Small business owners around the world are reporting that they are being eaten alive by their businesses. Some blame the global financial crisis: some blame the banks: some blame the government. What is going on?
Is that your small business?
Do you go each day and face that ravenous monster that is trying to eat you up?
Is that how it was supposed to be … how you dreamt it would be?
What went wrong?
You work hard but no matter how hard you work you just seem to get further behind
You get less pay than your employees
Your family and social lives are almost non existent
You are out of shape because you don’t eat or exercise properly and stress way too much
You don’t get enough sleep
Sound familiar? So what can you do about it?
You are stuck in this trap you made for yourself. Aren’t you?
Well … No, but you have to make some changes.
What can you do before it’s too late?
Step back and have a look at where you are right now. You mightn’t like the answer your get, but it is better to know than to go under wondering what happened
There is a lot of help out there, if you will only ask for it:
• accountants and financial advisors
• specialist business advisors
• local chambers of commerce and other similar organisations
• informal gatherings of like minded business people
• online help from government and private organisations
Don’t say, “I’ll do it when I’m not so busy.” You might be in hospital or the bankruptcy court before you get less busy.
DO IT TODAY!!!
Action to take right now
A good start is to get an up to date financial report and do a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis.
- your accountant or book keeper can produce the financial report
- a SWOT analysis will show you what you need to do immediately
- Wikipedia has a good explanation of what a SWOT analysis is
- businessballs.com offers a free template which has plenty of thought starting ideas on it
- discuss your findings with the people you trust and plan your next moves
If you do this thoroughly it will show you very clearly what you need to do to avoid being eaten alive by your business. The closer you are to being eaten alive, the more urgent it is to step back and do this.
Join in the conversation
Let’s have your response to this blog. It is not meant to be the oracle. It does not pretend to have the answers. It is meant to be a discussion starter.
- if you have sorted your business out and are now in control, let us know what you did
- if you feel like you are being eaten alive by your business, share your problems. Hopefully we can help each other improve on this situation.
Small business eats owner alive 