3 Boring Business Tasks That Bring Sexy Results

Would you believe the secret to keeping any business from failing came down to ONE word?

I’ve been practicing this word for over 15 years. And my business keeps growing as a result.

No, it’s not “profit.” However, this task helps to grow revenue. And it’s something most business owners suck at…

The word is… “Organization.”

Before you stop reading, let me share the 3 tasks I promised in the title. Because they all help my business stay organized and make more money.

Monthly Metrics
Business Budgeting
Job Journaling

I’ll break these down into actionable tasks you can start today. And even share the custom templates and tools I use.

I promise these tasks will save your business from ever failing. And help add more revenue to your bottom line.

These are the kind of boring behind-the-scenes tasks that no one talks about. They’re not sexy, but they work! 👇

1. Monthly Metrics

At the beginning of every new month, I fill out this spreadsheet. I open tabs to collect all the data I need to fill in the following metrics:

Traffic
Email Subscribers
Affiliate Marketing Revenue
Product Revenue
YouTube Ad Revenue

These metrics are my KPIs (key performance indicators). And I’ve included built-in calculations to measure if my business is growing or not.

Filling this spreadsheet out manually forces me to understand the metrics and gives me ideas on what to improve (if anything).

I have a tab built for every year to look at past data and measure it against the current year.

I also have a spreadsheet for each one of my brands and have been religiously filling it out since 2015. It’s fun too!

Here’s a link to download the template I use with all the formulas ready to go.

All you have to do is commit to entering the data at the beginning of each month. Please put it on your calendar to repeat and thank me in a year.

2. Business Budgeting

I use Quickbooks to keep track of all my business expenses. And I follow the Profit First framework for bookkeeping, which you can learn more about here.

But this spreadsheet keeps me from overspending on my business. It includes 4 tabs:

A summary (dashboard) calculates how much money I have left after all salaries, expenses, taxes, and profits.
A list of expenses by month and category with totals.
A list of income by month.
And a “Profit First” allocation calculator you can learn about in this video.

I also fill this out manually at the beginning of each month. And I add to it whenever I take on a new monthly expense.

This is the single most important spreadsheet in my entire business. And if you don’t have one for yourself, you risk serious failure.

So download my FREE template here and get started today.

3. Job Journaling

At the end of every work day, I journal about the things I accomplished or my thoughts about the business.

I use a journaling app called Day One. It syncs between my laptop and iPhone (when I forget to journal and can do it on my phone before bed).

Every day brings a different story. Sometimes I write a single sentence. Other times I write novels. But the prompt is always the same: what did I do today?

At the beginning of every new month (the same time I fill out my metric and budget spreadsheets), I read through every journal entry. I take the most important bits and put them into a single Google Doc broken down into 3 categories:

Roses: things that went well in the business.
Thorns: things that sucked.
Buds: things I want to work on the following month.

I store these monthly documents in a Google Drive folder like this 👇

Recapping my big wins (roses) reminds me that good work and progress were made. This is helpful to keep the motivation kerosene fueling the fire in my gut.
Admitting my issues (thorns) helps me to avoid mistakes or improve problem areas in my business.
Deciding what to focus on in the next month (buds) helps keep me on track for business growth.

Breaking things down like this every month helps me to stay focused on what matters to my bottom line.

The Boring Shit Brings The Sexy Results

I have a recurring task in Asana that reminds me to journal daily and fill out my monthly metrics and budget.

My Obvious Pick

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Matt Giovanisci (me) earns a commission if you click this link and make a purchase at no additional cost to you.

These 3 tasks are the secret keeping my business from failing. And I’m shocked when I find out other business owners don’t do any of this shit.

I promise it’s worth the effort. It indirectly grows the business and improves my bottom line.

And it’s worth doing it yourself as the business owner. It’s like being in the driver’s seat. Keep your eyes on the road—hands at ten and two (or nine and three now?).

So, are you ready to get started? Do you already do these things? Could you be doing them better? Reach out to me on Twitter and let me know.

I love you.

Matt Giovanisci

I own three authority sites across different niches, including Swim University, Brew Cabin, and Money Lab. They earn a combined total of roughly $1,000,000 a year. I design and code all my sites. Write the words. Film and edit the videos. Produce the podcasts. Illustrate the graphics. And I have a small team that helps too.

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