Why I took a week off my business to conduct a business audit

Last week, I took a week off my business to conduct a full business audit. Here’s why. It’s very easy to put your business on autopilot and simply focus on growth and getting all the clients. However, it can be just as crucial to pause, take a step back + make sure that your business is aligned with you + your vision moving forward. Personally, I was getting a lot of amazing opportunities to be interviewed for podcasts, publications, have designs featured + work with amazing clients. However, I felt that I was going through the motions of my everyday business, kept trying to make updates + changes as I went and started feeling like there were too many loose ends that needed to be tied up. As well as a feeling that everything wasn’t as aligned with my vision as I’d like. So rather than keep moving, which is my typical move, I took a week off all normally scheduled programming to conduct a business audit.

Now, most business audits are designed to look through your financials and accounting books. Although I did go through the financials, my audit was intended for me to take a look through all the pieces of my business and touchpoints. Doing so, in order to see what could be improved, where there was a lack of consistency (if any), what elements needed to be removed or where there was room for growth. I also made sure everything was aligned with my vision for the growth and future of my business.

The 2 reasons why I chose to conduct a full business audit and why you should consider doing one too!)

1. A Stronger Foundation

One of the main reasons why I wanted to conduct a full business audit was because I was starting to get great opportunities but I felt like my businesses foundation wasn’t as strong as it could be. There had been so many changes + evolutions to my business throughout the past few years and I was finally ready to put a stake in the ground about what I was doing, that I was here to stay and to move the business forward stronger than ever. However, in order to do so, I needed to feel confident about the foundation and about every aspect of my business.

Doing an audit let me go through every touchpoint of my business, look through things through a different lense, have a different perspective, pick out where improvements could be made, where the brand could be stronger, and make sure it aligned with the vision that I had.

Honestly, when you’re starting out, the first few years can be a mess because you’re just trying to figure things out. This was an opportunity to go through and clean up that mess. Personally, I’m self aware enough to admit that I didn’t have all my shit in place and that I could do better in probably every area, I was capable of that, so this was my opportunity to do so.

2. Realign Your Vision + Goals

As your business evolves, your vision + goals change. It’s important to make sure that your business is still aligning with those goals. It’s okay for things to change, for services + products to change, for branding change, for you as a person to change. But you have to make sure that you still feel aligned with your mission and why you got started in the first place. As I went through the audit, I knew that some of my initial goals had changed and my initial vision had changed and it was about seeing how I could make shifts and updates that would better align with my new vision. I had eliminated some services + offerings, I had expanded my blog, I had started 2 sister brands and ultimately things had just changed from when I started. That’s completely okay! I just needed to, again, make sure that the business reflected those changes in the best way possible.

Going through this audit was extremely helpful and I highly suggest going through one yourself, especially if you’re in the midst of growth. A stronger foundation and feeling more aligned with your vision can only fuel your motivation and empower you as a business owner. I took a week to do everything, but I will say I did make the mistake of trying to implement the changes during the same week. I’d suggest going through the checklist and then making an implementation plan that works for your business.

LEAVE A COMMENT!