Author: admin

Hooray the summer is here …oh here comes a cloud, no wait, it’s back again, nope gone! So it is with the Great British Summer …it has a mind of its own, like an unreliable teenager, who refuses to do our bidding. Business however, rolls on whatever the sun is doing, which can be a problem over the warmer months. People take holidays, which is fine when the people in question are us, but less so when it’s the accounts department of a key customer, who then don’t pay us on time. 

Summer holidays cause over-work for the rest of us not on a beach, and things can be delayed, or missed, or muddled up. So therefore, it makes good sense for us to review our cashflow forecast over the warmer weeks and make sure we have a buffer in place, or at least know who to chase and when to do it. 

Even though our business might slow down a bit over the holiday period, it’s likely that our payroll won’t …which can put undue pressure on available cash if we don’t manage it proactively. 

So, this week we can fix a meeting with our corporate piggy bank and see how it’s doing!

Next week: Practical Performance Measurement 

Nothing lasts forever, except perhaps a diamond and the nagging sense that you’ve left the cooker on, when you’re half way to the airport.

In business we have to be prepared to say ‘stop’, when things aren’t going well. Many people carry on, convinced that the next idea is the final step to success, instead of acknowledging it’s actually another pot-hole in a long line of failure. 

Several years ago I had to stop selling simple training days, because at the time people wanted certificates. Times were tough, so clients needed pieces of paper to show added-value. I had to face the fact I needed to change my business, so I invested time and money to become an accredited ILM training centre. I started selling Level 5 coaching certificates and developed a nifty Transactional Analysis 3-day course called TA for Leaders. (TA is a practical way to teach applied leadership skills and you get a formal certificate at the end of it).

Now I continue to sell ILM courses and clients are back asking for bespoke days and courses and business is good. Business coaching on the beach is popular too …I stopped working exclusively in buildings and started to work in the sunshine! 

Stopping doesn’t have to be forever and it can give us the mental space to develop our business in new directions and take account of new opportunities. Maybe, stopping is the new starting?

So, this week what do you need to stop? What facts, or signals are you ignoring?

Next week: Summer Cashflow Sense