Archivesstrategy Archives — C. Lynn Northrup, CPA, CPIM

Take this Time to Work on Your Business

April 6th, 2020

We’re facing the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced in our country and the world. Millions of people are without jobs and many businesses have been forced to shut down. We’re dealing with the Corona Virus crisis, the silent killer sweeping the country and the world. People are asking what we should do and how can we survive. I don’t the answers to the future. My advice is rather than panicking, take this time to work on your business and prepare for a future after the crisis.

Working on our business, what does that mean? Here’s what I think it means and some ideas on what we should be doing:

  • Brainstorming for new ideas
  • Assess your strategies and adjust for the future as best you can
  • Evaluate and assess all the new risks
  • Figure out how much money you will need to survive and ways to access it
  • It’s essential to orient your business to the reality of new economic and market conditions
  • Consider how to maximize assets to get the most bang for the buck
  • How can the stimulus package be used to maximize your cash flow?
  • Think about managing the scale of your business to fit and adjust to the future reality

This list could continue, but this gives you some thoughts and ideas on where to start working and focusing.

In addition to these ideas and thoughts, it’s essential to realize that there are only 4 ways to grow your business:

  1. Increase the number of customers of the type you want
  2. Increase the frequency of the transactions
  3. Increase the average value of each sale
  4. Increase the effectiveness of each business process

It all really boils down to these 4 ways and they need to be quantified in order to create focus on the right steps. Remember that what you can measure, you can manage, and produce the result as a result creating effective processes.

So, in the mist of all the fear and chaos, take the time to contemplate and consider different scenarios. Both the good and the bad. Plan for the worst and plan for the best. This will put you a better position to act and do what needs to be done.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Business Advice |