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Running a small business can be like riding a roller coaster. One month it’s good. The next month it’s not. It messes with your mind, your stomach, and your relationships. Who needs it!?
Roller Coaster at Belle Vue Manchester August 1946
A business owner friend of mine named Laura has been riding the roller coaster for years, but she’s figured out some ways to make the ride less bumpy. She has three principles for keeping off the roller coaster:
Don’t look at the numbers constantly. You know that not looking at the numbers isn’t going to change them. But if you keep looking at them, you’ll just get queasy and it won’t change anything. Look at the numbers only as often as you have to.
Look at your business checking account as often as you need to (every day?), to make sure you have enough money. Look at your receivables aging report weekly to target slow payers. Keep track of your payables to make sure you don’t incur late costs. But don’t keep running P&L’s or balance sheets. Set up a time each month to do that, and then don’t run them in between. Or send them to your CPA and have her tell you when you need to talk about them.
Focus on people, not numbers. In other words, concentrate on developing relationships with the people connected to your business – your customers, your employees, your vendors. Make sure your customers have a quality experience every time they buy. Make sure your employees are being treated and paid fairly. Make sure your vendors see the value in working with you. Focusing on people is also a lot more fun than looking at all those numbers.
Keep working on improvement. Think about working smarter, not harder. What can you do to improve this process, that delivery time, this marketing strategy? If you focus on what you can do something about (improving the quality and service of your business), instead of what you can’t do anything about (the numbers), you’ll continue to move forward and the numbers will take care of themselves.
I don’t mean you should ignore your business stats and not pay your bills and not make sure your customers pay. Just don’t make yourself crazy by obsessing about them. Stay focused on the people and processes in your business and you won’t notice those ups and down so much. Focusing on improvement and people will most certainly help you even out those bumps in the road.
Image source: Newscom
