bizRichard

Indeed, new to the sport of blogging, it is interesting to read the feedback and comments received on the initial posts. Thanks to Kent, Fred, Karin, and others, but the one that really got me thinking this week was from Hugh Hollowell. He said ‘ the idea of personal responsibility is the hardest thing to get across to new business owners’ and quoted “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

Hugh, I don’t think it’s the new business owners that are the problem - maybe they lack training and management skills - but it is the longer standing business owners that are the biggest problem. But “why”, is the $64,000 question. And I’ll tell you what I believe is the answer later on.

Deviating for a moment, something I got involved in for a number of years, and loved doing, was helping out a group of schools with their ‘business week’ during which students in their final years thought up and developed business projects, albeit only in theory and ‘in play’. What was so uplifting, and so delightful, was to experience their open, innocent minds. Wild minds that knew no boundaries, minds that roamed into the unknown, and minds that were unconstrained and explored the incredible and the impossible. “Wow”, is all I can say.

These kids (and they were only in their mid teens) were motivated to try anything, passionate about their ideas, and were untainted by bureaucracy and commercial impasse.

Although hard work, it was one of the most ‘refreshing’ weeks of my year.

Now, shut your eyes for a moment, and cast your mind back to when you first started in business. You were enthusiastic, had fresh ideas that you thought no one could resist, and you couldn’t wait to get started every day. You talked passionately about your service, product, or treatment to every prospective customer who dared to come near you. Your passion and sincerity ‘wooed’ them into becoming a true customer. Your customers grew, your business grew, and your sales even began to match your expectations. Things were looking good.

But then, after a year or so things began to get more difficult, and indeed started to go wrong.

And the chances are that you didn’t have the necessary solutions, the skills or the training so that you could put these things right. And that’s not necessarily your fault – it’s both a failure of the educational system and, to a lesser extent, nonsensical bureaucracy, that leaves you, and many others like you, completely disarmed.

As an example, how often have you seen the ‘new’ corner garage being set up a young mechanic who thought he could have a better life running his own business, having been employed the previous 10 years in a large garage or car repair business? Full of enthusiasm, dreams of making more money than ever before, and technically highly competent, the young entrepreneur starts off with a ‘whoosh’. But then, after a while he ends up competing with his rivals on price, working long hours, and forfeiting a life with his family, and realising too late that he has got it wrong. He’s swapped a 7 hour / 5 day week, a reliable income stream, and time with his family and friends, for something he wasn’t expecting. What he’s got instead is a endless 18 hour / 7 day week, fluctuating and unreliable income, and no time with his family and friends. Finally the combined pressures of commerce and family commitment force him out of the game . . . and next time you drive by, he is gone!

So what went wrong? The answer is quite simple. He lost his passion - focussing on servicing his clients beyond their highest of expectations.

Instead of directing his efforts to working on the business strategy he spent his time doing the work the business did (i.e. fixing cars). Customers, once the centre of his attention, began feeling neglected and moved elsewhere. Then, worried about money, having enough customers, and whether his prices were too high, he kept lowering his prices to attract more business. Consequently, to make ends meet, he had to work the huge extra hours that, not only robbed him of his family life but, drained him mentally and physically, until he could no longer find the reason ‘why’. And finally, with all passion for his business gone, he gives up.

And so it is with many businesses. In fact research will tell you that 80% of new businesses will fail within five years of starting. And although these researchers will, quite rightly, point to numerous ‘external’ factors and reason for the failures, I believe the true cause for the final demise of most businesses will, in almost every case, be the entrepreneur’s loss of passion for that business, for whatever reason.

So Hugh, the solution, I believe, to business owners, both new and established, taking responsibility to drive their businesses forward, rests absolutely and proportionately in the degree of passion that they retain for their respective businesses.

Be truly passionate, 210% passionate, about what you do,
or get out and do something else.

Without your passion to drive your enthusiasm and energy, you can never be successful in business. You cannot provide the greatest of value and result to your customers if you are not absolutely passionate about what you do for them. Your profitability and success in business is a consequence of your actions, not the purpose of your actions.

Now, go make some money the smart way!

Doctor Richard C.

Comments are always much appreciated, but please allow me time to reply - I am busy Company Doctor, spending most of my time with my clients.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 18th, 2007 at 12:02 pm and is filed under Medication. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.