Are you so focused on trying to “make” money that you do not recognize the details in the big picture? When you have a narrow focus you exclude many hidden details and miss the many potential low cost opportunities and strategies  to improve your business processes, relationships and hidden profits.

And by the way, increasing cash flow does not necessarily generate higher profits. You might think you can double your income by using a new marketing scheme, for instance. But, if it’s costing you a lot more time and money to generate those dollars, you haven’t necessarily made more profits. You just have more cash flowing through your business.

Hidden profits are no brainers. They don’t involve big projects or high-risk propositions. They’re efficient ways of increasing profit. And they are hiding in plain sight, sometimes with your staff.

Here are five stones you might consider looking under to find hidden profits in your business:

1) People – It is very difficult to continuously generate higher and higher profits without a supportive culture. Surround yourself with people whose joy comes from supporting the vision and mission of the organization. Consider hiring support professionals; coaches, mentors and experts who can help you and your personnel grow together. Also, appreciate employees and their family activities. Appreciated employees are not ashamed to talk about how much they enjoy their work place. You never know what can happen when employees connect with friends and relatives outside of the office.

2) Priorities —A big mistake is focusing your time and energy on stuff that just doesn’t matter, such as the distractions of technology or the illusion of perfection. Look at the real root of profits in your business as you set your priorities. It might not be what you think. For example, the real root of profits in our business is in expanding and maintaining relationships. Meeting new people and building relationships should be one of your top priorities, even though it doesn’t directly generate money, it does increase our potential client pool and potential profits. On the other hand, Perfection is a profit leech, sucking the life energy out of the processes. We all want things to be perfect, but “good enough” makes money far more rapidly than obsessing over perfection. Let go of the idea that if things aren’t perfect, people won’t buy. It’s just not true.

3) Productivity – Are you floating along, meandering through each day, or are you giving yourself the gift of structure in your day? Structure doesn’t mean a rigid schedule where you don’t get to have any fun. You can structure each day as it comes depending on how you feel. However, unproductive people have lower profits, plain and simple. How much money could you make if you wasted one less hour a day doing low priority stuff, and spent that hour doing profit-generating activities? Think about it.

4) Be Connected — Your mental/emotional state of being is everything. Get enough sleep, good reset-the-brain sleep. Next, adopt a daily mindfulness practice. This one activity can give you the gift of making sure you are highly aware and present in your business. Increased awareness will help you make better decisions and respond to queries effectively. Encourage staff to be more mindful as well. Your modeling mindfulness will help with this.

5) Simplicity of marketing — Complicating your marketing is one of the surest ways to prevent your business from generating higher profits. Keeping things simple increases your income efficiency and makes it easier to find the tweaks that are needed when you try something out.

Yes, there are numerous others rocks with potential discoveries. However, these offer the greatest long-term rewards to everyone involved, including owners, employees, vendors and customers. Dig it.