Simple Lessons Learnt From Politics to Improve Your Business
It has been interesting watching the political scenery in Australian and evaluating their performance against how they would survive if they applied the same methodology to running a small business rather than the state or the country.
Here in Queensland we have one side of politics accused of not listening to its clients/customers (the electorate) and the other running an election campaign virtually by not providing any real stated vision or plan for the future.
If, as business owners, we applied these strategies to running our businesses, it would amount to:
- not listening to what your clients/customers want from you and operating your business on the premise “you know best”;
- having no plan or goal as to what you are trying to achieve or how you will get there; and
- spending more than you earn and not having plan to resolve this.
So what can we learn as business owners from these scenarios?
- Voters who believe that the managers of the country are not listening to their needs will go elsewhere and the same for your clients
TIP: Always listen to what your client’s needs are and if for some reason you are not able to deliver, take the time to explain why you cannot. Don’t assume that they will understand.
- Governments that don’t have a long term plan invariably lose government and small businesses that do not have a business plan invariably fail within the first five years.
TIP: If you do not have a business plan then what is it that you are trying to achieve and how will you ever know when you have achieved it? Give your business the greatest chance of survival by setting goals which can be measured and mean something.
- Government who spend more than they collect in revenue will eventually find the interest bill alone consumes a significant portion of the revenue. Lucky for government’s the bankruptcy laws that businesses and individuals face do not apply to them. But for small business spending more than the business earns is not sustainable.
TIP: Develop a good cashflow projection (not a budget) and workout how much money you expect to make and when and then do the same for what you expect to spend and when. If the revenue is less than expenditure you need to look at deferring expenditure or increasing revenue or decide that the business is not viable.
- In both politics and business being honest with your customers/clients and yourself is paramount to being successful!!!
Balanix Solutions – Taxation | Accounting | Business Advice
Situated in Strathpine on Brisbane North, we partner with our clients to assist them in their accounting, business management and bookkeeping needs. Our clients vary in industries from professional services (such as law, vet and dentist) to the trades (mechanic, bricklaying, plasterer etc), hospitality and retail. Are clients are located in the Pine Rivers area (including Brendale, Lawnton, Albany Creek and Eatons Hill) through to Kallangur, Petrie, North Lakes and Caboolture, as well as Brisbane South, the Gold Coast and various other parts of Queensland.