Are Your Business Numbers Normal How to Tell If You’re On Track
Ever wondered if your business is actually doing okay—or if you’re falling behind?
That’s where benchmarking comes in. Don’t worry, it’s not a fancy finance term you need to memorize—it’s simply comparing your numbers to industry standards so you know what’s normal, where you’re strong, and what could use some tweaking.
In this episode of Creative Minds Smart Money, I’ll walk you through how to give your numbers context without spiraling into comparison. Instead of copying someone’s “six-figure month” on social media, you’ll learn how to use real benchmarks to figure out if your pricing, expenses, and profits are in a healthy range—and what to do if they’re not.
In this episode, we cover:
✅ What benchmarking really means (and why it’s not about copying internet strangers)
✅ The financial numbers worth comparing—profit margin, owner’s pay, client retention, and more
✅ Real-world benchmarks for designers, photographers, product sellers, course creators, and social media managers
✅ What to do if your niche is unique (or you’re new) and don’t have an industry benchmark yet
✅ How to use benchmarks to raise prices, trim costs, reshape offers, and make better decisions—without shame or panic
🎧 Hit play now and learn how to see whether your numbers are “normal”—and how to use that knowledge to grow with confidence.
🔗 Resources & Links
Website: https://www.firestormfinance.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/firestormfinance/
Threads: https://www.threads.net/@firestormfinance?hl=en
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/samantha-e-8796b6176/
Newsletter: https://www.firestormfinance.com/newsletter
📝 Want to see a specific topic on the show? Submit your suggestion here!
📢 If this episode helped you feel clearer about your numbers, share it with a friend and leave a review—it helps more creatives build confident, profitable businesses.
Transcript
You're listening to the Creative Minds Smart Money podcast.
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:And today's episode is our final one in our series, our little series of CFO things that
we really want to be looking at and fractional CFO things that we really want to focus on.
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:So let's dive in to all things benchmarking.
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:Benchmarking is kind of like asking yourself, how do I measure up?
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:So if you've ever looked at someone's post,
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:and saw that they had a six figure month and immediately thought, okay, am I doing
something wrong?
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:Benchmarking isn't about necessarily copying their success, but giving your numbers
context so you know what's working and where to grow.
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:And it can feel like a complicated process, but I'm gonna break it down into something
that's really manageable and easy to consume so that you understand what benchmarking
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:actually is.
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:Okay.
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:We're talking real world benchmarks, not just internet fluff.
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:so that we can build a business that's actually profitable for us.
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:So we're not just going onto threads and looking at someone that has amazing success and
being like, okay, I'm gonna copy what they did.
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:We're talking about industry standard benchmarks.
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:So when we ask ourselves what benchmarking is, the first thing that we wanna talk about is
what does benchmarking actually mean?
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:So it is not, again, comparing your business to random strangers on Instagram or threads
and being like, hey, like Jimmy Bob.
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:made $5,000 last month, I should have made $5,000 this month.
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:That is not what benchmarking is.
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:It is about measuring your key numbers, which again, key performance indicators that we're
bringing over.
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:I know you're like starting to see this full picture against relevant standards, which is
either industry averages or our own goals, which usually when we're talking about
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:benchmarking in this context, because we are already measuring up against our own goals,
we are benchmarking against industry averages.
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:So it helps you to answer, this normal?
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:Am I under charging?
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:And it can also help you to answer what should I focus on next?
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:Okay.
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:So what are some financial, financial KPIs that are worth benchmarking?
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:Again, you're hearing that word KPIs, and these are things that we kind of have to like
bring into the picture and really, really understand.
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:So these do apply almost across all creative businesses, similar to the KPI one, but these
are ones that we want to benchmark.
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:So again, we were looking last month, week at the net profit margin.
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:So when we look at the net profit margin, we're benchmarking that across all of the
industry.
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:So for example, a good indicator of that is social media managers, for example, let's say
that the social media benchmark is a 60 % net profit margin and you're at 40%.
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:We want to analyze that.
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:Why are you at 40 % and not at 60 %?
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:Like where are we not meeting the bar?
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:And then same thing with owners pay percentage again.
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:That's these are all industry specific So when we look at KPIs a lot of the times when
we're looking at our KPIs that we talked about in the last episode those are against our
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:Personal goals like our goals.
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:These are against our industry averages your cost of goods percentage So the cost of
producing your work contractors prints costs, etc.
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:Like what is going into your work your operating expenses?
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:Percentage and these are all percentages just so you know
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:So cost of goods percentage I mentioned, operating expense percentage.
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:So again, if we're looking at the social media manager and the average they spend is 20 %
on expenses and we're spending 50%, we're looking at that and saying, okay, why did we
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:spend 50 % on operating expenses last month?
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:Like how can we make that better?
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:Client retention rate is another good one that's looking at worth benchmarking.
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:Like what is the churn rate of, or the retention rate really?
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:of your clients based on other people in your industry.
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:And then of course your average client value again, based on other people in your
industry.
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:That's what we really want to look at is based on how other people are performing, how are
we performing?
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:And again, this is not a competition.
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:is not you saying, okay, they're making $5,000.
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:Why am I not making $5,000?
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:Because you might not be there yet.
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:Everyone's story is different, right?
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:It is a idea for us to understand if we need to be
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:doing things differently, we could be more successful than that person.
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:We could be a little less successful than that person.
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:If $5,000 a month is all you wanna make and you're not reaching or you've already reached
that goal and that's not the industry standard, then that's not a problem.
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:Again, this isn't us trying to be like, okay, you're not doing good enough.
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:This is us trying to see like, where could we be doing better?
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:And I want you to really understand that.
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:So now that we've kind of talked about what benchmarking is,
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:We want to talk about some industry benchmarks similar to what we did for KPIs to help you
understand what you should be looking at.
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:And this is just industry specific, industry benchmarks pulled off of industry
benchmarking websites.
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:There's websites that I can pull data off of to find out if you need to be doing things a
little bit differently.
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:So one of the first ones, again, is brand designers, copywriters, creative strategists,
people in that kind of range.
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:Your net profit margin is usually 30 to 50%.
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:That means that you're doing really well.
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:That's an indicator that you're doing strong, like you have a strong profit margin.
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:So 30 % obviously low end, 50 % is a high end.
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:Your cost of goods is under 20 % unless you have a lot of subcontracting going on.
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:So that's your direct cost again, not necessarily your cost of goods, but like the direct
costs.
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:And then your average project value is usually about 2,500 to 10,000.
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:Okay.
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:So again, that's industry benchmarking.
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:Revisions per project is about two to three.
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:If higher, there's likely a scope or communication issue.
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:Maybe that's something you need to look at.
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:And again, this is an industry standard and effective hourly rates are about 100 to 200
plus if premium positioning.
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:Now, of course, that's hourly rate.
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:That's not something that doesn't want to tell you and want to tell you to charge.
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:You want to be pricing yourself based on your value, not on your hourly.
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:I'm always someone who's about value-based pricing and we can actually talk about
value-based pricing if we want to, but.
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:Another good industry that I work with a lot of is photographers and videographers.
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:So again, your direct costs, travel, editing, props, things like that is about 15 to 30%.
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:Your net profit margin is about 20 to 40.
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:Average sale per client, depending on the niche of photography and videography, is about
1,500 to 5,000.
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:Turnaround time is about two to three max for galleries and videos, which based on my own
experience with my photographer, that's about what she had as well.
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:that she's right in that industry benchmark.
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:And then your upsell rate is about 20 to 40 % of clients that purchase extras or albums.
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:For product-based creatives who are maybe running a boutique, they have Etsy, they're
makers, things like that, your cost of goods percentage is about 30 to 45%.
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:Net profit margin is about 10 to 20%.
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:So that's after all your costs at the end of the day, you're taking home about 10 to 20%.
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:Inventory turnover.
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:So this is a number you want to look at to see how fast your inventory is going out the
door.
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:which is usually four to six times per year, ideally.
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:And that's a number, again, these are lot of numbers, like high level numbers, but this is
just stuff I'm trying to like help you understand like, okay, this is the industry
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:standard.
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:Do you know these numbers yourself, right?
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:Average order value is $40 to $150.
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:And then shipping and packaging costs should not exceed 10 to 15 % of revenue.
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:If you have like a 20 % shipping packaging costs, you have something that's going off
somewhere.
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:Like you need to figure out how to like,
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:analyze those costs a little bit better, or you need to up your prices, right?
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:So that's where I'm saying like a lot of this, if you're looking at this and you are an
Etsy maker, let's say, and you're listening to this episode right now and you're like, my
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:shipping and packaging costs are like 20%.
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:That's probably an indicator that you need to raise the prices on your products to cover
more of that shipping cost, right?
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:Then of course we have course creators, coaches, and digital educators.
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:Profit margins are about 40 to 60 % after ad spend and delivery team.
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:Completion rate 30 to 50 percent for courses.
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:Obviously the higher equals better retention.
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:The conversion rate at launch is about two to five percent, which is the industry average.
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:Refund rate under 10 percent is ideal and then upsell slash cross-sell rate is about 20 to
30 percent.
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:Then as well for social media managers, we have client retention which is six plus month
is stronger.
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:Shorter equals a higher churn or burnout.
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:Cost of goods, subcontracting or scheduling tools like direct costs again 10 to 25
percent.
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:Average monthly retainer is about 800 to 3000 depending on platform volume and
deliverables.
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:Effective hourly rate is 75 to 150 plus for strategic social media managers.
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:So if you're above those, you're doing fantastic.
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:Client ROI tracking, so benchmark engagement growth, reach and conversion to clients, not
just likes.
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:And then obviously client communication hours, so two to four hours per month max, if more
there's a manager scope issue.
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:So again, those are all.
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:industry averages and those industries that you can kind of look at and really dig into to
see if how do you, how do I stack up?
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:And if you don't stack up, don't think of it as like, man, I'm doing terrible.
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:Think of it as how do I improve my numbers so I can stack up?
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:And again, don't think of it as like a negative, think of it as a positive.
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:Okay.
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:So if you're new or unique niche, your own progress is your best benchmark.
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:Okay.
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:So if you're someone who's feels like maybe you're not really.
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:there yet to benchmark against an industry, benchmark against yourself.
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:What I want you to compare if you are very unique is this quarter versus last quarter.
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:So look at your current quarter versus last quarter, kind of look what changed.
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:Your average project profitability over time.
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:So what is the average profitability there?
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:And then your client value now versus what it was a year ago.
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:So obviously benchmarking is not something you can do if you are just brand new.
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:It's something you kind of do over time.
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:because you again, growth is a goal, it's not uniformity.
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:And then of course, when we benchmark, we wanna do it without spiraling into this shame
spiral.
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:We don't wanna be someone who's telling ourselves, we're not good enough, we don't stack
up.
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:Don't compare revenue without comparing your expenses, okay?
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:So if you have $5,000 in revenue and you have a 20 % expense and maybe someone else's
$10,000 in revenue and they have 50 % of expenses.
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:So ask when you're looking at this and you're like, okay, well, I'm comparing, saying
comparing industry standards.
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:Ask yourself, do they have a team?
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:Maybe they have a team and that's why their costs are different.
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:Are they running exorbitant amounts of ads?
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:What season are they in?
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:So again, like when you're thinking about the industry average, again, you're looking at
that and asking yourselves these questions and saying, okay, so that's why I don't stack
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:up because I'm not running ads.
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:I don't have a team.
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:I'm not in the same season that they are.
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:They're in a growth season.
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:Look at these numbers as inspiration.
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:not imitation, not limitation.
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:Look at them for inspiration and how you can grow your business.
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:Because of course this data is supposed to give you power to understand your business
better, not to cause panic or anxiety or stress, which is why sometimes, you know, having
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:someone who's like me, who's a fractional CFO, look at that can also help you to not be
stressed.
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:Because if you're looking at these numbers and you're like, my gosh, like I'm doing
terrible.
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:Of course you're going to look at that and think that in your head, but that's not the
truth, right?
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:Now you're probably asking, okay Samantha, great.
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:You've given me numbers.
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:You've told me about benchmarking.
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:You've told me I shouldn't spiral, but like, what do I even do with it?
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:Like what's the point of it?
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:You want to use benchmarking to raise your prices for one thing.
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:So if you have a lot of projects and you're looking and you're seeing that someone else
has an industry average that's higher, use it to raise your prices.
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:Use it to cut costs.
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:Maybe your average costs are higher than someone else's.
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:Again, this is not saying you have to cut costs.
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:but these are things you could use it to do.
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:Shift your offer stack, know, maybe you need to shift what you're offering so that it
matches up a little bit more.
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:And then change how you're delivering services if you're hitting your hourly limit but not
your profit.
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:So as an example, if most social media managers are charging $1,500 and you're at $700 but
working 20 hours a month, it's time to repackage and get yourself up to that $1,500.
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:so that you can maybe have, don't have to cut costs.
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:Maybe you don't have to cut costs because you just need to raise prices.
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:That's the power of benchmarking and how you can kind of utilize that.
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:Okay, so benchmarking isn't about being behind, it's about getting aligned with what you
want your business to do for you.
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:If you would love to kind of get some assistance with benchmarking, please reach out to me
again.
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:Send me a DM, send me an email, let's chat about it.
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:Maybe you want to book a discovery call, we can talk about that too.
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:Otherwise,
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:If you loved this episode and you found it really valuable, please leave a comment, like
it, subscribe, share it on social media, tell your friends about it, get them to come
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:listen to the podcast too, because we would love to hear more people, see more people
listening to the podcast.
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:And of course, if you want more topics like this, or you have ideas for topics, fill out
the form in the description box below and we can.
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:Discuss whatever topics you want that have to do with finances.
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:Maybe you're creative and you're like, I've been craving hearing about this, Samantha.
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:Please help me understand it better.
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:I would love to help you understand it better.
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:Just tell me what you are kind of looking for.
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:Otherwise, as always, I wish you the best week ever.
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:We will see you next week.
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:Farewell, fellow travelers.
