We’ve been talking about the EOS- Entrepreneur Operating System on the podcast lately and today, Victoria joins me as we dig into the scorecard portion of your EOS including how you can create a meaningful scorecard for your EOS.
Join Victoria and I in this episode to hear how you can build a scorecard that will help you track your metrics to reach your goals and make your business processes easier.
In this episode, Danielle also discusses:
- What is the scorecard 3:19
- The steps for building a scorecard 4:15
- How you can build a scorecard 11:09
- What to include in a scorecard 14:22
Connect with Danielle:
Website | https://www.kickstartaccountinginc.net/
Facebook | https://www.facebook.com/kickstartaccountinginc/
Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/kickstartaccounting
Twitter | https://twitter.com/KickstartAcct
Things Mentioned in Today’s Episode:
Book your FREE Discovery call: https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/book-a-call/
Test your Financial Health: https://kickstartaccountinginc.com/checkmyfinancialhealth/
Learn how to pay yourself as a CEO – https://www.kickstartaccountinginc.com/getpaid
Full Episode Transcript:
Intro 0:00
Welcome to entrepreneur money stories, the podcast for women entrepreneurs who want to dig into their money stories so they can break free from limiting beliefs around money once and for all hosted by Daniel Hayden, owner of kickstart accounting, Inc. This podcast is a series of real conversations about money mindset with valuable and action packed takeaways for the entrepreneur who’s building their abundant empire. Danielle is a reformed corporate CFO who’s on a mission to help rural breaking female entrepreneurs understand their numbers and gain the confidence to create sustainable profits. And now here’s your host, Danielle Hayden.
Danielle 0:40
Welcome back to entrepreneur money stories. Today, I am accompanied by Victoria, who is our operations manager here at kick started counting, Inc. and she is going to help us dig into the scorecard of our EOS entrepreneur operating system. Entrepreneur operating system is something we’ve been talking about over the last few podcast episodes. And what we hear from our clients all the time is how do I create a meaningful scorecard that I can use as part of this EOS system. So we have launched the system internally, Victoria was part of that process of building that scorecard and creating accountability. So it’s always gonna be here to share our experiences and be an advocate for you, the listener. So welcome, Victoria. Thank you for being here.
Victoria 1:31
Thank you for having me. It’s nice to be back. I know, it’s been a couple of months since I’ve been on the podcast. But yeah, I know, you know that. I love EOS. And I’ve had such a good time with the implementation. So I’m really excited to dig into this with you.
Danielle 1:48
Well, it doesn’t surprise me we’ve we’ve talked a little bit about the visionary integrator roles as people start to think about implementing EOS. And part of that visionary and integrator is having the team members to surround someone who is the visionary. So in our situation, I have very big picture ideas. And you are essential to funneling those ideas and bringing forth the detail. So for anybody who is struggling with the big ideas, and pulling them to fruition and following through, I would definitely recommend pulling up the book Rocket fuel, which is part of the EOS operating system and dig in further to the visionary integrator relationship.
Victoria 2:42
Yes, I think that’s a very good point of, you know, you can’t do it all. I think, a lot of times business owners, CEOs, entrepreneurs, you wear many hats, and you try to do it all. But if you’re really going to embrace that visionary role, sometimes you need people around you to help you take it to the finish line. And I think the scorecard is a really, really good way of tracking, tracking your metrics, so you can make sure that you’re making it across that finish line.
Danielle 3:14
Yeah. All right. Perfect for perfect segue. So that’s on the scorecard. The scorecard is a fundamental piece of ELS. This is how we stay accountable to our goals, and keeping our business on track. So we have to identify the right numbers. And we have to be patient with ourselves. Remember, this is all trial and error. So the scorecard that we have here at kickstarted county is now going to be the same scorecard that you’re going to implement in your business. And this isn’t the same scorecard that we started with. Two years ago, we created different metrics that weren’t actually useful. So we got rid of that. And then over time, we found new metrics that were actually more insightful, and we’ve added them to the scorecard. So we’ll walk through some ways to think about the scorecard and to find ideas, but just remember, be patient with yourself. This is trial and error.
Victoria 4:11
Yes. So Danielle, what are the steps to building a scorecard?
Danielle 4:15
First and foremost, I’m going to go back to the BTO because it’s so important that we have the vision, the mission and our goals set out before we start to think about how are we going to get there, right? We have to know where we’re going between the vision, marketing plan, revenue and profit goals. Once we have the BTO completed, we can start to identify the scorecard categories, the metrics that we’re going to keep track of, and we’ll go into further detail on that. Then we need to put a weekly goal on each category. A lot of times we think about our goals and long, long term, so checking in quarterly or once a month. However, it In the ELS scorecard it is recommended that you follow through in reviewing your scorecard week to week. So we have to put a goal that is specific, measurable and realistic for each of our metrics on a weekly basis. And then this is the part that I think is really important is assigning each metric to a specific team member. If one person isn’t responsible, then nobody’s responsible, I think we have experienced this over and over a kickstart. And we’ve watched so many of our clients’ experiences too, you really have to dedicate one person who is responsible for that metric, and to hit the goals of that metric. Now, that doesn’t have to be the same person who’s going to actually update the scorecard. But it is the person who is responsible for hitting that goal. We do have to assign a scorecard keeper. So who was going to update these numbers each week? So this might be your bookkeeper, your money team, your accountant, maybe somebody from your operations team, virtual assistant. But we have to have somebody who is responsible to get this information to you, the visionary, the business owner, on time each week, I really like consistency here. I think it’s really important to have a time interval in which you’re going to relay this information consistently week over week. For our team we meet every Monday, for some reason. We’re not in the office on Monday, we rescheduled that meeting for the as soon as possible appointment so that we are reviewing this information. And it really is just all about accountability. Consistency breeds accountability. Victoria, can you think of anything else on on how we currently keep our KPIs and our scorecard in front of front and center and holding each other accountable?
Victoria 6:50
I think something that we do is we just talk about it, we keep it from the Senator like every you know, we’ll bring it up in conversation outside of our weekly meeting, that weekly meeting is also like, obviously, just the baseline for keeping it front and center. And one thing that I know that you have given feedback on is like making the scorecard work for you. We’ve changed our scorecard. We’ve changed our dashboard multiple times. And we think it might work out better this way. And then we change it again, if you don’t
Danielle 7:25
mean to be kind there. We had a revenue metric that every week, it was comparing our weekly sales, forecasted sales to budget year to date to budget and every week I said the Victorian I don’t know, this doesn’t make sense. And this is how you said last week that you wanted to see it. I’m like, well, it still doesn’t make sense. Let’s try again. And we went through that for a few months before we landed on the right format.
Victoria 7:58
Yeah, but that is like the key is because if you don’t understand it, if you can’t look at it and see what it’s saying like something that you you say this, you know, when we’re talking about presenting any sort of metric, but especially with our scorecard, what is the story? What story does this tell. So having that in an easy format that you’re going to want to look at, like our format that we have now worked so well, that, you know, I can look at it and interpret it so quickly. So it doesn’t feel like some looming task to look at our scorecard and review. So
Danielle 8:37
what we preach here, we really practice what we preach, you don’t just hear me talking on the podcast about reading your numbers and figure out the story itself. We as a leadership team are doing that internally as well.
Victoria 8:50
Yes, that is a really good point that, you know, you’re in the same boat. And we’re assisting you with this as all of our clients, we want everyone to know that we are also reviewing our numbers, even when we don’t want to, you have your SEO days, even when there’s other stuff. And that scorecard and, you know, a lot of these are like KPIs that you are already thinking about. So the scorecard really just cuts down on the process, it can really just make your processes that you already are doing easier.
Danielle 9:29
Anything else that you can think of when we were implementing our scorecard and assigning roles and who was going to update the scorecard. And yeah, lessons learned or questions that you’d had coming into the process? Because when you came into this, I had already been implementing pieces and parts of this over the previous few years because I had mentioned on another podcast that we had done a soft launch several years ago. And then another launch last year, and we didn’t officially launch it until this year. So you came in during that process. So any other experiences or questions that you had or struggles that you remember that would benefit somebody who’s listening?
Victoria 10:15
I think, really a key practice that’s really beneficial is just clear expectations, knowing who is going to update the scorecard, and knowing who is responsible for that metric. And having that really helps everyone to hold themselves accountable. I think I would like to be able to go into our meeting. And, you know, we trust that the metrics are already updated. Because we know, Victoria is responsible for updating revenue. Kelsey is responsible for updating her metrics, like having those clear expectations, and just, you know, assigning everything, and not just making it like, yes, it’s a team effort. But sometimes, if you have too much of that team mentality, you’re not taking ownership of your own pieces. So Danielle, the number one question that we get from our clients is how do we build the scorecard? How do we even start to think about what to include?
Danielle 11:13
Yeah, this is a really good question. And I like the analogy that I had a mentor give me several years ago, when I started to think about ELS, he asked me, if I was going to go away for an island, gone Island or the summer, right, I’m going to be gone from my month for my business for three to six months. What is the information that I would need to see on a weekly basis to keep a pulse on my business and ensure that everything was still not just staying afloat, but still being driven forward in my absence? Now, I love being able to imagine myself on an island for six months, it will probably never happen. I’ll be bored to tears. However, I do think that exercise of really putting myself in in that seat and saying to myself, I am going to be away from my business, how can I ensure that my entire team is still operating efficiently, rowing in the same direction, and we are still set up to achieve our goals and succeed as a business. But that was my favorite suggestion I’ve ever gotten from my mentor. Another one is just noticing what you talk about a lot. So being really self aware. And this might be a process that you’ve spent a week or a month, just listening to yourself, listening to your team. What questions are you frequently asked? And usually they’re, they’re quantitative or they can be quantified. However, if they’re not quantified today, is there a way to make them modified? Is there a way to look at those differently? So just paying attention to what you’re talking about? And what are you looking for from your team? And then yes, I think looking at sales, finance, or bookkeeping, our profit losses, our balance sheet are all really great places to look for metrics. However, there are other places to look that might not be the low hanging fruit, like new clients, or revenue, how much money people owe us, or how much money we owe them people. Those are easy metrics to identify. It’s the more difficult metrics to think about your operations. So delivery, customer satisfaction, are we running efficiently? So some things that we look at internally? Are our team satisfied? So how is the team performing externally? Is our client feedback that we’re receiving so monitoring, requesting and then monitoring client feedback? And then are we sending out our financials on time? So actually delivering products and services on time, all of those can be quantified and measured in the scorecard?
Victoria 14:09
I just want to chime in with Danielle. I think something that really stands out when you’re talking about this is those things that you talk about, and you’re talking about with your team that aren’t like your typical metrics? Something that happened with kickstart, is you kept saying that, like, I just wish I knew this, like I wish there was just somewhere for me to go to find out this information. So we added it to the scorecard. And now you get it on a weekly basis. And you don’t have to be in the dark or go to five different places to find the information. So those things that maybe you don’t think can normally be put into that format. It’s possible you just have to basically establish practice.
Danielle 14:51
Yeah, thinking about how to handle it and make this process less possible, rather than approaching things of this isn’t past Trouble, or I wish I had thought about how do I make this possible? How do I find a way to make this something that I can monitor? That’s a really, really great example. Because it’s easy to find the easy metrics, right? The sales, even marketing metrics, such as Instagram engagement, Facebook engagement, podcast downloads, those are low hanging fruit, it’s the other ones that we’re thinking about, that are really going to make a difference in how meaningful your scorecard is for you. And that’s why we’re not going through today and giving you a laundry list of scorecard metrics or KPIs that you can use in your business. One, you’d be bored to tears. But, you know, there’s so many different metrics that might be a good fit for you and your business. It’s also okay to borrow from our competition. And I mean that in a nice fight, we’re not stopping our competition to take anything proprietary from them. But looking at what our industry is doing? So is there something that our industry is tracking that can help you see where you’re going and keep a competitive edge, we don’t have to measure everything. So I know we’ve already mentioned quite a bit. However, the scorecard can’t turn into a 20 page document with a million different metrics. One, it will be inefficient, difficult to update, and impossible to analyze and make a decision. So you can build out several metrics. And then over time scale back, let’s start with a few metrics and scale up. And for somebody who wants to be able to measure their personal life as well as their business life. ELS has recently come out with a book called the ELS life, this is really important. We forget his hard work, you can code any individuals that we have a whole life outside of work and outside of our businesses. And so is there metrics that we need to think of that are going to help us be holistic human beings, how many days off we want to have, that’s something that we want to do personally, something that our team wants to do outside of work, and reminding ourselves of that can be a metric as well. Hey, podcast lovers, I hope you’re enjoying another amazing episode of entrepreneur money stories, I had to interrupt to tell you about an exciting new tool we recently launched. If you’ve been wanting to learn how to start managing your business finances, but don’t know where to start, then visit kickstart accounting inc.com/bootcamp. To receive our new five day video bootcamp series, you’ll receive a video each day that will take you from accounting overwhelm to money powerhouse. So if you’re ready, go to kickstart accounting inc.com/bootcamp. Alright, that’s it back to the episode.
So these are some strategies to get you started to get the ball rolling in creating your scorecard. I’m going to remind you again, that it is okay to start, change, pivot, analyze what works and what doesn’t work. The other permission that I want to give you is that it’s okay to ask for help. We have a pretty robust scorecard, and I don’t update it, I couldn’t update it, it would probably never get updated. And if I did update it, I wouldn’t be looking at that information. And so it’s really important to surround yourself with the help that you need. Talk to your bookkeeper, talk to your money team. Talk to your operations staff members, maybe your sales staff, marketing staff, how can they help you update your scorecard so that you’re not staying in the weeds as the business owner, you’re able to come in at a high level, analyze information and make business decisions. Joseph, any other experiences of questions that you could think of?
Victoria 19:03
I think you really use the right words, but I really want to bring home the fact that you can change your scorecard, like test it out, make it work for you. Because if you hate it, you’re never going to use it. I think kickstart is a really good example of how change is good. And you don’t have to just use some template, you can really make this work for you and your business. So if it’s not working, change it. And I do think it is, you know, a good point that you as the CEO, get that high level overview, and you’re not having to be in the weeds and you get that on a weekly basis. So you really are keeping a pulse on the business. And our meeting is 30 minutes long, rather than you having to take our eos to pull up all of these individual metrics.
Danielle 20:03
Alright, the last last task on our list was to send me to the island for six months.
Victoria 20:10
No, absolutely not.
Danielle 20:12
Not approved.
Victoria 20:14
No, that leaves slip is denied Danielle. All right,
Danielle 20:17
ladies and gentlemen, thank you for listening today. If you liked today’s episode, don’t forget to like and subscribe. Please share this episode with one other entrepreneur who you know needs to hear the strategies and stories if there’s something that you want to hear or you have questions about this topic. We’re happy to be a resource for you in your business. You can always email us at support at kickstart accounting inc.com Thank you
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
