By Marleen Somohardjo
The key is to create a business that not only delivers positive financial results but also allows you to live the financially free and abundant life that you aspire for. This involves constructing a robust and dynamic enterprise that offers you consistent financial rewards, thereby enabling you to secure a prosperous and financially independent lifestyle.To facilitate the smooth establishment of your business and to set it on the path of success, I am keen to share with you eleven ways to ensure your venture remains financially healthy and attractive to investors. These ways are designed to build upon your financial understanding and abilities, aiming to position your business as a desirable prospect in the eyes of potential stakeholders.
From vision to successful strategy
One of the initial steps involves asking yourself, “What is it that you want to introduce to the world?” By answering this question, you will be able to create a financial vehicle that empowers you to manifest your vision into reality, along with a robust strategy. If your vision, for instance, is to help millions of women feel confident and comfortable in their clothing, then your strategy should align with this vision. What will your approach be to supporting this vision? How will you develop this strategy to execute your vision?
This approach also necessitates a focus on the business’s objectives, milestones, and financial outcomes. To what extent are there feasible timelines for execution, and most importantly, what are the financial objectives for your product or service? These questions are crucial to understanding your roadmap to success.
From strategy to process
Your strategy constitutes your long-term plan pertaining to the company’s products and services. Concurrently, your process represents the specified way you manufacture your product or deliver your service. An excellent process should be congruous with your financial objectives, meaning it should be efficiently designed, balanced with your business objectives, and inclusive of risk mitigation. Financial losses are under consideration, with the goal being to reduce your losses within the process and command higher profit margins for a sustainable time.
From process to internal efficiency
I aim to guide you through this stage with the aid of my eBook. This book will enable you to maximise your cash flow via the five pillars of profit and a blueprint that designs efficient and profitable process flows. The focus should be on your core competencies, allowing you to create and benefit from clear, efficient, straight-through, end-to-end processes. This blueprint is also relevant for adding or replacing processes. All processes should symbolise a direct, flawless, end-to-end process. Therefore, excellence within core competencies is vital.
Internal efficiency to solidify infrastructure, scale up, and innovate solutions
With strategizing comes planning, and after planning, execution is facilitated by a solid infrastructure. In this context, I refer to IT and management infrastructures that expedite your business decision-making, incorporate automation, standardise processes and operations, and drive innovations. By answering key questions like how your business benefits from your current infrastructure and how efficiently it facilitates your workflow, you can effectively utilise these capabilities to enhance the quality of data management and business data.
From infrastructure to sustainable profits
Having a solid financial strategy embodied in financial planning is significant for achieving more sustainable profits. In this regard, a robust IT infrastructure and an effective management infrastructure are the bedrock for reaping profits over an extended period. To achieve this, breaking down your core processes, backed by your infrastructure, provides opportunities to automate, scale up, and innovate. This will give you a competitive edge and enable you to dominate your market share and position.
Enhancing financial literacy
It is my mission to assist entrepreneurs and business owners on their journey by building financially strong and sustainable vehicles and providing them access to capital markets and investors. I believe that working on your financial literacy and comprehending your business data is the best way to save space. The essence of this is to craft a business that yields positive fiscal outcomes, enabling you to experience a life of financial liberty and affluence as per your desires.
Transitioning vision into a successful strategy
Ask yourself, “What is it that you intend to introduce to the world?” and formulate a financial conduit that empowers you to transform your vision into reality, backed by a robust strategy.
Suppose your aspiration is to aid millions of women in feeling confident and relaxed while adorning your apparel; the strategy must be tailored to accommodate that vision. What is the strategy you have envisioned to bolster this vision? The subsequent stride involves fortifying the strategy to enact your vision.
This segment should concentrate on the business goals, milestones, and financial outcomes. To what degree are the timelines for execution rational, and crucially, what are the fiscal targets for your commodity or service?
Progressing from strategy to process
Your strategy signifies your enduring scheme with respect to your company’s products and services. Conversely, your process defines the way you manufacture your product or conduct your service. An excellent process should align with your financial objectives.
By this, it is implied that the process should be designed efficiently, in harmony with your business objectives, and should encompass risk mitigation. Financial losses are considered, and the aim is to diminish your losses within the process and command greater profit margins, enabling sustained profitability.
Evolving from process to internal efficiency
As a guide, I present my eBook. It optimises your cash flow by delineating the five pillars of profit via a blueprint that designs efficient and profitable process flows.
The spotlight should be on your core competencies. This empowers you to develop and profit from clear and efficient, straight-through, end-to-end processes. This blueprint is equally applicable for supplementary or replacing processes. Remember, all processes should represent a direct, straight-through, flawless end-to-end process.
Therefore, brilliance within core competencies is a requisite. Furthermore, exemplifying sturdy business performance is crucial for robust business performance and financial outcomes.
From internal efficiency to solid infrastructure, scalability, and innovation
Strategy brings along planning, and after planning, execution is bolstered by a solid infrastructure. When speaking of infrastructures, the reference is to IT and management infrastructures that equip your business with rapid and apt decision-making, embedded automation, standardisation within processes and operations, and incite innovations.
By addressing the following questions, you can harness these capabilities that augment the quality of data management and business data: How does your business profit from your current infrastructure? Can the infrastructure facilitate your workflow and operations efficiently and compliantly? What obstacles within your infrastructure thwart an effective connection between your business data and performance?
The Final Strategy: From Infrastructure to Sustainable Profits
Having a solid financial strategy mirrored in financial planning is vital for more sustainable profits. That said, a robust IT infrastructure and an effective management infrastructure form the bedrock for reaping profits over an extended period.
For this to materialise, dissecting your core processes, supported by your infrastructure, presents opportunities to automate, scale up, and innovate. Having this established gives you a lead over your competitors, enabling you to dominate your market share and position.
It’s my mission to assist entrepreneurs and business owners on their journey by constructing financially robust and sustainable conduits and providing them access to capital markets and investors. In my view, enhancing your financial literacy and comprehending your business data are pivotal.
About Marleen Somohardjo
Marleen Somohardjo is the brilliant, strategic, and tenacious founder of M2 Advisory, a management consulting firm. As the founder of M2 Advisory, Marleen delivers finance and risk management strategies for entrepreneurs, CFOs, and business owners to master their financial viability.
With her extensive expertise and recognition in the global corporate arena for firms such as KPMG, ING, ABN AMRO, and Aegon, she also mentors startup businesses and helps entrepreneurs successfully scale up their businesses.
Ever since Marleen started her career with KPMG and worked with influential large corporations, she honed her consulting skills by learning to listen and recognising challenges. She masters this skill by successfully supporting her customers financial strategies and creating longevity and sustainability within their market.
Over the years, it has been Marleen’s mission to create engaged leadership that amplifies financial and risk management for sustainable, purpose-driven societal objectives and financial results.
