Five Business Mantras We Live By (And You Can Steal!)
Discover five business mantras that guide us to make strategic and value-aligned decisions.
Plus some handy tips on how to adopt them in your business.
Emma Bowdler
I’m a cheerleader for women and an accountant bursting with personality.
‘The Customer Is Always Right’, ‘Keep It Simple Stupid’, ‘Work Smarter Not Harder’ — it’s safe to say that the business world sure does love a mantra. But beyond the ones we all know (and have had repeated to us ad infinitum), having a handful of memorable and practical company mantras or sayings can help us make quick value-aligned decisions, shape culture, and inspire our team to be their best.
Here are five of our favourite business mantras; words to live and work by, no matter what stage of business you’re in.
Even Burgo Would Rate These Catchphrases
Whether you’re old enough to get that reference or not, having a set of guiding principles or ‘rules’ to doing business your way can be the difference between flourishing and floundering.
More than catchy phrases, studies in cognitive psychology show that affirmations can lead to significant improvements in performance and stress management.
Certain affirmations, particularly positive self-affirmations, also activate the brain’s reward centres in the ventromedial prefrontal cortex, which helps with processing and enhances the ability to cope with stress. Affirmations have even been found to reduce the brain’s response to perceived threats, which supports greater resilience and adaptation (tell us a workplace not looking for more of that right now).
Science aside, however affirmations work in those big magical brains of ours, it seems that a few damn good ones at our fingertips are really helpful for guiding both our personal and professional growth.
So, as part of our unwavering commitment to supporting women in business, we wanted to share a fist-full of our mantras — some financial, some general — in the hope that they may inspire, motivate, and guide you to success, whatever that looks like for you and your business
1. Treat Costs Like Fingernails (Trim Them Often)
We’re accountants, so of course we had to start with a finance one. If you let your nails grow wild, they’ll eventually break and cause you pain—same goes for your business expenses. Basically, the more outta control your expenses become, the more flimsy and prone to breaking your business is.
Costs can creep up and blow out before you know it, and create all sorts of financial stress and instability that, frankly, we can all live without. So, just like a regular maintenance mani-pedi, trimming those costs is key.
So, as part of our unwavering commitment to supporting women in business, we wanted to share a fist-full of our mantras — some financial, some general — in the hope that they may inspire, motivate, and guide you to success, whatever that looks like for you and your business
💅 Tip for Adopting This Mantra In Your Biz
When was the last time you combed through Xero at everything that’s going out of your business?
Got any subscriptions you’re not using anymore? Fees that you can avoid? Things you can live without?
Make time to regularly review and cut unnecessary costs (we recommend at least quarterly) to keep your business flourishing.
2. Revenue Is Vanity and Profit Is Sanity,
but Cash Flow Is Queen
Revenue might look impressive on paper, but without profit and, more importantly, cash flow, it can hide a whole lotta cracks under the surface. Make no mistake, the steady flow of cash is what keeps business going and allows you to grab hold of new opportunities when they arise.
Managing your cash flow like a boss means that you have the resources (and peace of mind) to handle unexpected expenses, invest in growth, and keep your business agile and resilient. It also means that you can sidestep the dreaded feast-or-famine cycle, where you might experience a boom in sales one month and struggle to pay bills the next.
👑 Tip for Adopting This Mantra In Your Biz
Create a cash flow forecast and learn how to better predict what’s coming in, and going out, of your business.
Start by listing all expected income and expenses for each month, including irregular costs like annual subscriptions or seasonal marketing campaigns.
Review and update this forecast regularly and start setting aside a cash reserve for emergencies to ensure you have a buffer during unexpected downturns.
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With Cash Flow?
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on top of your cash flow and
come up with a strategy for
dealing with the Feast and
Famine Cycle, book a
Bloom & Boom Business
Growth Strategy Session
and let’s do it!
3. Just Because You Can,
Doesn’t Mean You Should
As business owners, we often find ourselves wearing many hats—sometimes all at once. And while it’s tempting to take on every task ourselves, from marketing to bookkeeping to customer service, just because we can doesn’t mean we should.
Here’s a little truth bomb for you: doing everything yourself is a fast track to burnout, first stop: inefficiency, next stop: resentment. Instead, delegating to others who are either more highly skilled in those areas, or who have more capacity, allows you to focus on what you do best and let others handle the rest. This gives you and every aspect a better chance of running smoothly without the inevitable bottlenecks of having too much on any one person’s shoulders.
Your longevity and sustainability as a business owner means building a strong team around you (they can be freelancers or contractors, not necessarily employees!), and then trusting them with key functions and responsibilities. Delegating isn’t about shirking duties; it’s about leveraging everyone’s strengths to elevate your business and create a more impressive collective impact.
🤖 Tip for Adopting This Mantra In Your Biz
The reality is that — if you keep doing everything yourself — you’re gonna burn out way faster than any robot or AI-machine can take over your job. It can be another way.
Start by making a list of all the things that ‘distract’ you from focusing on what *actually* matters and come up with a delegation, automation and ditch (DAD) plan to help keep your biz choo-choo on the track.
4. Stay Out of Your Customers’ Pockets
Pricing your products or services according to what you think people will pay, rather than what they’re actually worth, can lead to a whole lotta undervaluing, poor profit margins, and frustration. Your pricing should reflect the value you offer, not just what you assume (insert something here about an ass, u and me) the market will bear. Plus, do you ever really know how much money people have or how much they’re willing to spend? Sometimes they don’t even know, so how the heck are you supposed to?
We often bang on about pricing strategy because it’s so important to get right. When you price too low, it can inadvertently signal that your services are lower quality or that you’re desperate and lacking confidence. Customers can smell that. On the other hand, setting a price that truly represents the value you provide (and then communicating it effectively) not only reinforces your brand’s integrity but also attracts customers who appreciate and are willing to pay for that value.
As everyone’s daytime gal pal, Oprah Winfrey, once said: “When you undervalue what you do, the world will undervalue who you are.” So, this mantra reminds us to know our (services’) worth and not be afraid to charge for it. The key here being: the worth of our services. Because we are *absolutely not* saying that you should “charge your worth“. That’s complete and utter BS. We don’t set pricing strategies based on ‘worth’. Instead, we price for value, not perception.
🏷️ Tip for Adopting This Mantra In Your Biz
At its heart, pricing is a strategic decision. Knowing what to charge is a balance between understanding the benefit of the service you provide (value), while ensuring you’re making good coin (profitability), and can do it for as long as you want to (sustainability).
We specialise in helping business owners create pricing strategies that maximise profits, joy and sustainability while minimising risk, waste, and headaches. If this sounds like something you need, channel your inner Goldilocks and scooch on over to our Bold Business Blueprint Offering ↗
5. Touch It Once
If time = money, and money = impact and impact = omg, whatever — basically, be more efficient. Your business cannot afford for you to double (or triple) handle everything. Instead, you want to touch it once*. This is a policy our Founder, Emma, absolutely lives by. If she can do something quickly, she does it right away. Otherwise, she makes a plan (or blocks out her diary) to tackle it. But what she won’t do is keep handling the same task, invoice, spreadsheet, document over and over, unless she’s particularly wanting to…err…maximise procrastination and minimise productivity (so, never).
This approach also helps minimise the mental load of running a business, and avoids the brain clutter of unfinished tasks. It also gives our brain those lil dopamine hits and allows us to maintain momentum throughout the day. *We should probably say here that this is a mantra maybe best kept to business (but you can let your mind make itself up about that!).
💡 Tip for Adopting This Mantra In Your Biz
If you want to implement a ‘Touch It Once’ policy in your workflow, start by categorising tasks based on their complexity and time required. For quick tasks (less than 5 minutes), handle them immediately.
For more complex tasks, schedule dedicated time blocks in your calendar to focus on them without interruptions. We also recommend using visual project management software like monday.com to keep track of your to-dos and deadlines, so that nothing slips through the cracks.
What Are Your Business Mantras?
Honed over many years in business, these five mantras have been shaped by our experiences, our successes, and lessons learned the hard way; a set of ‘rules’ we live and work by to keep focused on what’s truly important to us.
Having them here, written down and shared on our blog, is awesome—but we wanted to do one better. We wanted to create something physical to adorn our offices, and the desks of business women around the country.
You might have noticed, dotted through this piece, some sayings and words of wisdom to a life well-lived, and a business well-run. Well, we are thrilled to debut our first-ever *physical* product: The Women’s Accountant ‘Slay All Day’ Affirmation Cards ~ a deck of 52 pearls of wisdom from your Business BFFs.
Created in collaboration with two kick-arse women-run businesses, CARMEN GET IT! and Jeanie Design Studio, they are packed with all the wisdom and sass you need to stay motivated and inspired. Ready to join our community of kick arse women doing business?
Grab a Deck:
‘Slay All Day’
Affirmation Cards
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