Last week we discussed how to climb your business Everest; the
idea being that if you were to climb 12.12 metres per day you could reach the
summit of Everest in just 2 years.
On that climb you will, no doubt, meet lots of distractions
that can (if you allow them) take you off track; the weather, your equipment,
other climbers, you might view other peaks, your own self-doubt/ego, difficult
areas to climb, but if you want to reach the summit you have to get past these
obstacles.
What has this got to do with you and your business?
Quite often when we get into business our focus is on the doing
what we do, that’s makes sense after all, it's going to pay the bills. Yet, at
the back of our minds, we instinctively know there are other drivers we should
be focusing on; marketing, sales, time management, customer service,
understanding the numbers, HR, leadership the list goes on. It’s no wonder when
we have to juggle all these balls that we drop a few, often with the intention
of picking them back up later.
The challenge is, those dropped balls make the climb
very risky.
Quite often you will see businesses growing,
everything appears to be going well and suddenly a decision is made to downsize
or move the company back to a level where things are a little more comfortable.
The number one reason this happens is because the
business is out of balance (a number of balls have been dropped or never picked
up in the first place).
What I would like you to do is consider 4 balls
(drivers) that if you want to climb your mountain, need to be kept in balance
at all times. They are; Time, Team, Money and Delivery.
Let’s consider a start-up business owner on their
quest to climb their mountain, although these principles do relate to all
businesses that are going through growth phases.
As the business begins to grow the owner finds themselves
getting busy servicing customers and realises that there is a need to bring on
more people (TEAM). Because they are so busy dealing with the ‘doing’ of the
business, they haven’t got the TIME to dedicate to recruitment, and because
TIME is now a premium, other balls can get dropped, which may mean a juggling
act between new opportunities and existing customers which leads to DELIVERY
problems which can lead to complaints, refunds or rework which effects cash
flow and profits (MONEY). It all gets very stressful and, what tends to happen
is, instead of climbing the mountain, a decision is made to step back down to a
more manageable level.
A cycle can now begin; pressure and stress become manageable,
the market and environment look favourable, so the decision is made to start
the climb again with the same inevitable outcome because the original
imbalances have never been addressed.
What can happen here is the business owner can become risk
averse and think, "Perhaps I’m not cut out for this mountain climbing
lark." They drop the dream of reaching the top and settle for a level that
feels right to them. For many, this is the actually the point at which they
plant the seed of business failure, it may take a little while, but a business
can’t stand still; it is either growing or dying.
All that is needed to change this cycle is a change in mindset
and, in particular, learning the difference between spending and investing.
Investing time building solid, reliable systems for things like
recruitment, delivery, or financial management are often seen as a waste of
time because they don’t produce an immediate return. This is the problem, because it is only by
investing the time in these systems that the business will ever be able to grow
safely and keep a balance between Time, Team, Money and Delivery.
So where should you start?
I would suggest getting to understand the numbers will probably
be the most beneficial starting place. Numbers are the language of business and
if you don’t understand the language, how can you play the game?
Next week we will take at some critical numbers you
really need to understand that will enable you to remain in control as you
start your climb.
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