Profitable Decision Making: How To Inform Your Next Business Move With Data, Emotions, and Intuition

Running a business as a whole, complicated human can be tricky. Our heads and hearts both want to be the boss and make decisions for us. Deciding ‘who’ gets the driver’s seat can be challenging. 

That’s why it’s crucial to proactively decide where data, emotion, and intuition belong in your business. 

Is it Better to Make Decisions Based on Data, Intuition, or Emotion? 

If you leave every decision up to chance and how you feel on any given day, your business will become a revenue rollercoaster. Yet, if you rely on data and data alone to make your decisions, you might miss out on expansive and innovative opportunities that don’t necessarily make sense on paper.  

Put another way; there’s no one way to make the best decisions in your business. There’s just the best way to make each decision in your business.

What Kind of Data Matters?

When it comes to decision-making, having as much data as possible to inform your options is key. As an OBM I help my clients analyze, define, develop, and track their metrics in a meaningful way. This allows them to access precise data when they need it most.

The Value of Data-Informed Decisions

I like to think of data as a super spy that reports back to me what’s really going on in my business. Data is just facts and requires logical thinking. For instance, emotion might tell you to give up on your Instagram reels when you have your first three videos totally flop. If you have stats or data from other Instagram influencers, you might know this is normal when you first start. It could take thirty reels before you see significant results (this number is totally made up, btw). 

When you have data, you can set aside your emotions about a flop and keep going. Using data in your decision-making process will give you more power and control over your results. Data keeps you curious and asking, “What could be better here?” instead of wallowing in what isn’t working. 

What Data Can’t Do

Data can give you a pretty good idea of what might happen next and what needs to be fixed, but it can’t cast an inspiring vision for you, it can’t capture the nuances of hiring a perfect-fit team member, and it can’t perfectly predict what’s possible for you. Sometimes your gut feeling or intuition will override your data, and that’s okay. Most of your decisions, processes, systems, and operations should have a solid data foundation, but data doesn’t have to rule every decision you make.

The Value of Emotions in Decision Making

Emotions do have their place, though. If you notice a pattern in how you feel about working with certain clients, feel like you’re outgrowing a program you offer or are running into the same communication issues with a team member again and again, it might be time to listen to your emotions. 

Emotions should flavor your decisions, not fuel them.

The Dangers of Emotion

Emotionally fueled decisions are usually the ones that get you in trouble in life and business. When I ran my business on emotion, I made slow progress and spun my wheels way longer than necessary. I was always burning projects to the ground before they’d had time to gain traction and then beating myself up for ‘failing’ again.

When relying on emotion to make your decisions, it’s easy to get caught up in the moment and decide to take an uninformed leap or give up because of a momentary inspiration or frustration. If you’re outraged, exhausted, overwhelmed, or even overly excited — you’ll want to wait to make a decision.

What About Intuition?

Intuition is a little different than emotion. Intuition is that instant hit you get that something is a bad investment, that a team member isn’t going to be a good match, or that a client isn’t the best fit for your business. On the flip side, intuition can guide you toward profitable partnerships, great connections, or off-the-beaten-path opportunities. Often decisions like this don’t have a lot of data to back them up in the first place, so relying on your intuition makes sense!

Decision-Making Royalty: Discernment 

The best tool you can have in your decision-making toolbox is discernment. With discernment, you can balance data, emotion, and intuition in your business to create your most profitable outcomes. Here’s a little cheat sheet to use so you can discern what a decision needs:

Do you have data available related to this decision?

→ NO

• Gather as much data as you can to inform your decision-making!
• Use your intuition to guide you in making the best-informed guess possible
• Don’t let emotion take control and drive you into fear or overwhelm

→ YES

• Figure out what needs to be fixed or focused on according to the data
• Check in with your intuition to see if you’ve missed anything
• Use your data to inform your thoughts and emotions about your decision

Are you feeling emotional about this decision?

→ NO

• Great! It’s probably a good time to make a decision

→ YES

• Review your data to get a better grasp of your circumstances
• Consider waiting to decide if you can
• If you can’t wait, ask an objective team member, mentor, or coach to help you discern a way forward according to your data

Are you getting an intuitive hit about this decision?

→ NO

• Let data lead the way
• If you don’t have data to lead you, consider talking it through with a biz bestie, mentor, or coach to inform your decision

→ YES

• Double-check your data to see if your intuitive hit aligns with the data
• If you’re having a ‘red flag’ moment, see if sleeping on it brings clarity

Need a data and decision pro on your team so you can focus on leading your business? Download my service guide to find out more about how I can support you and get your ops, systems, and biz back-end in tip-top shape!