Steady as she goes

 

‘Steady’ is not a word you’d normally use to describe an entrepreneur.

The more typical image is as flamboyant buccaneers, identifying a customer need, raising capital and using energy and intellect to fulfil that need, managing risks along the way.

Tales abound of erstwhile entrepreneurs starting an enterprise in their parents’ garage, from a laptop in their bedroom or from a run-down shop. Almost overnight they become millionaires, then billionaires and high-profile media personalities.

That happens, of course, but for many business owners the journey to riches is a little more sedate and in some cases, more predictable. The few who do succeed (the statistics say that the majority don’t) and become successful and wealthy often achieve this over years, or decades of steady and predictable growth. 

Through the wonderful power of compounding (known and loved by many investors), 10% growth, year after year, will create a business of scale if carried on for long enough.

Of course, most businesses don’t grow in a straight line. 

They have good years and bad. 

The year 2020 for many businesses will be more about survival than growth. With depleted reserves and additional loans, many may take several years to recover. But recover they can and as long as the longer term trajectory is up, they can get back on their former growth curve.

Let’s look at an example. 

A small shop with turnover of £100k in their first year. Sales growth averaging 10% each year for 20 years would rise to a turnover of over £670k in year 20. That’s growth of nearly 7 times! That excludes inflation. So that is more units sold, more profit (if margins and overheads are managed) and more scale.

Of course, that is a hypothetical and simplistic scenario. 

There’s a truism in business though - that what you plan for, you achieve. Planning for a minimum of 10% growth (in normal times) is eminently achievable for most businesses. The plan needs to have substance - in our example of the shop, in one year growth may come from increasing the range, another year from expanding or reconfiguring the space, adding new employees, moving on-line etc. Growth won’t be linear but if the trend line is a minimum of 10% growth, scale can be achieved by steady, consistent, application.

Getting rich quick can be a compelling and seductive objective for some. The lucky few with extraordinary talent or perfect timing may succeed.

For the majority, steady, persistent application can deliver similar results...but it doesn’t happen overnight.

www.base52.co.uk

Creativity matters

When I started my business, many moons ago, no one mentioned creativity as a helpful skill to have in the toolbox. 

Most books were about practical things - processes, systems, building a team and of course, working hard. 

That’s what most of us focus on - being diligent, learning from mistakes, getting stuff done. 

But creativity matters. 

Good ideas can be the difference between continued hard slog and genuine step changes in your business. Of course, the ideas need to be implemented but having the inspiration in the first place is the starting point.

Like Archimedes displacing the water in his bath, the ‘Eureka’ moment can be transformational.

There are lots of opportunities to be creative in business. One I would avoid, especially if it involves flouting the rules, is creative accounting. That aside, you can be creative with how you deal with people, creative about how you tackle an operational matter and probably most of all, creative about marketing.

Being creative and implementing your best ideas is what makes your business unique so, in my opinion, its a key skill to have, or to learn in business. 

So how do you ‘learn’ to be creative? 'It’s not my strength', you might say.

I’m not an expert on this but for me its about stepping back from the ‘day to day’ grind and making time to think differently. People get inspired at different times, usually when they ‘switch off’ and let their subconscious brain take over. Maybe on a long walk or drive or for the joggers amongst us, on a long run.

Monty Python star, John Cleese is an unlikely advocate of being creative. His style is to make a specific time to be creative. He finds a place he is comfortable in, where he won’t be interrupted and before he starts he clears away all the mundane things on his list which might impact negatively on the session. He’ll make that phone call, put the bins out, reply to that urgent email etc. Then he’s ready.

He’ll think about the thing he needs to be creative about - the comedy sketch, the problem to solve, whatever it is and work hard on it for an allotted time - maybe 90 minutes or so. The unexpected word in there is ‘hard’. No one expects creativity to be hard work. Aren’t moments of inspiration supposed to just appear, as if by magic, as with Archimedes and of equal fame, with Newton’s apple?

Cleese argues that it can be hard work and needs time and discipline.

He goes further. When he has created his new ‘thing’, he tries a bit harder. He takes the draft and works on it a bit more to get a better result. He cites this extra effort as a reason why he was sometimes more successful that other comics with coming up with truly memorable output.

So it may not be the first thing on the skills list for a budding business owner or entrepreneur but creativity is underrated. 

With time, space and some hard work it can make a big difference to your business.

www.base52.co.uk

Yes, no or maybe?

There’s a tendency for business owners and entrepreneurs not to want to pass up the opportunity of a potential sale.

The famous saying attributed to Richard Branson goes something like, ‘If some one offers you an opportunity, say yes and think about how you’ll do it afterwards’. 

There is good sense in this. You want to show confidence and enthusiasm to a prospective customer so making them aware of your immediate concerns is not the smartest sales tactic. 

For lifestyle businesses too where the owner is the person delivering the service, saying yes and being positive at the outset is a good tactic. If it turns out on further investigation that it is not such a great idea you can always offer help in some other way. Perhaps refer the prospect on to someone in your network who would do a great job. That way you make two people happy and spread a little bit of goodwill.

Pricing specialist and business thought leader Ron Baker argues that ‘knowledge businesses’ - those that deliver value by means of their intellectual capital and ‘know-how’, should consider charging less if they gain new knowledge from a particular assignment. They may not make as much profit as on a more routine job but they have added to the bank of the firm’s knowledge which should be beneficial in the longer run.

In these challenging times, where sales and cashflow are at a premium, the inclination to say yes is greater than ever.

There are circumstances however where I believe that turning down a potential sale is the best thing to do. By all means try to refer the prospect on to someone else if you can, but sometimes it is better not to to proceed.

An example would be where the business has a clear niche where they do specialised and highly profitable work. Stepping out of that niche to exploit an opportunity will shift focus and resources from what the business already does very successfully. So it may not be the best approach.

Another instance where caution is recommended is where the new opportunity would require significant input from the owner. If this would shift their focus from managing their core business, the benefit from the potential new sale might not outweigh the costs.

Passion and enjoyment are also important. You may make money on a new assignment but if it doesn’t make you happy or inspire you, you may want to think twice.

So in many cases I would agree with the great man and saying, ‘Yes’ and going for it is the best approach. 

Every now and then though, after reflection, a better way forward might be, ‘Thank you for the opportunity but we are not able to help you this time’.

www.base52.co.uk

Back to the fray

For many businesses, after the initial panic and scramble to ensure survival, lockdown has been a time of treading water.

Employees on furlough, rent holidays negotiated with landlords, non essential spending halted, loans secured. Then its been a matter of waiting for things to change.

There is still a long way to go as the Government advisors keep reminding us but lockdown is starting to ease with the re-opening of non essential retail imminent. The hospitality sector is expected to follow soon.

The ‘new normal’ means social distancing and strict hygiene measures will remain in place. Business owners and their teams have been planning how they will re-open in these circumstances.

Much of the planning will be operational - one way systems to limit contact, hand sanitiser stations, screens for employees, restricted customer flows and so on.

There are other factors to consider which may get less attention in the rush to re-open. 

The biggest of these is answering the question, ‘Is your new business model viable?’ 

In other words, after estimating your sales and allowing for costs of your new way of working, are you making a profit? 

If not, what is your ‘break-even’ level of sales?

Knowing the answer to both of these questions is critical in my opinion. 

The first because it is the acid test for your recovery plan. If you are losing money to start with you need to know this and have a projection of how long losses can be sustained for. 

The second is the initial target you are aiming for. Reaching break-even as soon as possible is imperative if the business is to maintain financial viability in the longer run.

I would argue that the most important aspects of financial management at this time are forecasting (of projected profits and cash flows) and regular monitoring and review.

The easing of lockdown is a time for optimism and hope.

Combining this with good financial management will increase your chances of weathering the storm until we reach calmer waters.

www.base52.co.uk

Time for reflection

One of the features of the lockdown, for most of us at least, is having more time.

Less time on commuting, socialising, shopping etc means more time for, well...whatever takes your fancy, as long as it doesn’t involve non essential travel or mingling with other households.

I’ve been working from home, doing a bit more gardening and had more time to think. 

I’m reading, ‘The Passion Economy’ by Adam Davidson and one of the chapters is about a behavioural scientist who is motivated by influencing lots of people to make positive changes in their lives. One of her techniques is to write a long list of things you are good at doing. She is evidently a person of many talents as her list took a few days to compile. I think mine will be finished much sooner.

When you have the list you then draw a circle around the things you enjoy or are passionate about. If you can make these things part of your career or your business, that’s a very good place to be.

This is not too far away from the Japanese concept of ‘Ikigai’. Broadly translated this means. ‘Reason for living’. If you can find enjoyment and purpose in your work, you will be more fulfilled and probably do a much better job.

Before starting my business 17 years ago I read, ‘What colour is your parachute’, the seminal career planning book by Richard N Bolles. This has a similar approach to helping you choose your career path if you reach a fork in the road. What are you good at? What do you enjoy and what kind of environment do you like to work in? It helped me reach a conclusion that I wanted to be my own boss and shape my own destiny.

So most of us have more time. Time to reset and reevaluate things.

I might just have a go at my list today. Not because I’m at a particular crossroads, but because I have the time and it might lead to something positive.

Who knows, a new career as a wine-maker or bee-keeper may beckon?

www.base52.co.uk

Being unique beats being efficient in small business

There’s a good rule in business, especially small business, not to make your product or service a commodity.

Adam Davidson makes this one of his 7 rules for thriving in business in the 21st Century in his book, 'The Passion Economy'.

Another way of expressing this is to ensure that you differentiate yourself from your competitors by more than just having the lowest price.

In a market where there is aggressive price competition lies a never-ending spiral of efficiency gains, cost cutting and wafer-thin margins.

There will always be a competitor who has lowers costs, uses technology better or gets better economies of scale. It’s a dog-eat-dog world and only the biggest, hungriest dogs survive.

So that’s great in theory but if you provide bookkeeping services or sell pizza or make widgets of some description, how can you stop them being commodities?

Bookkeeping is bookkeeping, right?

Well, not necessarily. 

At its most basic level, bookkeeping is just posting invoices, matching bank payments and receipts, maintaining sales and purchase ledgers and reconciling bank accounts. 

There are lots of possible variations in how this service is delivered - at client’s premises or remotely, using the latest technology or ‘old school’ manual ledgers, processing monthly or quarterly or daily, ‘real-time’ processing, with add on management information (what do the figures mean?) or without, digital dashboard or paper reports.

It is these variations which move the service on from being a commodity to a unique service which is valued by your unique group of customers.

If you can find your point of difference and find customers who place a higher value on this, you can move out of the commodity world to a place where there is less of a need to compete solely on price. 

The extra bits you do which are unique to you are harder for your competitors to copy so you can focus on client care and improving your offering, rather than the relentless pursuit of efficiency.

So in big commodity businesses, the focus may be on low prices, cost savings and productivity gains. 

For small businesses, I’d argue that what’s more important is making your product or service unique and for your customers to recognise the extra value which you provide in the price they are willing to pay.

www.base52.co.uk

Looking for the positives

As has been said may times we are living in unprecedented times.

Much of the impact is negative - on lives, livelihoods and on mental health. We’ve all witnessed positive aspects with examples like the commitment of NHS staff and other key workers, a greater sense of community and more acts of kindness.

Many businesses continue to struggle and there is a long way to go before they can be sure of their longer term survival.

In our business too, we have faced (and are facing) challenges but there are some positive aspects which will stay with us when the immediate impact of the pandemic has passed.

I’ve been reflecting on these and here are a few:

Valuing the team

I’ve always recognised that we have a talented team. This crisis has just reinforced to me how brilliant they all are. Coping with the challenges of moving very quickly to working remotely, juggling personal lives and home schooling and doing their best to deliver for our clients, despite all the difficulties.

Embracing new technology

The enforced change has meant that we have all had to adapt very quickly to using technology like video conferencing and cloud software applications. Face to face meetings have their place but most of us realise we can have a productive meeting on-line now without having a rush hour journey in busy traffic. We can also successfully maintain a client’s books remotely and have a conversation with them about the results, without resorting to the post or having a meeting in the office.

Client relationships

The crisis has meant we have had to work intensively with many clients to help them access Government support in the form of grants, tax deferrals and loans. I believe this support and the sense that, ‘We are in this together’ has strengthened our relationships and the impact will last beyond the pandemic.

Working differently

We have all had to adapt to new ways of working. Although I miss my colleagues and the daily interaction at the office, I find I’m well-suited to working from home. I have more control over what I do and when and with less interruptions. Work colleagues have adapted too, with those home schooling or fitting in study for exams around work adjusting their hours and work schedules to suit. I can see us operating more of a hybrid system in the future with a mix of office and home working.

New markets

Although most of our clients are located close to our office we have always attracted clients from further afield. Often this has been by word of mouth or by a chance encounter on-line. I see this trend continuing now we are even clearer that we can provide a first-rate service remotely and we can easily engage with prospective clients via Zoom etc.

Freedom for the boss

I’ve been trying to gain more personal freedom from the ‘day to day’ routine of running the business for some years now. Not to do nothing, but to have space to think creatively, be more strategic, do what business owners and managers should do more of. I’ve had limited success. I’ve still had that ‘guilt’ thing that if I’m not in the office, I’m not really working. I think that’s changed. I think I know and the team know that things can function perfectly well (probably better) without me being in the office very day.

So some positives are emerging from a crazy and turbulent time.

I hope you find some positives too or maybe some of these things resonate with you?

www.base52.co.uk

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.

www.base52.co.uk

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

Managing your business finances in challenging times

Coronavirus is dominating all the headlines at the moment.

For small business owners, particularly those in sectors which will be affected most by measures to tackle the spread of the virus, these are worrying times. Travel companies, event planning businesses, pubs, restaurants and other businesses in the retail and leisure sector are amongst those who will be impacted severely. In reality, all businesses will be affected to varying degrees and will need to take steps to protect their short term and longer term prospects.

There is a lot of information out there about how to protect ourselves and others, self-isolating and so on. There is less advice for business owners to help them get through the next few months.

The Government, to its credit, did announce some support for small businesses in the recent Budget. This included some relief on Business Rates, changes in Statutory Sick Pay and support for 'Business Interruption' loans. These measures help a little but business owners need to take practical steps to manage their business finances during these challenging times.

These are my suggested steps for small businesses to prepare for the next few months:

1) Forecast

I think it is really important to forecast profits and cashflow for the next 3 to 6 months. The future is uncertain but we need to make our 'best guess' allowing for predictions of what may happen - restrictions on mass gatherings, school closures, more employees self-isolating or working from home, less discretionary spending etc. What does the 'first draft' forecast show? For some businesses, things may not be too bad, profits may be down but they have reserves and cashflow holds up. For others, the situation may be much more severe - monthly losses and negative cashflow.

2) Consider what you can change

If your first draft forecast looks unsustainable, what can you change? Start with income. Can you do things differently to generate more sales? Then look at every item of cost. What can be eliminated or cut back to ensure cashlow remains positive until we get back to a more stable trading environment? How does the revised forecast look? If things still look bleak in the short term, you may need to look at emergency funding to get you through this period.

3) Consider funding

Where do you go to get help with funding? The first port of call for most businesses will be their bank or their accountant. A bank will probably want to see a profit and cashflow projection and your accountant can help you pull this together. The projection should determine how much funding you need and what type - loan, overdraft etc. It will also be necessary to take a longer term view to ensure that the loan repayments are affordable and the business finances will improve over time.

These are exceptional times and for some businesses, keeping calm and carrying on will not be enough.

From a financial management perspective, I recommend a pragmatic look at your future income and expenses to ensure you can get through the next few months.

If you can, that's great and this will be the case for many businesses. Tough times, but they can knuckle down and carry on.

For those with insufficient cash reserves or financing facilities who are predicting negative cashflows, they need to act now to make some radical changes and seek emergency funding if they need it.

Their future may depend on it.

www.base52.co.uk

Back to basics

We can all think of founders who left an indelible mark on their businesses. 

Walt Disney, Steve Jobs at Apple, Ray Kroc at McDonald's are three at the top of my list. The founders are no longer at the helm but their legacy, the vision, values and passion they instilled, still lives on in their businesses.

The founder’s mentality doesn’t just endure in in big companies like Disney, Apple and McDonald's, it has a lasting effect in great companies of all sizes. Small family businesses now on their third or fourth generation of management, successful tech start ups with new owners and management and the small consulting business taken over by the management team when the founder retired.

I recently read, ‘The Founder’s Mentality’ by Zook and Allen which expands on this theme.

Zook and Allen are consultants with a large US consulting firm and have observed the impact of founders over their long careers. The book has numerous case studies of the positive impacts of founders and the challenges faced by their firms after their departure. 

The examples mainly relate to larger companies but the principles are relevant in all cases where a founder is no longer active in the business.

They describe certain traits which are universal in successful founders:

• What they call an insurgent’s clear mission and purpose
• An unambiguous owner mindset
• A relentless obsession with the ‘front line’

Let’s look at each of these.

An insurgent’s mission and purpose describes an urgency to get things done. This might involve disrupting sector norms and doing things in a different way with relentless energy and speed.

An owner mindset describes itself. Obsessive focus on getting things right and spending money only on what matters.

Front line obsession is about focusing on customers and delivering a great product or service. It means also giving priority to front-line resources and rewarding and recognising front line employees.

That’s all well and good but how can these traits be applied practically in business? 

Zook and Allen describe what they call ‘predictable’ stages in a business life cycle when things go off track after a founder has moved on - overload, stall out and free fall.

Overload is where a growing business gets overwhelmed by challenges and new opportunities, stall out is where growth slows or even stops and free fall is a business in serious trouble. It has lost its way and starting to go backwards.

Zook and Allen argue that going back to the basics of the founder’s mentality can help companies at each of these stages recapture their mojo and get back to what made them successful in the first place. Even those in free fall can get things back on track again by returning to their founding principles to regain their earlier momentum.

There are lessons for all founders when exiting from their businesses to instil a culture and processes which enable their vision to continue, when the inevitable complexities of growth arise.

As founders, we may not all aspire be the next Disney but we can ensure that some of what we stand for endures and thrives.

www.base52.co.uk