“To manage something you must be able to measure it,” says Steve LeFever, financial educator and small-business advocate. “If you can’t measure the performance of your business, you can’t manage it. If you want to be profitable, you must be able to measure business performance.”

LeFever made his comments in a well-attended educational session on Thursday titled “Profit Mastery: Practical Tools to Assess the Health of Your Business,” attended by about 165 jewelers.

LeFever, who is chairman of Business Resource Services Inc., Seattle, works with many domestic and international organizations and businesses in financial-management workshops. He has participated in the educational program at The JCK Show ~ Las Vegas for nine years and is one of its most in-demand speakers.

Understanding the business side of business isn’t glamorous, but it’s essential, he said. He noted there are seven “financial killers” of a small business: failure to plan properly before start-up; failure to monitor financial performance; failure to understand the relationship between price, volume, and costs; failure to manage cash flow; failure to manage growth; failure to borrow properly from banks; and failure to plan for transition.

For the June 2 session, LeFever focused on the second—monitoring and measuring financial performance. With clear, practical, and entertaining instruction, he took his audience on a trip through their financial statements, including actual income statements and balance sheets covering three years. The bottom line, using the practical tools he provided, is “control of your own business” and “profit mastery,” LeFever said.

For more information about LeFever’s workshops and materials, visit www.brs-seattle.com.

JCK