Save The Patient

You may have spent many years building your business from an idea to wherever you are now. Maybe you see a bright future and know exactly how you’re going to get there. To you, I say congratulations and well done on making your dream come true.

On the other hand you might have put in the same amount of effort and remain concerned about whether your business is viable or not. To you I say, congratulations on having the vision, the courage and the determination to get to this point. Not that many people have what it takes to start a business and even less actually make it to the point of being successful.

Then COVID-19 happened and the world just became a different place and will probably be different forever. The first question to be asked is whether your business is still relevant in this new normal. The answer could be yes, definitely; it could be maybe if we do things differently; or it may be unfortunately what we do has no place in the new environment.

What I can tell you is that as the owner of the business, you may be the last person to make that calculation. Your heart and soul are in this thing and you can’t imagine life without it. That emotion and endless commitment can make you very resistant to what the facts are telling you.

This column is not intended to be negative. It is designed to help start one of the most difficult conversations any business owner will ever have.

I’d like to offer some help. My experience in distressed businesses has given me a pretty good radar for the likely direction a business is heading in. Recognising that this is a very sensitive subject, I will come and spend some private time with just you and whoever you trust to be in the conversation. We’ll talk frankly, openly and with respect for what you have and what you’ve done.

I won’t tell you whether your business is viable or not. That is a decision that you need to make yourself and really own it once its made. The outcomes all have their upside. If it’s curtains time, there will come the enormous relief of having made a call tht should possibly have been made some time ago. If there is life to preserve, it starts the really envigorating conversation about how to do that.

What you won’t be left with is the cold, dark and miserable uncertainty of not looking at or doing anything.

If you’re unsure, give me a confidential call and we can toss it around and then you can make a decision.