Most people I interact with in the business environment (mostly clients and service providers) are of the view (and rightly so) that my view of the way their and all other businesses should be operating is too simplistic. Business is meant to be kept simple but we somehow just manage to complicate everything with over-thinking, over-analysing, over-regulating, over-documenting, over-reporting, etc. Basically going over the top with most things. Solving the business problems is not too hard if we just understand them right.

There is a lot of rubbish written and talked about giving more than 100%, giving your 120% or even 150% in a business, team and even sports environment. It might sound good to hear and even motivational to some, but the simple fact is if people are performing way higher than you expected or you want them to perform better than they currently are, it simply means they weren’t giving in their best yet, they were probably putting in their 70% or even 80%. Most of us are not able to extract even 100% from ourselves or from others, let alone this more than 100% rubbish.

Got a call from client. They had an opportunity come their way. It wasn’t part of the plan or what they do normally and weren’t sure if they should take it. Had the client send all the information they had and did some numbers. Looked at cashflow, capacity, resources, profitability, etc and it looked all good and within reason. The point is, just because something is not part of the original plan or outside what you normally do, doesn’t mean you shouldn’t do it. Opportunities are never part of any plan. If they come, grab them with both hands and run.

My drive to and from office I realise has a lot in common to people running businesses. As you drive minding your own car and course, you see all these other drivers swirling from lane to lane, trying to beat the red light, doing illegal U turns, overspeeding, driving where they are not meant to, etc. You wonder if you should start doing the same to gain some advantage over others and then you realise that everyone starts at a different location and ends at a different location and it’s not a race. Your journey is your journey. Same applies to businesses. You see businesses doing certain things to get…

I have seen lots of businesses who make the mistake of focusing on increasing their sales but showing no urgency in collecting their money from customers (debtors). Remember you are in the business of supplying whatever it is you supply and not in the business of lending your money to finance your debtors’ businesses. The first thing that you need to do to keep your debtor days in check is to change your attitude towards debtors. Your attitude should revolve around the thoughts “Its my business so the debtors should play by my rules” and “The money they are not paying is my money and I should not be afraid…

There are two ways of owning a business. You either start it from scratch or buy an existing business and continue running it or even better, improving it. When you buy an existing business; over and above the value of the assets, the seller is likely to ask for a Goodwill amount for the non tangible value of the business. Even with small businesses, the amount of Goodwill being asked for currently is ridiculously high and can run into hundreds of thousands of dollars and for some even over the million dollar mark. The question then becomes if the Goodwill is worth paying. My advice is simple: If you want…