Its all too easy to lose our entrepreneurial cool when our businesses run into trouble. We are used to planning, then following through, to reach the goals that we want. But when these plans go awry, few have a contingency plan to face the new realities. And that’s where the trouble starts.
When you’re running scared you lose focus. You feel pushed around and buffeted by new realities. And you may be inclined to take measures that are counter to your goals.
Hard as it may seem at the time, you have to call a mental time-out. You need a few days to assess what’s happened and is ongoing. Then plan out a strategy.
There’s no “magic-bullet” to resolve every business issue. But the central focus has to be on you and your team’s positive attitude in working through the crisis.
At risk of over-simplifying, business problems most frequently boil down to inadequate income for a given fixed and marginal cost structure. Obviously, this can result from a myriad of causes. It may be necessary in the short term to negotiate business debt relief settlements with suppliers, but this will be of no help unless the longer term issues are resolved. And if you don’t know how to change course, you need help to do so.
Business turnaround is not always the best option. If, in the final analysis, your business can not be saved, then the best approach is to figure out how to get out without losing your shirt. Ultimately, you have to realize that your business is not you. It is a separate entity. And if you have to part ways, you want to land on a feather bed with cash in your hand, rather than with a thud on the sidewalk and vultures circling overhead.
So often I come across good business people who are running scared. They have been spooked by collectors and creditors’ attorneys into decisions counter to their own best interests. They have lost their resilience and are unable to recognize their strengths.
They don’t know how to protect their company’s assets or increase net revenues under all the pressure they are facing. And, in the last analysis, they have lost heart and become unable to work through these issues. As a final insult, they are pressured into filing bankruptcy when their business could have been saved.
I’m convinced that many potentially successful businesses fail because of poor or inadequate professional advice. And that advice may be counter to the entrepreneur’s own best interests. Business owners have to be aware of this possibility. They have to realize that, if they feel themselves starting to run scared, it’s a sign that they need to take a few steps back and seek help to map out their options.
Our economy’s backbone is made up of millions of small to medium sized companies. So often, so many of their owners go out of business under stressful circumstances, whilst running scared. It doesn’t have to happen that way. And that’s a shame.