In my time running Leechon, I’ve learned it’s absolutely necessary to know where every penny is coming from and where every penny is being spent. With that knowledge you operate your business appropriately.

COUNTING MONEY

One of the major responsibilities of a business is to make money for it’s stakeholders. That is the bottom line. It only makes sense you keep an eye on it regularly and measure it’s progress.

When keeping track of money you really have to pay attention to two things. (1) Accounts Receivable – money that is coming in into the business or is at least owed. (2) Accounts Payable – money that is going out. Basically the bills and invoices you have to pay.

A great habit to develop is to sit down every month and generate a monthly financial report.

A habit you should protect yourself from – I learned this the hard way – is waiting until the end of the year to see how your money is moving. You won’t like what you see. You’ll see fiscal mistakes that could have been prevented if only you stopped to see your progress and financial activities.

Work this habit of sitting down every month habit and seeing what direction you business’s life force is flowing.

You’ll learn you can consistently communicate hard numbers and progress to those who are invested in you and your project or those whom you’d like to invest in you.

It’ll allow you to make calculated budgets and plans for spending for the growth of the business and you can use it to forecast what situations you’ll run into in the near future.

MAKING MONEY

In January I made a blog post about 35 Ways To Grow The Business In 2010. A little over two months later looking back at that list I realized only a handful of them can be put into action immediately or within the next couple months. However, before any action could be taken, that overwhelming mind map of projects had to be cut down.

I canned everything that wasn’t directly bringing in revenue and started moving forward with those that do. The following is just some of the things that are already in motion or are soon to be:

1 -
Leechon Producership. This is an effort towards multiplying myself. The more leaders you train, the more potential you have to reach out to others exponentially. InshaAllah the idea is that inevitably will help the company’s bottom line while also creating some jobs. Part of the effort to raise some funds for the project will involve conducting paid workshops/events within the communities of the interns.

2 -
Islamic Kids Show. You may already be familiar with Abdullah the puppet. If you’re not, then click the puppet above or go here: facebook.com/abdullahkidshow. This project is simply a market test to decide whether or not we’re going to turn this into a full fledged venture.

3 -
Client Work. As part of client work, the focus won’t just be applied to producing videos, but developing marketing and business strategies where the client can use video increase sales and exposure online and offline. I’ve been doing this already, but never emphasized this. An addition to this is offering branding and PR services through my wife’s company MinbarMedia.

4 -
Expanding MessageMastery.com. I’m currently in the process of  relaunching “Secrets of Video Production” course. Developing the marketing plan right now as well as working toward building a continuity program. The objective is to expand the current members’ community and build passive ongoing revenue for the company.

5 -
Independent Feature Film on AlMaghrib Institute. The objective is to start seeking investors and taking pre-sales by Summer time. Currently in development stages. Should have a title by end of the week inshaAllah. Here’s a thread that explains a little bit more about it: http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?t=39623

Vote for the best title here:
http://forums.almaghrib.org/showthread.php?t=39691