FIXING YOUR BUSINESS FROM THE OUTSIDE IN?

Starting and running a business is hard work – it takes time and commitment and there will always be challenges to face.

I’ve always considered myself blessed. I am in business with someone who totally gets the way I think and understands what I have in mind (even when I’m not sure I do) and also brings a totally different perspective to the table. We do have the same basic personality type but we often look at things very differently and, over the many years, we have both come to know and love each other’s strengths and weaknesses so we work with and around them. We also help each other to value and nurture those “gut feelings” that every entrepreneur has, which was really helpful to build trust and confidence in those ideas and feelings during our very early days in business. Ethically we have the same view.

Not everybody has this.

Subjective

For many owners of start-ups and established smaller businesses life can be very isolating – everything begins and ends with you. It becomes too subjective. You are the centre of the business and make every strategic decision, which is even harder when you’re tired or having a bad day. Let’s face it, none of us operate at our best when we’re overworked or feeling stressed.

The fact that you are so intrinsically a part of the business means that it is really difficult to even acknowledge that there is an issue/problem or big cloud building, let alone be able to deal with it. You’ll know that something is “not quite right” but having the time to delve further may seem like a luxury as you work to get sales in and meet existing orders. Even if you do try to tackle the issue (fitting it in around everything else) it may seem more difficult to pick your way through the problem. Often it’s easier to get on with things than to stop and open that box of issues and delve right in – we’ve all been there.

Objective

Ironically, this is exactly the point that you do need to spend time on it and this is when sharing it with someone who is not part of the business, who can view it objectively, is vital.

Making the decision to take the time out to discuss your concerns with a business professional will enable you to share their experiences and take advantage of having a totally new perspective.

Of course it’s not that you can’t tackle it alone but it’s about making it easier on yourself and your business. After all, why get lost trying to find your way when someone can help you out by letting you see a map? It’s about speed and perspective and you can lose weeks wrestling with something that an experienced adviser will have seen before and know a fix for. Why wouldn’t you want to access that help?