Although it may be hard to believe we’re halfway through the year already, this is a great time to do a checkup to ensure your business is on track to reach your goals for the year.
Here are the steps you can take to assess your progress so far.
Revisit Your Goals
What did you want to achieve with your mortgage business this year? Were you focused on the number of loans, total dollar amount, types of marketing tactics, or all of the above? Look at how well you have achieved your targets so far. If you are about halfway or more toward what you set at the beginning of the year, then you’re on track. If you haven’t hit the halfway mark on the items you’re tracking, what changes can you make to achieve them by the end of the year?
Check Your Budget
When you set your goals for the year, you allocated funds to help you achieve them. Look at your budget and see how you’re doing on those priorities. Do you have a chunk of funds you allocated for marketing, for example, but haven’t used? Choose whether to ramp up your spending in that area or reallocate the funds to a different budget line. Of course, you could have some expenses that are payable toward the end of the year, so account for those when you’re assessing whether you are spending toward your goals appropriately.
Go Over Your Financials
Look over your monthly financial statements to see if there are any cash flow issues or unexpected expenses you need to address going forward. Also, look to see if your inflows have matched what you expected. If your inflows have been greater, consider adding to your business savings or taking a distribution, depending on your financial goals and ownership structure. If they have been lower than expected, make plans to address that for the rest of the year.
Check-in with Your Team
If you have employees or contractors, take some time to meet with each of them to see how they are currently feeling. What areas would they like to improve? Where do they need more support? How are they progressing on their own goals for the year?
These discussions can give you valuable insight into areas of the business and the day-to-day work that you may overlook from your vantage point. Use them to help your team members plan for the last half of the year and to shift your priorities to provide the support they need going forward. Explore how your goals and their goals work together to help you refine your plans for the rest of the year.
Look at More Team Members to Add
You may find that your business is in a spot where it needs another employee to grow, so if that is the case, consider hiring. Or you may find that you need more support for the back end, for example, a financial adviser or dedicated business banker to help with growth and future plans. If you’re drowning in paperwork, a bookkeeper can free up your time to focus on helping borrowers rather than tracking down receipts and entering data into your accounting software.
Taking a little time at mid-year to assess your business can help you ensure that you will meet your goals and go into the next year with a solid plan to succeed in the long term.
Get more ideas on how to grow your business on EPM’s blog.
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