Focus on what you can control

I watched a good video clip by a celebrity doctor this morning about protecting your mental health and emotional well-being during lockdown.

The tip that most resonated most with me was ‘Control’. Working out what you’re in control of and what you’re not. Spend time working on the things you can control and don’t waste so much energy on worrying about those you can’t.

This applies to business owners struggling to come to terms with the lockdown. For many their business premises are shut, their employees are on furlough or working remotely and cash is tight. There’s no money coming in and there are bills to pay. Their business world has been turned upside down in a few short weeks.

So lets think about what we can’t control for a moment. We can’t control how long the lockdown will last or how long social distancing and other measures will stay in place. That’s out of our hands. We need to work within the changing rules but we can’t really influence how and when they will change. 

We can control how we adapt and work within the current and changing environment.

The initial priorities for most of us have been about crisis management. Protecting our employees, protecting our premises and protecting our finances. For those of us lucky enough to be in sectors which are still trading, looking after our customers and helping them weather the storm has also been a high priority.

The initial frenzied activity may have been replaced by some kind of calm. We’re not going into work but we’ve done most of the urgent stuff we needed to do. Survival for the next few weeks is secured and some businesses are ‘treading water’ until some kind of normality returns.

This is where I think we also have a degree of control. 

We can spend time visualising how that new kind of normality will look like in our sector in the short, medium and longer term. How will we adapt our businesses to this new environment?

This is not easy but I think is worth the attention of all of us business owners. 

Those of us who follow the latest developments, think hardest and adapt fastest will have a greater chance of success when the current restrictions start to be relaxed.

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Preparing for the new normal

We’ve been in lockdown now for almost a month.

Although the Government have tried to dampen down talk of exit plans, attention is moving to how measures might be relaxed in due course and how we might return to more normal conditions, or perhaps a ‘new normal’. 

The consensus seems to be that at least in the short term, social distancing measures will still apply until a vaccine or another scientific solution minimises the risk of the virus growth accelerating again. 

The most likely sequence for an emergence from lockdown, according to Buzzfeed, seems to be allowing some non-essential shops and industries to open, followed by a relaxation in some social distancing measures and in due course, re-opening pubs and restaurants. Permitting larger public gatherings and events and opening up travel are likely to be further down the track. 

This sequence is still speculative but it does align with measures to relax lockdown seen in some other European countries and the Buzzfeed article has been picked up and reported on by mainstream media.

There is still great uncertainty over the timing and it makes planning difficult for businesses.

But plan we must.

The focus for some businesses has been surviving lockdown. Gaining access to the Government financial support, speaking to their banks, customers and suppliers. This remains the focus for many with essential funding not yet in place to ensure their survival over the next few weeks.

Before too long the focus needs to shift to emerging from lockdown. 

What will this look like in your sector? Some sectors will be permanently changed. Some will have a very gradual return to more normal conditions. There are scenarios we need to plan for and adapt our businesses to the new reality.

One of the buzzwords at the moment is ‘pivot’. In other words, changing your business offering and business model to suit the new conditions. Pubs and restaurants doing takeaway and delivery services, events companies moving on-line, football teams playing in empty stadiums.

Pivoting is a technique widely used in start up businesses. 

If their initial start up offering is not taking off the entrepreneurs will pivot their offering to make it more attractive and relevant to customers. Often these pivots are very radical and involve a complete rethink of the business, starting with the customer and how the assets and resources of the company can best be deployed to meet their needs. 

One of the most unusual and counter-intuitive pivots I read about recently was a former events company which is now manufacturing and distributing its own brand of gin.

Most of us will not be doing anything as radical as moving into the gin business but we may need to think about making some significant changes to adapt to the new environment. 

Will our sector return to a ‘pre-Covid’ situation when we come out the other side or will it be permanently changed? 

We need to be ready and prepared for the ‘new normal’ when it comes.

www.base52.co.uk

Its all changed, but good business practice still applies

This is an incredibly difficult time for everyone, both personally and professionally. 

I’ve rewritten this blog once or twice as I don’t want to understate or show any lack of empathy with the difficulties some businesses face at the moment.

For business owners, our woes don’t compare with key workers and those on the front line in the NHS, but there are huge challenges nonetheless.

For some businesses, especially those in retail, hospitality and leisure, turnover has dropped almost instantaneously to zero. For other businesses there has been a sharp decline and the future is uncertain. It’s as if all the day to day challenges we all face as business owners have been crammed into the space of a few weeks and magnified several times over.

It’s tough and we are all trying to navigate our way through.

The Government financial support measures will help many businesses through this period. As business advisors we have spent much of the last few weeks advising our clients on what support measures apply to them and how they can make a claim. For some its a lifeline, for others they have slipped through the net, at least for now and are doing what they can to get by.

Despite all the difficulties I want to argue that the basic rules of doing business should still apply. 

That is, it is incumbent on all of us to negotiate in good faith and only agree to receive products and services we can afford to pay for. If we’ve had a sudden financial shock and meeting agreed payment terms is not possible in the short term, we should speak to our suppliers and try to agree a mutually acceptable way forward.

Something which I believe is not particularly helpful or constructive is saying to suppliers, ‘Things are tough, I’m not going to be able to pay you for a while.’ Another way of putting this is, ‘I’ve prioritised things and paying you is not a priority.’

There have been well-publicised instances of some larger firms doing this and leaving their suppliers high and dry. In my own network I am aware that this has happened a number of times.

In some cases, as well as stopping payment, the customer was still expecting to continue to receive services until their situation improved.

Of course I get it that things are tough. Of course I understand that businesses want to hold onto their cash. Survival is their main objective.

But shifting their problems onto their suppliers isn’t helpful in the longer run. 

A sensible compromise is agreeing a reduction in the ongoing scope of services delivered to what is affordable and perhaps agreeing extended payment terms for old debt.

So everything is different but good business practice still applies.

As the Government has said, this will end at some point and more normal trading conditions will resume. 

Following good business practice during this period will ensure we have a better chance of emerging in good shape and with positive business relationships when the time comes.

www.base52.co.uk