What I’ve Discovered the Last 13 Years

One of our maxims is to Always Look for Learning, so this week I’ve collated all the learnings from working with small business owners from across 70+ different industry sectors over the last 13 years…

Here’s what I’ve discovered:

1. Despite really trying, and with instant access to information/advice, over 80% of small businesses NEVER achieve profitability, and make LESS money than if they had the equivalent JOB at another company.

2. Mindset – how we think – affects everything we do.  The challenge for business owners is they start lacking confidence so look at all sorts of different things.  But their mind can’t focus on lots of different areas, so they just carry on back in the reactive world because it’s the comfort zone of where they are.

3. Business owners have endless skills and knowledge of their industry, but nobody has ever shown them how to run a business.  If you don’t know what you don’t know, then how are you meant to get that knowledge?

4. The reason why most businesses are stuck is because the owners don’t know what the problem is, because if they did, they’d have fixed it by now.

5. It’s surprising how many business owners DO know what they should be doing, but never actually do it, because they’re not inspired or focussed enough to act.

6. Entrepreneurs are programmed to think it’s normal to work 80-hour weeks and carry the burden and stress. So, they just keep running faster and hard on that hamster wheel.

The answer up until now is to work harder and longer because this is what got you to the position that you’re in now.

And you’re in the mindset that if this works, all will be OK.

But it’s not OK!

Because even if you do grow the business, you’ve not set it up to grow – no systems, no processes, no clarity. 

So, when you add more leads, more deliveries, more customer enquiries, more staff into the mix, the business cannot cope, and nothing changes.

This week, take a step back and hold up the mirror to see:

• Which of the above sound familiar?

• Which could you do with some help on?

• What can you learn from your business right now?

And if you’re not sure where to turn, please lean in, because if you do that it’s likely that you’ll unblock something from your business that has been holding it back, propelling it forward to where you want to go (allowing you to step off that hamster wheel) …

BW,

Martin

Martin Norbury

Investor | Business Mentor at Advocate | Author of I don’t work Fridays