisioned. Beyond this, begin to
establish steps that you will take to achieve
that perfect pond.
In addition, realize that your cash flow
might not always be where you’d like it to
be. Plan for that contingency and the impact it could have on your future. Write
down action steps that can help you avoid
having too little flowing into your pond or
too much going out.
Ask yourself if you must change your
niche in the mortgage industry or expand
your business to achieve your goals. If the
answer is yes, get ahead of yourself and
learn the steps required to accomplish
the necessary alterations. A change in approach will often require additional education, approval, licensing, etc. These things
take time, and it’s important to get things
moving as soon as possible. Remember, a
stagnant pond does no one any good.
Ultimately, the amount of care and planning you put into your pond will determine
how pleasant it becomes and how you answer the next time someone asks you how
you feel about the word “money.”
Michelle LaBrosse is the
founder of Cheetah Learning and author of Cheetah
Negotiations and Cheetah
Project Management. She
has been running Cheetah
Learning and managing
100 employees, contractors and licensees
worldwide for the past 20 years. Her monthly
column, “Know How Network,” is carried by
more than 400 publications, and her weekly
radio program, “Your World Your Way,” looks at
how project management fuels success. Learn
more at www.cheetahlearning.com. E-mail
LaBrosse at marketing@cheetahlearning.com.
