Focus and Stay in Business.

The past week has been a very difficult one for many people, and I wanted to discuss the need to focus on your business first and foremost. 3 Restaurants that we have frequented for the past 20+ years have closed their doors and gone out of business.

These folks all had fantastic products, they just lost their focus and forgot Business Rule #1, Stay in Business! Any small business owner will agree that it is the single most difficult thing they have to do - forget about doing the business and focus on staying in business. Allow me to explain as I have personal experience with this discussion.

Approximately 10 years ago I owned several small businesses in the tile and flooring industry, all in the retail segment. I became so engrossed in DOING the business everyday that I lost focus and sight of STAYING in Business. The "business" of doing business is absolutely the most difficult thing each business owner must do. Most of us that start our own small business do so in the field that we know and love. We forget that certain financial and business principals are necessary to stay on top of, no matter what business we are doing.

The restaurant that I hurt for the most this week is one that served fantastic quality food, in great portions, at reasonable prices. The business was crowded almost every single day they were open. Two weeks ago on a Friday evening 4 of us waited almost 30 minutes for a table. When we left several hours later there was still a line at the front door, waiting for a table! Now HOW could this business go out of business? If money was the issue they could simply raise every price of every meal by say $1.00 and resolve that issue. If help or personnel issues were the problem that could also easily be solved.

The big point here is that most likely the owner wasn't aware of the problem or problems until they were so HUGE that he couldn't overcome them. He was too busy doing the business on a daily basis to RUN and Manage the business. That skill, management, requires focus on solid business and financial principals that have nothing at all to do with the actual product or service the business provides.

Current economic conditions in this country will not allow any mistakes to continue for very long without driving you out of business extremely quickly. Back a few years ago everyone could make mistakes and hardly notice them due to the free flow of money and business that allowed businesses to become bloated and sloppy. No longer is that allowed. I was talking with another small business owner today and he confided to me that his almost fatal mistake was waiting too long before making required cut backs to survive. When he did make the needed changes his losses reversed but much damage was already done and due to the new banking environment today he isn't able to get a line of credit to help smooth over the rough times as he has always done in the past. Now he must work solely on his cash flow, personal savings, and suppliers credit lines.

No matter where you are in the business world picture today, retail level, wholesale level, manufacturer level, or even trade association, you need to focus daily on the solid business principals required to make any effort successful. Nobody is exempt, Wal-Mart, Home Depot, Macy's and any other business of any size must absolutely focus daily on staying in business. Today it is mandatory that everyone, at all levels, set intelligent budgets and live within those budgets. Get focused on your business and stay focused daily so you too can stay in business.

These are my thoughts, what are yours?
Steve