As a consultant, I often find myself talking to a business owner who believes that they do everything differently and that doing it that way is their special sauce. And while doing things differently than the competition can certainly be a strategic advantage, it’s my job to help companies understand that when everything is said and done, business comes down to revenue, expenses, and assets.
The problem with that is that the only time most business people talk in those terms is when they are talking to their accountant. And then, it’s usually a conversation that makes them angry, frustrated, and annoyed. Instead, business owners like to talk about revenue. Just last week, I was in an initial meeting with a client where in the first 30 minutes of our relationship, he spoke a thousand words with just one sentence. “More sales fix everything”. There it is. sell, sell, sell, and the rest will work itself out. The problem is that it never does. At least not in a way that is scalable.
What he really meant was money fixes everything. Well, there are two ways to think of that concept. With enough money, I can be as inefficient as I want to be and still make a profit. Or, with enough money, I can afford to fix the problems that I have created for myself. Unfortunately, the first iteration of that thought is where most businesses operate. Why is that? Well, typically it’s because the business owner doesn’t quite know what to do to fix the issue, or it’s too painful to deal with because it will take too much focus away from selling or delivering, which keeps that cash flow going.
Most business owners (myself included) think that they are a business superhero, and our special power is the ability to somehow create extra time where none exists. So we do what we do and convince ourselves that we can handle that over coffee in the morning before staff comes in, or that my best bet is to come in on Saturday so that I can work uninterrupted. And then when it comes time to do the work, something else is a higher priority: that proposal, getting caught up on emails, or dealing with that letter from the IRS. So after a few tactical procrastinations on the subject, we finally get to it, only to realize that it was more complicated than we realized, and thus it will have to wait. After all, if I don’t take time off, I am going to burn out.
Does any of that sound familiar? Well, if it does, that is where The Process Distillery comes in. We are a team of seasoned consultants with broad experience and a methodology that helps to focus on the underlying problems, rather than the symptoms. You see, that’s why it is more complicated than you realized. You were actually responding to a symptom. Resolving the problem typically requires adjustments to multiple systems and processes to create the necessary alignment that facilitates change. So, unless you want to continue stacking band aids on the problem, be sure to figure out whether you are looking at a problem or a symptom before you even get started.