The Super Power to Improve Your P&L
Written on July 5, 2012.
Michael Rorrer is a wealthy man today. In February, while cleaning out the home of his deceased great-uncle, Rorrer found a trove of comic books. These were no ordinary comic books – you know Scrooge McDuck or Archie & Jughead – but rather some of the rarest comic books ever published, including Action Comics No 1 which introduced the world to Superman in 1938 and Detective Comics No 27 in which Batman debuted.
Rorrer, by the way, didn’t think the comic books were necessarily valuable, he just thought they were “cool.” But he had the presence of mind to get them appraised. In March, the collection sold for $3.5 million at auction.
I think this is a great business lesson. You can’t always know if what you have – or what the market wants – is valuable. That’s why it’s important to rely on both experts and your peers to gain a better understanding of how to grow and succeed in business. There are lots of options out there: from SCORE (sponsored by the Small Business Administration) to hands on collaboration with HTG Peer Groups to webinars and webcasts sponsored by MSPMentor and SMBnation, or even the podcasts and articles on running an effective business that American Express offers.
Lots of this information doesn’t cost as much money as it does time. But the result of your investment can be like growth hormones for your P&L. By running your business more efficiently – whether through utilizing proven best practices or using technology to help you manage more with less – you can improve your margin. It’s a simple equation: if you have to spend cycles looking for an answer, that’s time spent not helping customers, which really means it’s money lost.
Sure, you might not gain an additional $3.5 million dollars, but if you can save an hour a day over the course of a year, that adds up to real savings. Maybe it even adds up to a vacation if you’re really lucky!
Superman or Batman? What are the super tools, techniques, and teams you are using to improve your P&L? Let me know here or on Twitter @Eric_D_Townsend.
Eric Townsend is Director of MSP and SMB Marketing for Intel Corporation. You can contact Eric at activation@intelmsp.com.
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