By Cathy and Geoff Young, Accelerate Business Consultancy
Are you spending most of your time working harder than ever in your business?
Is your team completely engaged and can your business run without you?
Is your business delivering you the Profit you expected / forecast when you first started?
Many businesses don't survive 5 years, and those that do go beyond that milestone often struggle to reach the level of freedom and income they expected the business to provide for them. No judgement here – but there is a very good reason for this…. we're not taught how to run businesses in school, we generally learn to be technicians on the job with skills to suit our industry.
Leading a successful business and creating an "Ideal Business" requires something else….Skills and experience that may not be available to you yet.
Did you know that 20% of businesses in any category achieve 80% of the results? The other 80% scramble over the remaining 20%. What do the business owners in the top 20% know that the remaining 80% don't?
How many businesses have we seen in our own industry, or related to this industry that close their doors because they could not sustain the financial or operational pressure, or simply couldn't pay creditors on time, if at all?
We also hear of many businesses having challenges around keeping their team motivated, or being productive. And, how often are you forced into discounting just to keep your existing customers, let alone securing new customers?
Believe it or not – it doesn't have to be that way. Having your own business is an opportunity to create and generate the best asset you can ever own, if you get it right. You may have a long-term (or even short-term) plan to sell your business. Or, you may just want to create a wonderful asset to pass onto family or your team. Traditionally, our industry provides for quality multiples of profit in an acquisition, so it's critical to make sure that when exit is on your radar, your profits are exactly where you want and expect them to be.
When successful at achieving this, you may be surprised just how much interest there may be in someone acquiring your business. Even if you're not planning on selling, creating wealth from your own asset is still ideal.
Unfortunately however, when we talk to business owners about their journey to creating their Ideal Business, what we generally hear is;
It's taking longer than they thought
It's harder than they thought
It's busier than ever before and they just can't get from working in the business to working "on" the business.
So, when you think about the future of your business – how are you feeling about it?
1. Is it Doom & Gloom?
2. Perhaps a bit of a rollercoaster (up & down)?
3. Not really sure – just wait to see what happens?
4. Is it one step at a time – just waiting for or expecting things to change?
5. Or, are you wildly optimistic?
The Opportunity is to discover the 4 Futures of every business & plot a course for the one you want! To gain clarity around what your ideal business looks like, justify the time to work on it, and to understand how to close the gap from where it might be now, to where you want to take it.
Now, when we talk about "Ideal Business" we consider ideal in terms of the Freedom it gives you, (is the business working for you, or are you working in the business) the Income it provides you (net profit) and the Scale (the size) of your business.
Considering these three categories - Are they where you expected them to be when you set out on this course? Are they the same, better or worse than where they were 1 or 2 years ago?
Understanding the 3 key areas where money is made or lost will ensure you're playing in the top 20% category, achieving 80% of the results.
Knowing the specific projects in these key areas and working on them in the right order will ensure you are closing the gap and heading in the direction of Your Ideal Business".
So, when is a good time to start working on creating your ideal business? If we wait too long it is almost irrecoverable to close the gap as things just continue to head in the wrong direction. Or, we may be doing the same thing every day expecting a different result to show up. It won't !! Making a start is essential and easy to do if you know where to start and what strategy and projects to get to work on in the right order.
If you want to get 2020 to be your best year yet, Freight & Trade Alliance (FTA) members now have the opportunity to discover how to create their Ideal Business. You are invited to join a free webinar and discover what the 4 futures of every business are. To plot your course for the one you want? We will uncover the Ideal business Model, look at the 3 key areas where money is made or lost in more detail and show you how to have your business in the top 20% making 80% of the results. There is no cost, just 60 minutes of your time.
Like FTA, we are extremely passionate about this industry having invested over 40 years in it, so FTA and Accelerate Consultancy are hosting this webinar at 12PM AEDT on Wednesday 11 December 2019 - we really want business owners and everyone engaged in this wonderful industry to flourish and create their own valuable asset (Ideal Business). Just imagine what you could do if you had an Ideal Business for your staff, your family and those closest to you!!
Let's get 2020 off to a flyer !!
WEBINAR REGISTRATION AVAILABLE HERE