Speaker 1: Welcome to Before Breakfast, a production of I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: Good Morning, This is Laura. Welcome to the Before Breakfast podcast.
Speaker 1: Today's tip is to work close to the bottom line.
Speaker 1: When you're faced with multiple priorities and must determine where
Speaker 1: to direct your time, focus on the tasks that will
Speaker 1: bring in revenue, boost profits, or otherwise produce immediate benefits.
Speaker 1: These tasks will buy you space in the future for
Speaker 1: other things. Listeners often tell me that they have trouble
Speaker 1: figuring out what tasks to work on first. If your
Speaker 1: boss has given you a specific assignment and has said
Speaker 1: that that should be your top priority, well great. But
Speaker 1: what if your boss has given you six projects. Well, yes,
Speaker 1: you eventually need to work on all of them, but
Speaker 1: we never know when emergencies will arise. If your office
Speaker 1: loses power at eleven am, you'll be better off having
Speaker 1: gotten to some of these tasks versus there's This is
Speaker 1: the genius of the rule to work close to the
Speaker 1: bottom line, particularly in a monetary context. When you look
Speaker 1: at your meeting schedule and see that a client wants
Speaker 1: to meet about follow up work at the same time
Speaker 1: that you normally have a weekly check in for an
Speaker 1: ongoing project, Well, maybe you can delegate the check in
Speaker 1: the client meeting is more likely to boost revenue. Similarly,
Speaker 1: if you've determined that you are overpaying for supplies, a
Speaker 1: few calls to negotiate that should take precedence over cleaning
Speaker 1: out your inbox. Cutting costs boost profits again the bottom line,
Speaker 1: and you don't actually need to be pursuing profits per
Speaker 1: se to work close to the bottom line. Nonprofit organizations
Speaker 1: need higher revenue and lower costs like anyone else, so
Speaker 1: the same rules apply. Suppose you're a fundraiser for a
Speaker 1: nonprofit and your boss has asked you to write a
Speaker 1: letter for the donor newsletter and also to submit a
Speaker 1: grant proposal to a major foundation that recently visited your organization.
Speaker 1: The grant proposal could result in significant funding for your organization.
Speaker 1: It's close to the bottom line. Is an article for
Speaker 1: the newsletter valuable? Well, probably, but its impact is less
Speaker 1: immediate and less direct, So unless you've been given explicit
Speaker 1: instructions otherwise, better to handle the grant proposal first, then
Speaker 1: after that submitted, turn your attention to the article. The
Speaker 1: bottom line isn't always strictly monetary. Sometimes it's an immediately
Speaker 1: valuable outcome of another sort. For example, you might be
Speaker 1: faced with doing reference checks for an applicant your organization
Speaker 1: wants to hire. This is the last step before making
Speaker 1: the offer and bringing the person on board. You may
Speaker 1: also need to develop goals in a dashboard for the
Speaker 1: upcoming quarter. Both are important, for sure, but the reference
Speaker 1: checks paved the way for immediate concrete benefits, namely letting
Speaker 1: you hire this person that you want to hire. While
Speaker 1: the goals and dashboard in the myriad of other tasks
Speaker 1: on your to do list well of an impact over time,
Speaker 1: Bring on the new higher and he can help you
Speaker 1: with those tasks, so direct your attention there first. And
Speaker 1: I know it's satisfying to cross items off our to
Speaker 1: do lists, but the downside of this is we can
Speaker 1: get just as big a hit from crossing off order
Speaker 1: new folders versus call old client whose budget just doubled.
Speaker 1: But clearly not all tasks are of equal value. When
Speaker 1: you're deciding what to do, think about dollars an immediate impact,
Speaker 1: the sort that will open up space in the future
Speaker 1: over time. Working close to the bottom line means we
Speaker 1: make faster progress toward our own and our organization's goals
Speaker 1: because we're accomplishing what matters most in the meantime. This
Speaker 1: is Laura. Thanks for listening, and here's to making the
Speaker 1: most of our time. Hey, everybody, I'd love to hear
Speaker 1: from you. You can send me your tips, your questions,
Speaker 1: or anything else. Just connect with me on Twitter, Facebook
Speaker 1: and Instagram at Before Breakfast Pod. That's b E the
Speaker 1: number four, then breakfast p o D. You can also
Speaker 1: shoot me an email at Before Breakfast podcast at i
Speaker 1: heeart media dot com that Before Breakfast is spelled out
Speaker 1: with all the letters. Thanks so much, I look forward
Speaker 1: to staying in touch. Before Breakfast is a production of
Speaker 1: I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio,
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