CYS Pro Your Business Barometer · 7. Do you have a content marketing strategy and promotional schedule for your blog posts, social media, and email newsletters? _____ 8. Does your

Professional Edition

Your Business Barometer

©2018 Holistically Haute™, LLC/Rachael Pontillo. All rights reserved. of 1 16

Welcome to Your Skincare Business! Whether you’ve been in business for years, or are just getting started, being

able to realistically and honestly assess where you are at any given time,

within the various aspects of your business, is crucial for success. We all have

strengths, which tend to be things we love to do, and we all have areas of our

businesses that either stay on the to-do list for long periods of time, or get

put on the “should-do, but won’t-do” list. And that’s perfectly fine—and in

fact, quite normal.

To be successful in business, it’s important to have the ability to look at things

in an unbiased, detached way. That’s not easy, because we tend to praise

ourselves for doing great work in the areas of business where we have more

passion and feel we really shine, and then express negative feelings when we

don’t see as much progress in areas that aren’t our favorites. But the more

realistic we are, and the more we track how things change as we move

forward, the easier detachment becomes.

It’s OK to feel emotional about your business, because it is an extension of

who you are, how you got to this point in your life, and what your life’s calling

is. If that wasn’t the case, you would be here. But sometimes parts of running

a business that are harder can take a negative toll on our emotions—and just

like we encourage our clients to practice self-love even in the face of

perceived imperfection, so too we must with our business. We must shine

light and send love to the places where we feel we don’t have strength. By

bringing that into the light, that’s when we can realistically see what needs to

be done, and come up with viable solutions for how to take care of it. It also

helps you prioritize where to focus the majority of your time, and where you

can—and should—delegate, and create systems and automations.

Make sense? Good! Onward!


Instructions for Your Business Barometer:

Each of the following sections has 10 questions. What I’d like you to do is

rank how you feel about where you’re at in your business in each question,

from 1 to 10. A rank of 1 means that this is something you don't yet have in

place, it’s something that’s completely new or unfamiliar to you, or it’s

something you do have in place but it’s NOT working and needs serious

change. A rank of 10 means you’ve got this completely in place and you’re

really happy with how it’s going, so it needs little to no attention or change.

Most of your answers will fall somewhere between 2 and 9. Answers

between 2 and 4 might mean you’ve gotten started with that item, but it’s

either unfinished or not working; whereas answers between 6 and 9 might

mean that you have that item up and running, but maybe not to its full

capacity or efficiency. If an item is not applicable to you or your business,

please respond with a 5.

At the end of each section, add up your score for each section. At the end, you

can use the chart to visually represent your score.

What I want you to understand about Your Business Barometer is that, like a

weather barometer, it’s just a measurement of where something stands at a

certain point in time. It’s not a judgment of good or bad—so giving something

a 1 or 2 doesn’t necessarily mean you’re bad at that item, whereas giving

yourself a 9 or 10 doesn’t necessarily mean you’ve aced it. Because like the

weather, your business—and your life—changes all the time. I recommend

taking Your Business Barometer once at the beginning of every quarter, so

you have clear and relevant guidance of what needs attention in your

business, which you can then plan everything else around.

When you have a clear picture of what’s working in your business (and what’s

not), you can then take more focused action to achieve your goals. Enjoy!


Date of Your Business Barometer reading __________

Section 1: Business Setup and Structure

1. Have you registered your business with your state, either as a sole proprietorship (DBA), partnership, LLC, or corporation? __________

2. Do you have a separate bank account and/or credit card for your business? __________

3. Do you have a method in place to track income and spending/expenses? This can be a paper ledger, spreadsheet, app like Expensify, or program like Quickbooks or YNAB. __________

4. Do you have a designated office space or workspace for your business, either in your home or in a separate location? __________

5. Do you have a designated mailing address or PO box for your business? __________

6. Do you have a system in place for bookkeeping, or have you hired a bookkeeper? __________

7. Do you have access to a CPA, accountant, or other tax professional who can advise you on your business taxes? Sometimes your personal tax professional is a good fit for your business taxes too, sometimes not. __________

8. Do you have access to a lawyer who understands the local, state, and federal laws that govern small businesses and cosmetic regulations? __________

9. Do you have the professional or business licenses required by your local and state laws for you to be able to legally conduct your business? __________

10. Do you have systems in place for record keeping, such as your formulary, test results, quality control, batch records, inventory control? __________

Total score for Section 1: __________


Do any thoughts or emotions stand out after filling out Section 1? Please express them below: ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Section 2: Time Management and Planning

1. Do you have a calendar or planner dedicated to your business that you

can use to plan daily, weekly, monthly tasks and goals? This can be a paper

calendar or planner, or an online calendar like a Google Calendar or iCal.

__________

2. Do you have set times each week or month that you use to plan out the

next week, month, quarter, or year? __________

3. Do you know where you’d like your business to be in the next year? 5

years? 10 years? __________

4. Do you have a clear understanding of how many hours you have each day/

each week to dedicate to your business? It’s common to have other

obligations like day jobs, kids’ activities, or other aspects of your business,

but it’s super helpful to know exactly how many hours you realistically

have week to week to work on your skincare business. __________

5. Do you have a plan in place for what to do when something unexpectedly

pops up in your home or work life that conflicts with your daily or weekly

plan? __________

6. Do you have support in your personal life for your business? Meaning a

supportive significant other, friend, or mentor who “gets” what you’re


trying to do in your business and strives to make things easier for you?

__________

7. Do you have a project management system for yourself and for your

team, if you have one? This can on paper if it’s just for you, but should be a

shared online platform that’s accessible to everyone on your team if you

have one, such as Google Drive, Basecamp, Asana, or Teamzy. __________

8. Do you have an online booking or scheduling system, such as MindBody,

Acuity, Schedulocity, or Calendly? Does this system sync with your

preferred online calendar? __________

9. Do you feel in control of your calendar? __________

10. Do you feel the plans you make are based on concrete details/analytics/

numbers from your business? __________



Section 3: Your Ideal Customer

1. Have you defined who your ideal customer is? Do you know everything

about her—who she is, what she does, what she cares about, what she

struggles with, what her ideal solution is, etc? __________


2. Do you know how your ideal customer likes to consume information?

Does she like to read magazines, surf through blogs, watch videos, text

message, listen to podcasts, watch documentaries, etc? __________

3. Do you know what process your ideal customer goes through before she

makes a purchase? Does she ask her friends for a recommendation, rely

on product reviews from beauty bloggers, look to see what her favorite

magazine is featuring that month, read through ingredient safety

databases, etc? __________

4. Is your current website someplace your ideal customer would arrive at,

and think “this is just what I needed” or “this is sooo me,” based on how

she likes to consume information? __________

5. Do you have way to attract your ideal customer to your website from

other places she might be consuming information, such as in-person

events, social media, newspaper ads, or Google? __________

6. Once your ideal customer is on your website, do you have way to provide

her with excellent value before she makes a purchase? A way to start the

relationship? This can be a blog, a quiz, a free offer, etc. __________

7. Do you have a system in place to collect and store your ideal customer’s

name, email address, or other contact information, for further email

communication? Something such as MailChimp, ConvertKit, AWeber,

Constant Contact, InfusionSoft? __________

8. Do you have a plan or system in place to communicate directly with your

ideal customer via email, social media, private messaging, text message,

or other ways she likes to receive information on a regular basis?

__________


9. Do you know how your ideal customers find you? Do you ask current and

past customers how they found you, and why they chose to do business

with you? __________

10. If you have an existing business, how close to your ideal customer are

your current customers ? __________



Section 4: Brand Communication and Marketing

1. How comfortable are you with selling? __________

2. Do you understand how to capture and hold a potential customer’s

attention online? __________

3. There are many, many natural skincare brands these days. Do you know

who your direct competitors are? Meaning, the brands who have a similar

story, overall look and feel, ingredient philosophy, etc as your brand/the

brands your ideal customer might be currently using? __________

4. Do you have a clear understanding of what makes your brand unique

from your competitors? __________


5. Do you write your own website content, or do you already have a person

on your team responsible for writing website content? __________

6. Do you have a clear “Work with Me” area or “Shop” section of your

website, so your clients know exactly what you offer, how it benefits

them, and where to go to buy from you? __________

7. Do you have a content marketing strategy and promotional schedule for

your blog posts, social media, and email newsletters? __________

8. Does your website and other online representations (social media

profiles, etc) have consistent visual branding—a deliberate color scheme,

fonts, communication style? __________

9. Do you have a plan in place for advertising? This can be social media ads,

Google ads, sponsorships, affiliate marketing, etc. __________

10. Does your business have its own social media presence on the platforms

that your ideal customer most utilizes? __________




Section 5: Your Numbers

1. Do you already have a clearly defined product line with set prices?

__________

2. Do you know how much revenue you need to generate to cover your

expenses and have money left over to pay yourself, and keep extra for

taxes and profit? __________

3. Do you know your hourly rate, and are you happy with it? Meaning, when

you divide the amount of money you bring in by the number of hours you

work in and on your business, are you happy with that number? __________

4. Do you know what it costs you to run your business? __________

5. Does your pricing reflect your value, your costs, and your financial goals?

__________

6. How comfortable are you with delegating tasks that take up a lot of your

time, even if it means you have to pay someone else to do them? __________

7. Do you factor in planning for taxes, vacations, savings, retirement, kids’

college when you set revenue goals? __________

8. Do you have a clear Terms of Use/Terms and Conditions/Return Policy

for your products and services listed on your website? __________

9. Do you have a system in place to manage your business budget and cash

flow? __________

10. Do you map out your business’ financial goals using a timeline, calendar,

chart, or other measurable system? __________




Section 6: Systems, Automations, and Delegation

1. Do you consider yourself a good boss and a good employee? __________

2. Have you made a list of the different “jobs” that are required to run your

business efficiently? Examples: formulator, customer service, copywriter,

fulfillment, operations manager, payroll, bookkeeper, graphic designer,

marketing strategist, web designer, tech support, etc. __________

3. Do you know which of these jobs you, and only you can do? __________

4. Do you know which of these jobs can be done by a computer/automated

system? __________

5. Does it take a long time for you to learn and be able to comfortably use a

new technology/software/system? __________

6. Are you happy with your current website and tech solutions? This

includes hosting, shopping cart, payment processor, onboarding system,

CRM, etc. __________

7. Are you clear on what tasks, skillsets you currently do that take you WAY

too much time and/or stress you out? __________


8. Do you find that you have to do a lot in your business manually, or in

realtime? Examples: mailing, ordering, social media, scheduling, sending

emails, etc. __________

9. Do you feel confident that you know how to choose the right team

members, train, and manage them? __________

10. Do you feel confident that you know how to choose and use the right

online systems and automations for your business? __________



Chart it Out:

On the next page, you’ll see a pie chart, with all 6 sections represented by a

different wedge of the pie and a different color. Plot your score along the

lines of each color based on your score from each section. 0 marks the center

of the pie, 100 is the outer perimeter, 50 is halfway between the center and

the perimeter. Once you’ve plotted your score from all 6 sections, connect

the dots. This will give a visual representation of Your Business Barometer on

this date. Next quarter, repeat this exercise and note how the chart changes.



Setup & Structure Time Management & PlanningYour Ideal Customer Brand Communication & MarketingYour Numbers Systems, Automations, Delegation

100100

100 100

100 100

50

50

50

500

50

50

What new information do you now have about your business that you’d like

to focus on for the current quarter? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is already working really smoothly and efficiently in your business? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are your biggest opportunities for growth or improvement across

your sections? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________


What are your greatest strengths as a business owner? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What are your favorite things to do in your business? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Which skills do you need to either acquire for yourself, or delegate to someone who already has them (and better yet, enjoys doing them!)? ____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

What is the first action step you’ll take to work towards growth?

__________________________________________________________________________________________________________


Additional Notes:

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Documents

CYS Pro Your Business Barometer · 7. Do you have a content marketing strategy and promotional schedule for your blog posts, social media, and email newsletters? _____ 8. Does your