When cash flows effortlessly into your business from banks and customers, it’s tempting to overlook mistakes, take the easiest route, and live with existing problems. But when times get more challenging, it becomes increasingly difficult to ignore these issues. This pressure forces entrepreneurs to implement real changes or risk going out of business.
Choose a New Path in 2025
Instead of pointing fingers at others or the economy when times get tough, let’s commit to a different approach in 2025. Put on your creative hat and decide to rethink, restructure, refocus, and rebuild. By doing so, you’ll position yourself for long-term success.
If you desire real change, acknowledge that it’s time to stop applying temporary fixes to your business. Too often, issues like declining sales and profits, long working hours, or a poor team culture are symptoms of more significant problems within your organization. You need to identify the root causes and address the real issues.
Where to Begin Rebuilding.
Eliminate the Dead Wood. Employees are valuable assets — and when you have the right ones, it’s crucial to treat them well and prioritize their well-being. However, not all employees are created equal. You must be willing to part ways with individuals in your company who don’t align with your culture or contribute to your team’s success. You know who they are. They show up late, collect a paycheck, and add little or no value to your customers, team, or business. They drain your energy and demoralize the team. So why do we tolerate and retain underperformers?
Sometimes it’s the fear of the unknown. The employee may be lazy, but at least he shows up. Sometimes it’s a sense of obligation. How can I fire my cousin or brother and still face my family? Sometimes we feel we can’t because we never communicated our expectations or dissatisfaction. And sometimes we just feel too overwhelmed and don’t have the time to hire and train someone new. Whatever your reasons, you have a choice. You can fix the problem — help the employee become an asset to the team — or make him go away.
Let Go of Deadbeat Customers. Once again, you know who they are. They only buy with discounts or purchase low-margin products, pay late or after numerous requests, frequently complain, and treat your team poorly. Your earnings from ideal customers often subsidize these less-than-perfect ones. Why allow them to linger and drain your profits and team morale? Dismiss them and replace them with customers who genuinely value what you offer.
Introduce Innovation Across All Areas of Your Business. Many owners equate innovation with new products or inventions. However, innovation, by definition, is the introduction of new ideas or methods, and it’s crucial for achieving sustainable growth and profit.
The key is to apply innovation to all areas of your business. From marketing and sales to customer support, delivery, and team building. It’s simply a matter of continuously seeking better ways to do what you do.
RELATED ARTICLE: Is Creativity Essential for Success?
Prioritize Productivity. Being busy is not the same as being productive. Productivity is about achieving effective results or outcomes in the most efficient way, with the least amount of time and effort. Now, who wouldn’t want that?
So do you measure and seek ways to eliminate waste, increase outputs, or reduce hours associated with daily tasks or service delivery within your company? Do you have systems for critical activities and consistently look for ways to streamline or improve them?
If you aim to increase your margins without raising your prices, take a hard look at your productivity levels and the waste in your business. It’s a goldmine for many small businesses.
Plan and Systematize Your Marketing. Many small business owners view marketing as a necessary evil. They know they need it but often struggle to execute it effectively. So when money gets tight or owners get busy, marketing takes the hit. Unfortunately, this comes at a significant cost — sustainable growth and profit. So why is that?
First, some lack a strong marketing foundation with clear targets, the right products and services for them, and compelling messages to prompt action. As a result, marketing becomes harder to execute. An integrated and consistent marketing effort yields a better ROI but requires some planning.
Second, some fail to measure results, so they don’t actually know if their investment (time and money) is delivering a return. It’s easy to cut marketing expenses when you can’t tie the cost to specific results such as new customers, increased revenue or improved profitability. Unfortunately, this isn’t always the right decision.
Third, most small business marketing is not systematized. There’s no efficiency and, most importantly, no consistency. Therefore, it costs more and is far less effective — an obvious frustration.
Focus More on Profit Than Sales. It may feel gratifying to hit that target sales milestone or tell others you do $1 million or more in sales. But if those sales don’t provide you with the profit needed to sustain growth, properly compensate your team, increase your personal income, and deliver the lifestyle you desire — why bother?
As a business owner, you take all the risks. Your business must make a profit to stay in business. Your family, customers, employees, and vendors are depending on it. Remember, sales growth is important, but profit and cash flow are paramount!
Challenge the Paradigms. What self-sabotaging beliefs act as constraints in our business and life. Here are a few examples: It’s impossible to earn a profit in this economy, I can’t get good help, customers are never satisfied, customers only care about price, marketing doesn’t work.
Do any of these sound familiar? The problem with paradigms is they give you an excuse to settle for less, accept mediocrity, or give up completely. Don’t let attitudes held by others, unsupported by fact, hold you back.
Ready to Craft Your Own Success Story? Then let’s have a conversation. Click here to schedule a discovery call.
About Joan Nowak. For over a decade, I’ve been assisting business owners in transforming ideas into profits. My comprehensive, common-sense approach empowers clients and fosters improvements in crucial areas, including revenue, operations, team development, customer satisfaction, and overall profitability.