I have dedicated a bulk of my time to understanding and learning more about the business world and how to turn around failing businesses. I also focus on the reasons why businesses fail to grow or don’t realise their full growth potential.
After closely studying and observing many local companies, I realised that while a lot of the companies operated in different industries, they were managed in a similar manner.
The problem is that the companies are applying a blanket strategy or approach; there is no significant difference between what company A (a retail company) and company B (a cleaning services company) do to become a financial success.
Einstein once said: “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results”. It’s one thing to hope for better results in any aspect of our lives, but another to take the required action to achieve the results we seek.
Business owners often tend to think too hard about turn around strategies and miss the basics. A turn around strategy should simply ensure the business operates in a way that ensures success. Many business owners tend to run their businesses as if the strategy or approach they are currently using is the only one available to ensure the success for their business.
This is not taking into account the fact that most business owners are still using the old methods to run their businesses in a modern economy, and the problem is that the two do not work well together. It is for this reason that many businesses are not able to break even or thrive, this is because they are no longer relevant to their markets and they get surprised when they are no longer able to get a piece of the pie.
I still advocate that prevention is better than cure; it’s always cheaper to prevent a problem from becoming a disaster than to try and resolve a disaster. Times are changing and the needs of our customers are adapting to the changing times and if, as a business owner, you are not following the changes, you will be left out. Be different in your industry. Running a business is a constant and never ending process of adapting and improvement.
Kholofelo Pholafudi is the author of The Psychology, Science and Art of Turning Contacts into Connections and When Opportunity Knocks, it’s Too Late to Prepare
