As part of my business I invest up to 10 hours per week on the phone talking to small business owners, many of which are a perfect fit for either the mastermind or mentorship programs I offer.
What I have heard more and more over the past few months and especially now after the emergency budget is that many (not all) potential entrepreneurs and small business owners are adopting a ‘STICK MY HEAD IN THE SAND’ and hope for the best approach to business.
This really is a recipe for disaster!!
If you speak to anyone that has been through an extremely challenging financial situation the worst thing you can do is hide away from it.
I know because I’ve been through an extremely challenging financial situation 8 years ago, the point I’m making is that it was my ignorance to the situation that made it worse!!
Only when I admitted that there was a problem and acted with my head held up high was I able to rectify the situation.
If I had continued with my head in the sand the outcomes I have now would be completely different.
The current market and economy is very interesting, there are businesses that are closing their doors because they can no longer make money.
This is true!!
What is also true is that there are small businesses making a whole heap of money, in fact some that I know are 25-30% up on last year.
How on earth have they managed that when the economy is so shit and no-one is spending any money?
Well, they pulled their heads out of the sand, they saw what was going on and they took positive action!
They stopped just doing the work of the business and they went to work on the business.
They figured out how to attract potential customers, how to give them an amazing experience and more importantly how to get them to come back again and again whilst telling their friends and family about the amazing experience they’d had.
The business owners had changed their mindset from business owner to entrepreneur.
Now, why am I telling you all this?
Simple.
Because, I feel passionately about getting the very best out of the small businesses I work with and unless more of them pull themselves together and do something positive there is going to be an awful lot less of them come this time next year.
We can’t allow that to happen!
So, what to do about it?
Take a real hard look at your business, look at the numbers – do they make sense? Go over your plan – if it’s not working or more likely you don’t have a plan – change it or create a plan and then go to work on that plan.
Find the big problem for your business and fix it, then look for the next one and fix that one and then keep going fixing problems, making it easier and easier for your customers to do business with you.
What I have found really interesting whilst I have been talking to business owners either on the phone or in my mastermind group is that we are all experiencing the same problems and opportunities.
If we stick our heads in the sand and just hope things will be OK – it is a real problem, if on the other hand we act with purpose we create opportunities.
If you’d like to join in on one of the mastermind group calls to hear about the challenges we are facing and the opportunities we are creating, just post a comment beneath this note and I’ll get in touch with you letting you know when the next one is.
To your entrepreneurial success,
Mike
Welcome to the world of blogging ! ..great content. We make so much of our problems ..whining on about this and that (me, guilty as anyone!) but at the end of the day ..sticking our heads up above the parapet and taking the action needed is the best way to get results !..keep blogging !
I am a marketing intern in a small fastly growing biodiesel fuel firm. I am here to create a marketing plan that can be part of the budget in a waivering economy. I have learned a lot more in the past month than I could have in any text book. I love to find new ways to market and I am always looking for ways to help expand this growing business!