16 things keeping SME owners awake - 4. I’m worried about failing.

If you think you are standing in a queue of one in fretting about the potential for your business to fail, you are absolutely not. The high rate of SME failure early on in the life cycle cannot be ignored. But, knowing that there are challenges doesn’t mean you should hunker down and assume the worst. This is exactly the time you need to be bold, innovative and focused, albeit with laser focus on ensuring every move you make is strengthening the business.

Before you do anything else, you need to look under the bed or in the wardrobe and face the monsters. You’ll find that there are things that you should be legitimately worried about and things that don’t matter so much at all. Knowing which is which will save much anxiety.

Be realistic about what you can actually influence and what you can’t. It may be that you already have a sense of what actions you can take immediately to change the settings. Focus on those and do what you can and do it now.

One of the most potent tools in anyone’s arsenal is the power of reflection. This will require you to be brutally honest with yourself (and others). Try and view this as a cathartic and empowering experience. In other words, own your mistakes, work out exactly how they happened and most critically, how to avoid making them again.

If your business is in a weakened position, you should keep your head and one important way to do that is to be really realistic about what you can do. Being $250k in the hole with sales in the toilet is not the time to be focused on $1m in GP next month. Think about what you can actually achieve if you work really hard. Prioritise the things that will have the greatest impact and soonest. You need to demonstrate that you can change the future but you don’t need to change the Universe. Get some kind of result and do it often.

The luxury of planning 10 years out belongs to businesses that have already nailed BAU. In your position, you need to have a focus on the future but accept that the best laid plans of mice and men are subject to cruel twists of fate so remain flexible. What looked great yesterday may not today because of changed circumstances. Managing change is like freestyle dancing. Don’t get caught doing a Waltz when the world is looking for break-dancing.

When business is good, you need a fly swat to bat away the happy, shiny people who want to “add value” by taking money off you. You get them when things aren’t going well and sometimes they are receivers and liquidators who have perfected hoovering up whatever is left down the back of the couch to go in their pockets. But that isn’t thins. Take a good look around and choose the people you know and trust to be thinking in your best interests and once you have, don’t be pissy with them if they say things that you find inconvenient and hard. They are there for you.

As someone who can tend to be intensely private in many things, I have to force myself to share this advice with you. When you’re down, hiding under the duvet seems like a pretty good strategy but inconveniently, it isn’t. The very thing you need to do when things are turning to custard is the very thing you don’t want to do. But get out and talk to people. If (like me) you detest the term “networking” then don’t call it that. What you need to do is get amongst people who you have things in common with. You’ll be surprised how much A-Grade commonsense advice and support is available from people who may look bulletproof and successful now but have been exactly where you are now. Don’t be proud.

I’m no Pollyanna. I don’t take a sunny, smiley view of life all the time. What I do know though is that if I let my depressive, negative side prevail, everything looks like a problem and another bit of evidence that it won’t work. What I know is that how you look at a situation can radically influence the outcome, for good or evil. Choose carefully.

Winning can look like securing an order for $200,000.00 of sales at a 56% margin. But it can also look like your suppliers agreeing to extended terms for six months to help you weather the current storm. Recognise wins on whatever scale they are. Think binary – would I rather have a win or a loss?

Be hyper-vigilant about the operation of your business. If something (or someone) is doing really well, create the possibility for more of that to happen. If something (or someone) is failing, act now. You need to have your hands on the levers and dials and be making subtle but considered adjustments always.

It matters not a jot how old you are. If you want to dig out of tough times, you had better be a bright-eyed scholar of things you don’t already know, or even things you did know but have forgotten. Let’s face it. If the sum of all your knowledge was all you needed, you wouldn’t be in this position now. Be humble and learn.

The perfect plan is a marvellous thing. Frankly, I’ve never seen one in the wild. So, no matter how in love with your plan you have become, always remember that life conspires to make fools of us and our planning. Being flexible enough to say that what looked right yesterday doesn’t look right today because something has changed is not being scatter-brained. It is called being wise and judicious. Just make sure you’re not flipping on a dime for the wrong reasons.

All business carries risk. That’s where reward comes from. But when you’re in difficult times, risk needs to be managed carefully. When your resources are limited, betting it all on black is bad thinking. If you have $10,000.00 to put into something that may turn your fortunes around, get the idea of opportunity cost firmly in your thinking. Ask the question – if I spend this $10k on “this”, what is the “that” that I won’t be able to do. Bet on the right horse.

Life under the pump is exhausting. It calls everything about you and who you see yourself as into question. But, if you’re going to dig out of this situation, you’re going to need to be a bit of a hard-arse. In business speak, call it “resilience” but it amounts to the same thing. You need to keep putting one foot in front of the other and grind it out. Don’t stop, but keep the people who care about you close and listen to them.

Under pressure and flailing can make it very hard to remember why the hell you’re doing this in the first place. People who start businesses and take all the risks and make the sacrifices to do so generally have a passion that underpins all. Whatever else you do, find that place. Find the thing that turned you on in the first place and fire it up again. One word of warning. If you can’t remember, or it no longer exists – you might have found why you are where you are and that’s a whole different conversation.

If at any stage you would like to reach out and talk in more detail about any or all these issues, or even ones that aren’t mentioned, please call me on +64 275 665 682, email me at john.luxton@regenerationhq.co.nz or book a time to talk, either face to face or by Zoom. Any call will be free, confidential and with no obligation to do anything else.