When I was in university my degree was a Co-Op program - which meant that I had several work-terms through my degree that allowed me to experience different businesses and industries. It was fantastic. I loved my degree and experiences at that time.

In one particular experience, I had the privilege of working in two businesses that shared admin resources (me) which was a partnership between two individuals - one an interior designer and the other a marketing consultant. It was a fascinating look inside these two diverse industries.

At the time, I noticed two hard-working Business Owners with a passion for their work. It was only years after that experience that I really understood the significance of how they ran their business. 

What I learned:

I want to share a story about a business owner who was consistently feeling behind the eight ball…Always feeling 2 steps behind each week.

She was growing but everything was chaotic and she was exhausted.

She was struggling to deliver her services to her clients and grow her business - She was engaged in most of the business development, dealt with many of the clients and was the primary contact for any customer service issue.

She was onboarding a new team member yet because she was still a small business of only six, she was still wearing many hats each day.

Then, after working together, she was able to turn things around.

How?

There’s much talk these days about a recession and what that could mean for our own businesses. Recessions can be tough for some and yet others thrive. What’s the secret? Is there one?

In my research I’ve identified strategies that can help businesses not only survive, but thrive during economic downturns.

What I found can be summed up in three main areas:

One of the common topics that I notice come up from Founders and Owners is how to manage the multiple priorities they have.

There are so many hats we wear that we often have many similarly prioritized initiatives going on at the same time: from managing a newer member of your team, to pricing your services for next year to planning marketing initiatives. The list can be endless.

And they’re all important.

Sometimes, it feels impossible to chose what to focus on next because it IS nearly impossible. They all have to be done!

While everyone’s situation can be somewhat unique, what I do know is this: when we focus on the many, progress is slow; when we focus on the few, we speed up.

Have you ever thought about what it would be like to be a ‘customer’ of your business?

To walk in their shoes?

You may use your own products and services but what I’m talking about is different. I’m talking about experiencing what they would experience.

How do you think your service delivery would stack up?

This is probably one of the most impactful exercises a business owner can do…

You’re working too hard to not have the profit you need.

You sell your products and services, but realize that after each month, you’re no further ahead.

Your bank account is dismal and there doesn’t seem to be much left to invest back into your company.

Does this sound familiar?

If so, you may be suffering from the profit conundrum.

This is suffered by those businesses who are selling, but not making any money.

This is no bueno.

If you’re not familiar with the 4 Levers of Profit, then you’re going to love today’s article.

Let’s dive in!

Are you making decisions aligned with your Mission?

First off, do you have a clear sense of your mission now? If you’re a business owner, what is your business’ mission?

If you’re a leader, what is your personal mission for leadership? What are you trying to accomplish in your organization? Is it aligned to your company’s mission?

If you are clear on your mission, then that’s the first step to ensuring that your decision-making is aligned and you move each day to fulfill your mission.

Being able to articulate your company’s vision simply is powerful.

It supports your decision-making, how you lead, and provides a guidepost for your company to work towards.

Sharing it with your team, your clients and suppliers can be equally as powerful so people know what you’re about. People are attracted to doing business with companies that have passion and purpose.

If you haven’t articulated or written your business’ vision in a while, I encourage you to use this simple framework which includes what success looks like.

Here’s a vision framework for you to work with:

Is your business satisfying your ‘WHY’?

In order to fulfill your WHY for being in business, the company you created has to be able to make the impact you had intended it to make.

Whether that’s impacting families through therapeutic approaches, providing housing for seniors, providing financial security for families, or helping others build healthy businesses, without your own healthy business, it becomes harder to fulfill that mission.

That’s why I love these markers of business value. It’s not only your own business you’re building, but having a healthy business means that you can change the lives of your clients and customers.

That’s the real and compelling legacy here and a huge reason why I do what I do. One of my big WHYs is to help you to be successful in growing a strong, healthy, and sustainable business that impacts others.

I’m deeply motivated to improve the lives of others through economic growth and supporting businesses that make a difference in our communities so we all thrive.

One of the markers of a healthy business is how cash flows through it. (This is the fifth driver of business value.)

One of the most common pains I hear from business owners is that there’s not enough cash. Or it shows up as their desire to ‘do more marketing’ or '‘increase sales’.

Is your business a cash suck?

Or does it generate cash quite handily?

If cash is rarely on hand in your business when you need it, you may want to consider exploring these areas:

The unconventional strategy: Create space to think.

This may seem odd to highlight, but stick with me here…

Often, we go and go and go in a business we’re trying to create and build. We feel like there’s never enough time, there are more clients or customers to attract, or new products or services to release in this quest of creating, building, and growing a business. There’s a lot of doing. And a lot of striving.

And that action-taking can be worthwhile.

However, there is another side of the equation to consider….and that side is the opposite of doing.

It’s about taking frequent pauses. Creating space for something else…..

How often are you creating space for thinking, reflecting, planning, and considering?

People start a business for all types of reasons. Some start looking for more freedom and flexibility or financial freedom. Some start because they have a great idea that they haven’t seen in the marketplace. Some want to create a legacy or make a positive change in their industry. Your reasons could be all, some, or other reasons for starting your business.

But whatever your reason is, this question is relevant to consider:

Do you want to create a valuable business?

What does valuable mean?

You don’t need to get through your to-do list, focus on managing your priorities.

With changes happening regularly, sometimes hitting us daily, challenging our focus and shifting our plans, you can pretty much toss that to-do list out the window.

These days our weeks are anything but predictable, yet our work must continue.

So, how do we continue to adapt to our still-changing environment?

Let’s talk about WHY you started your business:

Was it to:

• Have flexibility and freedom

• Secure a financial future for your family

• Make a difference in the lives of others through your products & services

• Make a greater impact more broadly on the world

• Do what you love to do

Do any or all of these reasons ring true for you?

I write this as I sit here in the sun - taking my work outside to write to you today - because…..why not?

We, in the northern part of our hemisphere, are starting to experience the lovely warmth of spring and anticipating the coming summer days.

Some of us may even be starting to experience a relaxing of some of the restrictions that we’ve been living with for the past 2 months.

As the weather warms and I think ahead to the summer months - approaching summer this year is unlike any other spring ever. Usually, I have things very planned out. I know which weeks will be vacation, I’ll have everything booked, kids’ camps/activities booked and it will usually be mostly all set by now.

This year, in a year where we’re unsure from one week to the next what will be open or what we will be able to do, the coming months may look very different AND my level of planning around it has shifted.

I’ve been paying a lot of attention to conversations that highlight the challenges and needs that are surfacing right now. These conversations take place in my client interactions but also with my network and beyond.

What I’ve been seeing is that you are evaluating how you’re moving forward over the next few months. Whether it’s deciding what services or products to offer now or how you will position or sell your services and products.

Businesses are looking at re-opening guidelines and looking to their provincial and state mandates to see what that means for them and how they can continue to operate or re-open (if they’ve been closed through this).

In addition to that, I see you wondering about what this means for your existing services and products and questioning how to get these in front of your clients over the next few months. What’s appropriate as a business? How can I continue to be viable? How can I continue to strive to hit certain business goals?