As a CEO, president or business owner, you’ve probably noticed how many things have changed in the business marketplace across every industry, both large and small companies. Business is not as it was six months, a year ago or a decade ago. As business continues to change you need to rethink your philosophy and strategy about how you run your business. You may be focused on business growth but remember: It’s not about how BIG your company is, it’s about how much profit the company makes.
Here’s why:
Many mid-sized to large corporations have pulled back from expansion plans. Other companies with multiple locations are rethinking where they really need to be; what is really necessary.
Why?
Because in the new reality of business it’s not about how big your company is, it’s about your company earning as much profit as possible. It’s about the bottom line of a privately held company’s profit and loss statement. For other companies, it’s about sizable stock dividends to stockholders or delivering profits to private equity or venture capital fund investors.
Under the old business philosophy it was believed that the larger you were, the more you could use size to reduce your costs and increase your profits. But companies now are rethinking how best to conduct business for long term growth and prosperity.
In general, people spend their life searching. They spend their life searching for the meaning of their life. When you’re 20 years old you think one way; when you’re 30 you think another way. When you get to be 40, 50, 60, you think completely differently. Your thinking is always changing. Your perspective is always changing. You’re always searching. You’re always asking:
- Why?
- Who am I?
- Why am I here?
- What should I accomplish?
As a CEO, president or business owner, you ask similar questions in business. Isn’t that interesting? You may ask yourself:
- What business am I in?
- How much money can I make?
- Why are things the way they are?
- Why are people not more co-operative?
- How do I effectively deal with the changes happening in business?
I often talk with business people who are searching for how to get more business. That want to grow the business or for the company to become bigger and bigger and bigger. But that’s not the question to be asking. It’s not how big your company is, it’s about how profitable the company is. Steady profit will lead to business growth.
Your company can do, for example, a million dollars in annual revenue. This potentially earns you can earn a nice living. You say to yourself:
I want to do more business because I want to make more money.
So, you do a million and a half dollars. But then you find out what you need to produce the higher business revenue is a bigger office space, another vehicle, more employees, and suddenly you’re not making as much money at a million and a half dollars as you were making at a million dollars. You may also notice you have more stress in your daily business life! Now you say to yourself:
I’ve got to go to two million dollars!
(Which may only bring on more stress, worry and overwhelm.)
You have to really understand where you want to be in business and what’s profitable. The only way to do that is by asking yourself a lot of questions, such as:
- Where is the “sweet spot” in the sales volume?
- Where’s the “sweet spot” in the company’s profit?
- How much profit is necessary?
- How much profit do I want to make?
- What do I want to do/where do I want to go with the company?
- How much effort do I want to put into the business?
- How hard do I want to work?
- How good am I at managing the company?
- Always be asking: Why.
- Why should I chase more money?
- Why should the company be bigger?
- Why?
- Why am I in business?
- It’s important to understand exactly what your personal and business needs are.
- It’s important to understand what your hopes, wishes and dreams are.
- It’s important to understand what’s possible.
- It’s important to structure your business to withstand the effects of whatever may be happening in the economy or within your industry.
You want to create a business that can do just a little bit more. As a CEO, president or business owner, you want to have goals that are just a little bit more than possible. You want to make sure when in business, you are working to your absolute potential. As you get older you don’t look back and say to yourself:
You know, if I only would have…If I would have been more focused…If I would have absolutely worked harder…If I would have understood how to hire people in a better way…If I would have understood my customers.
So you see, the conversation changes from:
Why am I here? … to … Why did I not do (whatever it happens to be)?
Time is your enemy. It’s everyone’s enemy. Time is something we cannot get back. The older we get, and the longer we are in business, the more we realize how important time is.
Make certain you’re thinking about business every single day.
Take the necessary time to plan your strategy about:
- where you want to go
- what you want to do
- how much money you want to make
- how you need to get there
- what kind of lifestyle you really want.
Volume is important. There is a correlation between doing a volume of business and making a profit. But not always. Sometimes when you’re doing more volume and you step over that line of needing more, you find that you’re making less money.
Know exactly:
- What you’re driving to
- Exactly how much volume you need to do
- Have a plan
- Look at your financials
- Take your financials and extend them out so that you can see if by doing more business exactly how much money you would make.
… and then go for it. Play the big game of business. Don’t let anything stop you.
Take your business where your mind will take you, where your energy will take you, where your talents will take you, and you will be satisfied that you gave it your all and did the very best you could. Live a very nice life because you’ve made the profit that’s absolutely important in business – and in life.
Remember:
It is the easiest of times to get into business; The hardest of times to stay in business.
When you think about running your business, put your ego aside. Put away the old business philosophies and business models. It’s a different business era now. Think through a business plan that will be appropriate in the ever-changing, highly competitive uncertain business climate that will be profitable no matter what is happening in the economy.
To your success!
Business expert and strategist, Howard Lewinter, guides – focuses – advises CEOs, presidents and business owners throughout the United States across a wide range of industries, to MORE success – MORE profit – less stress. Business people trust Howard’s vast business knowledge, practical advice, intuitive insight and objective perspective to solve business problems and issues. Get MORE from your business! Talk business with Howard: 888-738-1855.
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