What a year! For many, it marked the end of the road but for others, it was a year in which they discovered new areas of strength and new survival strategies. Many flourished despite all the gloom. How one fared was largely determined by his perception and interpretation of the harsh business environment. Those who felt overwhelmed sank out of sight very fast while others who saw new opportunities in the year kept above water.
It was a continuation of the worldwide gloom and for the small business sector, it was much more trouble. Someone who should know since his office oversees quite a large chunk of the players in the small business sector said so many businesses folded up last year while many others are gasping for breath. He was at a loss why that was the situation but put it down largely to ‘mismanagement’ and ‘excessive overhead’.
To this, I add deep ignorance, lack of credit facilities, poor infrastructure, inability to properly count costs, poor cash flow management and bad handling of the price wars that raged all year. A lot of businesses sprang up in 2010 and didn’t even last till the end of the year. There were distress signals and signs of impending death as most businesses were unable to stock up, pay their bills and keep up some appearance of life. This didn’t just happen to the small players, the giants also showed signs that all was not well. The finance sector didn’t show signs of a swing in the desired direction until the Asset Management Act came on the scene late in the year. That raised hopes that soon there will be an improvement to the cash squeeze choking life out of both big and small enterprises.
I pointed out that a lot of businesses also did well and moved up. Those were the ones that the promoters had a lot of faith and so were able to strategise long enough to arrive at answers to the bad situation all around. They didn’t give up until they saw the way forward. It is sure a very tiresome way to go but micro-managing is a necessary evil at terrible times like we’ve had in the past few years. That way, you have a tight grip on issues and save a lot of costs.
You’d also be able to run a slim structure in which you would lower the overhead significantly. Survival therefore meant that you cut down on a lot of things and one of them happens to be management personnel. Most of the time, small businesses don’t need the numerous managers we employ and moreso at lean periods. I’ll direct anyone who needs a good model for running a small business to Asian concerns right here in Nigeria. In those businesses, the management structure is such that no kobo is wasted paying people who a company can do without. I do see very small businesses employ and pay account clerks, accountants, store clerk, administrative officers, secretaries, production supervisors, production managers and all manner of managers when two or three can easily do the job of the seven managers. One other thing those that survived did was the cutting off of luxuries to leave out cash for necessities.
It is worth mentioning that the troubles are not yet over and so whatever worked ought to still be applied until we receive the all-clear signal. It is also time to have a lot of faith; faith in God, faith in oneself and faith in a system that inspires only fear. There is really no other way to go since giving way to despair will certainly not work the magic.
The only way to go again is up and forward. Did I hear you ask whether someone isn’t watching the situation? Isn’t it common knowledge that in bad weather pilots are known to struggle up higher to clear blue skies? That is also what helps when there is foul business weather. How do you go up higher in a storm?  It is not easy; you need to see the pilots at it and sit with your heart in your mouth as the plane swings and sways all the way up. The ride up in a business storm is the same; tasking, difficult, hair-raising and it takes courage to do it. Despite the fearful and difficult nature of the ride, it is the only way to improve chances of survival.
How do you move up in such a time? First you adjust your mindset to think and believe in success. It is rare to succeed when your entire mind and being is focused on failure. You will have problems planning success when you don’t believe it will work. So the first thing to do is to believe it is possible; that clears up the invisible cobwebs that impede progress. Next you will need to acquire knowledge of what you need to do right. Is there anyone doing exactly your type of business and succeeding? He is the man to look for and ask for advice. The problem most of the time has to do with the fact that we are doing the wrong things and once we adopt the right approach, chances are that we might experience progress. Look for anyone you believe is getting it right and find out what he is doing right.
Summon courage and do what needs to be done after your quest for the right path.
It could be that you will need to dismantle a lot of structures and systems you already have. Some of the actions you will need to take will need for you to step on toes and acquire a few enemies but then if you lose courage, you will finally slide down. You will be amazed at how much help is waiting when you finally decide to do it right. Your confidence will inspire others around you to help; you will see so many others willing to identify with you.