I’m a big sports fan. I mean, c’mon, I live in Philly! We have teams in every major, professional sports category, including baseball, football, basketball, hockey, soccer, and even fantastic leagues like arena football and lacrosse. March is Women’s History Month so big congratulations and we love you and we see you to all the ladies in the game, too. From basketball to football to soccer to hockey and beyond!

March Madness is in full swing and it’s such an exciting time of the year. If you aren’t too familiar, it’s a single-elimination college basketball tournament with 68 teams getting in and 1 coming out victorious. Games are always super thrilling with buzzer beaters and upsets galore! And this year has been no different.

The games inspired my newsletter this month, because just as these players are constantly looking to their next game, so should we, as we navigate business decisions, especially with respect to finances.

Single elimination is scary. You can be a really great team (or business) and one loss completely ruins your chances. Don’t let this be the case in your business. If you lose a client or a deal or make a bad investment, make sure that one financial item doesn’t ruin the rest of your year. In basketball there’s always next year, in business, that’s not always true.

On the flip side, you can be the underdog and beat a championship favorite if you are prepared and focused or maybe just lucky. And business is the same. Your competitors may have bigger and better marketing budgets or giant teams of support staff and you feel you can’t compete.

That is never the case. Everyone has a chance to excel and for you, it might just be the next game (or landing that new high-level client or breaking $1M in sales) that feels like your personal championship.

When a 16 seed beats the overall #1 seed (which had NEVER happened until this year when UMBC beat Virginia by 20 points) it’s epic. Set your sights on the goal and celebrate the win, even if it’s not the ultimate goal, quite yet.

Of course in basketball, a foul shot gets you 1 point, a regular bucket gets you 2, and a 3-pointer is, of course, the highest score you can achieve from behind the designated line.

In business, you take shots just like these. A foul shot (which we know can win games during March Madness or prolong them to the point of ridiculous) is one you take with no one trying to block you. It’s just you against the hoop. This is where you sit down and decide if you want to hire a team, or make investment decisions for personal development or figure out how to cut expenses. The rewards and benefits might not be as high as landing clients and bringing in income, but the points add up and they matter.

A regular basket is your day-to-day effort with clients, doing your best work and being consistent, constantly trying to stand out among competitors (those trying to steal your ball…your dreams), networking (finding your teammates) and listening to the experts in their fields (your coach – a coach is a coach is a coach!) or your tax accountant or your CFO!

The rewards from this work are your livelihood and grow your business revenue and your exposure. These points make all the difference; they are the bread and butter.

If you’ve ever played a sport or had a coach for any activity, you know all about training and drills. Did you ever stop doing the drills, stop listening and then suffer because of it? You realized the importance of that coach. Consider me your coach when it comes to finances.

Example time. I just completed a Financial Health Review for a new client. She has been completing her financial records for the past few years by herself and it seemed like everything was fine.

Unfortunately, my review identified that there were multiple mistakes in how she was accounting for certain transactions and she ended up overstating her income by almost 30% for 3 years and paying additional taxes on that mistake each year!!

Be sure when you are playing basketball (or when you are running a business), that you periodically ask the coach (or financial expert) what your form is like. Small tweaks to make major improvements will go a long way in making that next basket or making that next sale!

And yes, the 3-pointer, the long shot! The “I hope to heck this works,” idea. You must take those shots, as well. Submit a proposal for that massive project or accept the speaking gig for that conference out of state. Even if you miss, you are respected for the attempt and when you make it. Well, swoosh – what a feeling!

This is your season!

It’s also tax season, so make sure you are playing fair there. You don’t want a penalty that can kick you out of the game for good.

If you want to talk about your finances and get a game plan together that makes you stand a little taller, let’s chat!