Do you really #KnowYourCosts?

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If can happen to a large company (see story here) it most certainly can happen to your company. Surprisingly, many businesses that have never been through a tough moment fail to appreciate how often this happens. I am referring to a company not really knowing its costs and finding themselves in a position where they have to work out of a tough position because they didn’t realize what they didn’t know. Understanding the costs for your business is one of the most important things to know outside of understanding how to generate revenue. It seems simple but in practise can be a challenge many businesses struggle with.

It’s a sad day when you learn of a #failedbusiness

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A few months back our family bought a piano from a local piano refurbisher and after making several phone calls to book an appointment to have it tuned with no response, I decided to stop by the business to see if I could speak with the owner personally. I had met him when we purchased the piano and learned that he had been in business for more than 20 years. On this particular morning when I drove up to the front door it became obvious that the business had shut its doors as the space was empty except for the sign still displayed on the front of the building.

Technically right but practically wrong

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There are times when a decision or an idea seems to be right. Technically right that is. As life goes on and the decision or idea plays out you can be caught off guard when the results are not what you expected because there were some practical problems that you didn’t consider.

Crowdfunding is off to a good start but how will it end?

Peter Thiel makes a comment in his book Zero to One “If you have invented something new but you haven’t invented an effective way to sell it, you have a bad business – no matter how good the product” which got me thinking about crowdfunding. I was chatting with someone over the weekend who had sent me another invitation to a crowdfunding web portal that connects  businesses with venture capital. As we got talking about it I found myself thinking back to Peter’s comment and realizing that crowdfunding might be working but has the market really bought it? Is it a niche opportunity that will always fill a void because the greater market isn’t sold on it? Do crowdfunding platforms have their work cut out for them before they become a mainstream competitor for capital?

Pull off the band-aid and stop drinking the kool-aid

This year 3 clients have contacted me in situations where they are out of money and things do not look promising.  It is important to note that they are not new businesses and have been around for awhile, have a customer base and provide a product or service to the market.  So how did they run out of money?  Unforeseen circumstances (like not being paid on large invoices), unbudgeted costs (like a software fix), slow down in sales leading to cash flow gaps are all reasons and each of them are unique in their own right.