The document discusses how editors can use business data to increase profits. It recommends collecting data on editing speed, leads, and client types. For editing speed, the presenter suggests tracking words edited per hour to determine an accurate speed. For leads, the presenter advises tracking data from proposals like source, project details, and estimates. Client types should be categorized like "bread-and-butter" or "blue chip" clients and income percentages from each calculated. Analyzing this data allows editors to identify areas for improvement and make strategic changes.
It’s a three-step process: gathering the data in a format you can use, analyzing it, and then making decisions informed by that analysis.
That all sounds like a lot of jargon together, but here’s what it means in plain English: every task we do in our businesses, from administrative tasks like invoicing to paid tasks like editing, creates information about it—data.
When we look at that information, we can ask questions about it that tell us something about the task: is it worth doing? do you make any money doing it?
The answers we come up with can help us make better choices later. That’s it. Not so scary, right?
Businesses of all sizes, from companies with thousands of employees to our own one-person shops, struggle to complete all three steps.
The problem isn’t as daunting as it sounds. When we focus on asking one, specific question, we’ll find it easier to collect the data and do something with it.