We use Shopify. Shopify has a very cool feature when you login that shows your sales for the day. It's easy to toggle the day to yesterday, or change it to a period of time that you choose. It's also easy to see orders going out the door.
What is not easy for them to see is how much you spend on payroll, utilities, inventory, advertising, etc. This would be a very great dashboard to have, but as of yet I haven't seen a good one (shoot me an email if you happen to read this and know of a relatively inexpensive service that can take quickbooks data and present it in a nice dashboard).
When I talk to my fellow small business owners frequently we talk about cash flow, return on ad spend, etc. But I think as business owners we are like the ducks where on the surface to our employees everything seems to be smooth and calm, but no one sees our legs kicking like crazy.
Recently I started sharing a spreadsheet that shows our average monthly costs for everything from marketing and payroll to the little things that can be forgotten like the security system, heating system maintenance, etc.
I explained to them that their wages are just a portion of their direct costs to me. I have it pegged that their wages represent about 60% of their direct costs with the other 40% being taken up by my part of the social security payment, workers comp insurance, medical (we pay 100%), dental, vision, life insurance, unemployment taxes, and 401(k) contribution (3%). Not to mention that for every employee I have on payroll that's an extra desk/office, computer, utilities, payroll processing fees, etc.
My end goal here is to help them to realize that I need them to not only spend their time wisely and efficiently but I need them to produce real results. Simply showing up and "doing their job" will be a means to them no longer having a job. My goal is to empower them to make a real difference, and if they can not or choose not to do those things that will make a difference this power will be their ticket out.
My hope is that they seize the opportunity.
And yes, in case you are wondering I do encourage my employees to read this blog.