150 | Restore Collective Core Value: Profitability
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[00:00:00] Hey friends. Welcome back to the Called to Lead podcast. So today's episode is number 150, which just absolutely blows my mind. That it's been years and 150 episodes. Since I have been sharing everything from leadership tips to help you grow and build your network marketing business. Whether that's with our new company Restore collective or with another company. And so I just want to take a moment to look back on how far we've come, because this podcast was actually started as the dream with me podcast, you can go all the way back to episode one.
If you want to hear that story, then it shifted into what I called scale without social, which was me spending an entire year off of social media and proving that you can grow your business without being a slave to social media. And then it wasn't until I decided to dedicate my podcast and everything that the Lord has shown me through my seasons in both the network marketing business and also in my traditional retail business [00:01:00] to bring to you Called to Lead, which is truly there to help anyone who is looking to grow their direct sales based business. In the right way. And when I say the right way, I don't mean to insinuate that there's a wrong way to do this or any other business. In fact, freedom is one of our core values that we've already shared. But today's podcast, which is going to be our last core value for starting Restore collected. And that is profitability, which should be the goal of any business, whether it's someone just getting started in their network marketing or direct sales business. Or scaling and growing. Any other type of business to a billion dollar company or more, the goal should always be to make money so that you can number one, provide for your family and make all the hard work and effort worth it. But also so that you can give back and you can be a good steward and create something that's sustainable for yourself in the future.
So today's episode is going to be breaking down [00:02:00] profitability and why we chose that. As one of the foundational core values of starting Restore collective. And not just for our business, but how it can benefit your business as well. So let's dive into this week's episode. [00:03:00]
All right. Let's kick off this episode with the verse that inspired us, choosing the word profitability. As one of our 12 core values. So this verse comes from one of my very favorite books in the entire Bible, which is Proverbs, which fun fact there are 31. ~Uh, ~books or chapters of Proverbs. And you can read one a day if there's 31 days in the month, and it will give you a little bit of nugget and wisdom that will help you grow not only your business, because there's so many jam packed money tips in there and business.~ Uh,~ wisdom, but also your relationships, your family, your marriage, trust me.
There is so much goodness. And the book of Proverbs culminates with this beautiful chapter. That is probably my favorite. If I had to pick one chapter in the Bible that is also [00:04:00] really kind of a foundational element of who I hope to be as a wife, a mom, and a business owner. And that is the Proverbs 31 woman.
And so, ~um,~ the verse that we're going to look at today is Proverbs 31:18. Which says she sees that her trading is profitable and her lamp does not go out at night. And so when you read that, well, first of all, it's pretty clear why we chose profitability and why we think it's important and why that has always been something that I. As a background of being an entrepreneur since I was like 20 years old, I started my first boutique right out of college and I was 20.
And I knew that when I started that business, That it was the only income that I had. So not only did it have to pay all of my expenses for the boutique. So my rent, my, all the orders that I had coming in, I didn't have employees of course, to start. It was just me, but it also had to ~play, ~pay all of my personal expenses as well.
My personal rent, my car payment, I think I had at the [00:05:00] time. ~Uh,~ my food, my dinners out, all of the fun things that I needed and wanted to do, had to be covered by the profits of my business. And so even if I wasn't seeking the Lord back then in those endeavors, because many of you guys know I gave my life to Christ 12 years ago.
So I would even be considered a baby Christian to some of you guys. But, ~uh, ~but back then, I even understood as starting a business, that profitability was important. And so when I saw that, well, this makes sense that this, it seems like an obvious thing, but it's one of the things that as I continue to build and grow my boutique business profitability was one of the hardest things to wrangle and maintain.
Because even at one point, when I was doing over a million dollars in sales, in my boutique, I was. Voted best women's store best boutique for, I mean, I don't know, 10 plus years in a row. Actually having enough profit to provide for my family was something that was a big time struggle. And [00:06:00] some of the things were circumstantial like the economy and the, you know, the great recession.
But a lot of it was just that I wasn't putting profitability as the focus of my business as I continued to grow and scale. And so that'll change actually write a great book. ~Uh,~ called profit first by Mike Michalowicz that really talks about the importance of putting your self. Your profits first, because that's the way that you're going to be able to grow your business is going to be able to reinvest back in your inventory or reinvest into yourself to be able to have more of you to go around, to actually grow your business.
And so profitability is something that, you know, any. Business coach will tell you, but it's found right here in scripture.
Okay. So before we get into the three reasons that we chose the word profitability for the foundational values of Restore let me do a little quick accounting lesson for those of you guys who might be kind of doing the math in your head, and you're like, wait, you did a million dollars in business, but weren't able to pay [00:07:00] yourself or have a profit in your business. And so I want to explain first what profitable or profitability is and what it's not.
So anytime you are starting a business, And you're selling something, whether you're getting paid by your company. ~Uh, you know, uh, ~commissions or whether you're buying something and selling it on Facebook marketplace. Your there's a transaction occurring where you're actually getting money in, right?
Like somebody's paying you a hundred dollars for something. And so when you get in that a hundred dollars, that would be your sales or your gross profit. If you again, are an accountant or a numbers nerd. But then what you have to do is you have to factor in all of the things that actually cost you in order to get to the point.
~So to get to that point.~ So that could be the cost of the actual product. If you're buying something and reselling it, like I was doing in my boutique, that can be, for example, if you're getting paid commissions from Restore or another network marketing company that can be your back office fee or your digital business kit fees, we're going to call it for Restore. ~Um,~ it can be [00:08:00] all of the apps and things that you might be paying for.
Maybe it's the paid version of zoom or something like project broadcast. It can be, if you have a virtual assistant to help grow your business, that is an expense that is cutting into the profit that you could be giving yourself in your business. And so when you look at the total money into your business, whether you're a contractor and getting paid a commission, or whether you're a business owner like Roger and I, you take the money in, you subtract out all of the money that you are spending on expenses and of course the product itself, and then you're left with the profit.
And so that is where. Sometimes, if you're overspending on certain expenses or spending too much money. ~Um, ~even on the cost of the product, for example, in our case, then there's not any money left over. And so where does that profitability go back to, especially when we're looking at starting our business here with Restore?
Well, that [00:09:00] profitability is the additional money that we have to go back into the business. So that's the money that we have to go into funding, new products and coming up with new fun things for you guys. ~Um, ~it's including, you know, basically being able to pay down if we had debt, which we are starting. This business debt-free and we hope to sustain that and maintain that.
That is our goal. Lord willing, and we believe that he can allow us to be able to do that because. ~Um,~ being debt free as another principle, that's outlined many, many times in the Bible. But essentially that profitability is what's going to be the fuel to be able to grow our business. And we want to set that example with Restore, but more importantly, we want to be able to equip you. Or anyone that joins your team to be able to do the same.
So profitability is a major focus that we will transparently share on our end. On the finance side of it, because guess what? We also want to contribute a percentage of our profits to not just one, but to several different organizations and charitable [00:10:00] contributions that we will share more about. So get excited about that.
But without profits, we can't give back. Right or without profits. Uh, the way our corporation is structured, we don't have this profits to pass along to our personal. ~Uh,~ financial taxes basically. ~Um,~ we won't get too much into like the accounting side of things, but essentially if we have profits with Restore, then that is, there's like a document that we give to our accountants that then is passed through to us personally, where we pay taxes.
But that's also where Roger and I tithe. So that's where the giving to our church comes from. So we've already talked about how everything is from him, right? So the provider of all of that gross revenue, The sales, the gross profit, the money that's coming to you, whether that's like Restore, for example, all the sales or whether that's you, the commissions paid from Restore or whatever company that you're with. That is provided by the Lord from your effort, your investment, your trust in him. But then it's up to us to be good stewards of what we [00:11:00] actually do with that money.
Once it starts rolling in, which is why profitability is so important. So I hope that that makes sense for those of you guys who aren't math nerds, who aren't accounting nerds and who needed a little bit of a refresher. But let's dive in to these three reasons that we chose this. So number one, It's important to begin with the end in mind, and profitability is something that you and we should be focused on from the beginning.
So even though this is the last episode of our 12 core values, we see this as the kickoff to really starting to share and grow Restore Collective. So we're beginning with our end goal in mind, which is for our business and your business to be profitable, meaning money in your pocket to serve. Your family to be able to serve and give back in whatever way that you choose. To be able to reinvest back into your business. And so it's important to when you're starting any business, whether that's with Restore.
And you're going to dive [00:12:00] in, in Q1 when we launched this thing and hit the ground running, or whether you're already involved in another network marketing business. And you're just kind of listening in and being a fly on the wall, or maybe you are an online influencer and you do a lot of affiliate marketing.
And so you've got a lot of money coming in, but maybe you have a lot of money going out by paying assistants or all these like different. Different app, you know, apps and things, many chats. I mean, it can be really overwhelming to know how and where our money's going, but I'm going to encourage you to look into that because how much of the money that you're bringing in, are you spending on things that might not be necessary for your business?
And so the ways that we hope to do this is by focusing on profitability from the very beginning and looking at a ratio of where all of our money is going. That we can create something that will allow us to create that sustainable. Business for us and for you for the long run. So it's important for you to set that goal of profitability, right at the beginning of your business, to start your business [00:13:00] in an affordable way, based on what you can afford, you will never ever hear us recommend.
And I really pray that none of our partners do this either. You will not hear us say that you should put your partner kit or your digital business kit expense on your credit card, because we don't believe that you should be going into debt to start a business. If you have to sell some. Of your kids' toys or go through your closet and maybe find some things and put it on marketplace, or just save some money, right?
Like find a way to get the funds to invest in your business. And that's one of the reasons why our starter. ~Uh, ~kits and. Everything that we do are meant to be so affordable is so that you can start your business with a minimal expense and start at debt-free. So that the minute that you start sharing, and the minute that you start growing your business, you can be profitable in your business.
So actually what's really cool is the first rank that you can rank to in Restore is called profitable partner. So if you are a [00:14:00] partner and you are looking to grow through the compensation plan, Versus remember we have an advocate which is more affiliate minded and not looking to grow, but if you are wanting to rank and grow through our plan, you can rank to profitable partner on your own sales alone.
And while we're not going to share it because our comp plan is like this close to being finalized, we just got the official documents from our attorney, but we just want to make sure that everything is buttoned up. As we meet with our back office website, before we share exactly what that profitable partner looks like. ~That? ~
know that is a very attainable, very ~achievable. Uh,~ achievable. Amount that is meant to cover your digital business kit expense, right from the get-go so that you, from that point forward. Your partner, mentor, or us as a company, it's our goal to equip you to make back that investment so that every dime that you make from that point forward is profitability in your pocket. Now from there, that's where as your income grows and your gross revenue or your gross profit grows. Then you can decide how, what other [00:15:00] investments you might want to invest in to grow your business.
So there might be something like project broadcast, for example, or you may grow a business to where you have a virtual assistant that can help you with some of the tasks that are delegatable. And that can be a great thing to do when you get there, but don't do it until you have the money rolling in to be able to afford it.
And so we recommend that you always have at least ~10,~ 10 to 20%. Profit to invest back in your business. So that's the number. That's our number is 15% that we're going for with the Restore. We recommend that you do the exact same thing where you are saving 10 to 20% to reinvest back in your business and in yourself from your income each and every month.
And that is what we are aiming to help you do from the beginning of Restore Collective. So that's reason number one that we chose, this is we want to begin with the end in mind. And the end for us is profitability for us, for you, for your families, [00:16:00] so that we can build something beautiful and sustainable. So the number two reason. Is profits can scale. My friends.
If you can make $10 in profit in a month, you can make a hundred dollars in profit. You could make a thousand dollars in profit and so on and so forth. So if you figure out a model that's working for you on the small end. And you're doing it in a way that honors the Lord. And again, You know, I feel like if, if debt is involved and you're making some, maybe poor financial choices that ~aren't, ~aren't honoring the Lord and the finances that he is, the one that's providing for. What makes you think he's going to continue to grow and scale that right. But if you are doing it the right way, meaning you are really conscious of your spending and not overspending, or even sometimes that can be self sabotaging your own success.
That absolutely happens. I think I have been there in my business because you might be hung up on money being the root of all evil. And so you might feel like it's not okay to make great money in this [00:17:00] business, but my friends, that's not the verse. It's for the love of money is a root of all evils. And that is what we want to avoid is just making the money hungry.
Like. Tight this side of this business. The goal. We want to focus on profitability, which again is what's going to be able to help you reinvest in that, but that's not the love of money. That's just smart business. And again, that's tying right back to scripture. So. Profits, as you are able to do a little, you can be trusted with much.
That's also scripturally based, right. And that can scale and that can grow. And so that's one of the reasons why I always love breaking down your business in terms of percentages. And actually, if you want to hear how I broke down and how we Restore will recommend for you to be able to break down all of your expenses.
I will link to a previous episode where I broke down exactly where every dollar of my previous network marketing. Business wins. And that's essentially going to be what we're going to [00:18:00] try to mimic and emulate from the Restore corporate level. But certainly what we will teach you. And so this is also an exciting little nugget and I've been dropping little, little. Little hints and things to come.
But one of the things that we are going to be doing as you rank and grow through Restore, if you're a partner is we're going to be gifting you some really special tools that will help you continue to grow your business. And one of those is going to be a financial freedom based course that once you start making that money and once you start. Bringing in that profit, we're going to help you break down some more, ~uh,~ biblical principles that can help you fuel that fire on that income, in that profitability so that you can scale and you can grow in a way that first of all, honors the Lord.
But second of all, that is going to create something that's sustainable for you and your family in the future. And so get excited for that course. We haven't decided which rank that's going to be, but we envision it being one where the money kind of starts to flow in and you're like, okay, now what should I do with it?
Tell me where to put my money. So, [00:19:00] if you want to sneak preview, go back to that episode that I'm linking in the show notes, as it will be probably based on similar principles that I talked about in that podcast. And it's certainly something that you can go ahead and, and dive into as I really do believe that it's a great way to break down the money that's coming in in your business, especially if you are already making money in your business.
So that's recent. Number two is profit can start very small and it can scale if you're doing it in the right way, in a way that honors the Lord. Okay. So the last and final reason. And this is a little bit of tough love for you guys, but my friends, if you aren't making profit in your business, it's not a business.
It's a hobby. I'm going to say that again. If you're not making a profit in your business, it's not a business. It's a hobby. And what I mean by that is while there are many noble hobbies, like for example, a butterfly growing your Monarch caterpillar raising was something that [00:20:00] my daughter, Mary and I wound up getting really into earlier this spring and summer.
And Mary had the amazing idea to start a butterfly business, where we were selling,~ um, ~the butterfly kits where you could get the net, you could get five or six caterpillars, uh, the plants that went in it all in this one little kit. And so of course I was following my own advice and I was trying to begin with the end in mind with the profitability side of things.
And I factored in and helped Mary factor in all of the expenses associated with it. However. Very very quickly into our business journey of raising Monarch butterflies. We realized there were a few things that we didn't account for, which was the fact that those caterpillars, first of all, are, ~are, um, ~Our inventory of our milkweed, which is the only thing they eat. I got actually overrun with caterpillar eggs, which meant that we were spending.
I'm not kidding you. Hundreds of dollars a week on buying new milkweed, driving all over town. Trying to find it. And then when we did find it, some of it was actually tainted [00:21:00] with pesticides, which PS caterpillars are cute, but they are a bug and so the pesticides, unfortunately, cause like a mass murder situation on, which was horrifying and ~terrible, ~terrible, but it really impacted the bottom line of our business because we were spending way more than what we were making. And then even the ones we were selling, weren't really that healthy and we're doing that.
Great. And so we were like, okay, pause. I don't know that this is quite the business that we envisioned and trying to start something that was profitable. And so what was it, if it wasn't a business. It was a hobby and it's a beautiful hobby. And it's a hobby that I think that Mary and I will do together for honestly, possibly the rest of our lives, because I absolutely loved raising those caterpillars.
And I loved giving them away to my friends and my family, but trying to make a business out of it. Wasn't something that was going to bring us profit. It. And so trying to look at it as a business or market it as a business was not the right way to do it, but looking at it as a hobby is totally [00:22:00] okay.
And guess what? The profits from my other business endeavors and from of course my husband, Roger, his businesses and all of that, your family income that can provide for a hobby. And so golf is another one. That's an expensive hobby of mine. Roger, my has been loves to hunt and fish, another expensive hobby.
These are all great. And where are the things that you should have in your life, and not to say that your network marketing or direct sales based business, can't be a hobby, but if you're not making money on, you're not putting money in your pocket in terms of profitability, it's not a business, it's a hobby.
And so you need to really ask yourself, like, why are you doing this? And how are the ways that you can put the money and the focus in the right place in order to make it profitable and know that as your partners meaning us with Restore, if you are with Restore, know that everything that we are doing from our compensation. Plan to the pricing of our products, to the systems that our products are based in.
They are all designed to help you create a profitable [00:23:00] business together. And so I want to ask yourself, even if you're listening to this way down the road, and maybe just going way back. On all the way back to episode 150, right. To listen in on the foundational core values of Restore. I would love for you to know, like, are you profitable in your business?
And if not, how can we help you get there? How can your mentor and a Restore help you get there? Because that is a core value that we believe in is one of the most important facets of this business. And so my friends that's the third reason is that if you're not making a profit in your business, it's a hobby.
It's not a business. And it's time to kind of do a gut check on the reasons why you're doing this in the first place. So. Let's wrap up and summarize, and then we'll say a prayer. And I cannot believe this is our last core value guys. This is wild how this is coming together. So the three reasons, again, just to summarize number one. Is that we're here to begin with the end in mind and for us and for you, we are starting this from a place of [00:24:00] profitability and debt-free and wanting you to do the same. Number two, once you get that right with a little, you can scale and grow your business to something bigger than you could probably even imagine.
And so focus on doing it the right way with. Biblical wisdom. Look forward to the financial freedom course that we will provide. At, for our Restore partners, when they reach a certain rank. And then finally focus on your business, being a business and not hobby, unless you just want it to be a hobby.
Okay. Because profitability is the foundational element of business. So I'm going to say a prayer and then we'll wrap up. Lord. Thank you so much for just outlining what secular financial coaches have been talking about for decades. Uh, we're really hundreds of years. And anyone knows that if you're starting any kind of business, that profitability is important.
But thank you for reminding that over and over again, and your word that this is something that is from you and is designed for us to be good [00:25:00] stewards of everything that you give to us. And so those listening who maybe have had a negative mindset around money in the past, or have struggled with making money, let alone not spending it all.
And goodness knows I have been there myself, but through leaning. On you leaning on the principles that are outlined in your word, leaning on the power of the holy spirit and self-control, and really just focusing on the simplicity aspect of the percentage base profit focus. That we can do this and we can do this together and just help those listening know that, first of all, you were with them.
Second of all, we are too. And that, that is a goal is for us to help them start a profitable business that will bless their family and the families or churches and all of the other ways that they can give back through those profits. And then finally Lord, just ask. Uh, we ask that you, uh, for those that are doing this in a way that honors you to help them grow and scale and expand their business because they are, they deserve it.
Lord. And so we just ask that you [00:26:00] guide them. We ask that all of us just help to continue to seek after you for all things. And it's all from you and for you and through you in Jesus name. Amen. All right guys. So we are going to wrap up this series next week with a little behind the scenes story of the overarching scripture that this company Restore collective was founded on.
And I'm going to share all the beans you've already heard. Roger, and I share a little bit more about why we started this, but now next week's episode, we'll be sharing the story of how it all began. So get excited for that. And then after that, we are going to be breaking down these stories of the 12 founding partner mentors for Restore.
So if you are still interested in doing this, but maybe you don't know. ~Um, ~the gals that we have decided to be the foundational roots, to be able to grow something really big and beautiful here at Restore. And if you don't know them, this will allow you to get to know them. So that by the time we launched this thing publicly, you will know who will be the right Founding [00:27:00] partner mentor for you. And you may even know a few of them and maybe you are perfectly deciding which of the teams to choose from.
And if so, this will also help you because they are all amazing, incredible leaders with a diverse background, diverse experiences, a different type of culture that you can expect from within their team. And it's an important decision and one that we hope to equip you with. So we're excited to share their stories and cannot wait. Two barrel down this path of launching this company together with all of you.
So thanks for being a part of it. I hope you have a beautiful week. Yay, bye.
