Thanks to the support of incredible family, friends and clients…it has been an amazing year to be in business for my team and me.
We have grown dramatically, increased our revenue by multiple folds, increased our listings and closings, published a book “Success Made Simple” http://amzn.to/2dpwvDY , selected to be one of the Political Affairs Advisory Group for Fort Bend county, Won an award as “Top 20 under 40 rising stars of Real Estate” and so much more.
Despite all these success and accolades, despite an increase in revenue, our profitability has fallen flat.
I have let all the success get into my head and for the first time in my business life, I have gotten stupid with my corporate finances. I took my eyes of the ball, stopped doing my corporate budget, stopped checking the company bank account, I thought I have arrived. I told myself, that I was busy making money and did not have the time to check or track my balances. I said yes to every expense, I gave out blank checks to my staff, signed up for any and all donations and events, and rationalized spending frivolously.
I told myself, all I need is one more deal and all the expenses will not matter. There are times when I checked the corporate account while on the run and saw several expenses that I did not authorize or recognize but figured its not worth the hassle to investigate…Just go make more money, I told myself.
My stupidity came crashing on me sometime last month, when I woke up and got a notification that my corporate account was overdrawn. I was shocked. I had pride myself on being financially prudent. I had ran a debt free and profitable business for over two years. This was like a punch in the throat. I quickly infused more capital from my personal account and went about my business. A week later, another overdrawn notification. I had signed up for so many unnecessary recurring expenses without looking at the ROI. I knew something had to change, I had to get back to the basics and stop being stupid.
I have now re-established my corporate budget, checked every expenses closely and I am now returning to profitability.
For more articles like this, please visit my website at http://www.victorlofinmakin.com/new-blog/
At your service,
Victor Lofinmakin
2016 Top 20 under 40 realtor
Tarl Anderson Properties
(832)788-1782