Door, Horse, Bolted

We have all heard the expression ‘Shutting the stable door after the Horse has bolted” and we all know that it means, quite simply, taking action when it is too late to change the outcome.

This would be totally pointless and I would hope that it would be something everyone, ?but particularly those in business would try and avoid.

However, I am a business turnaround specialist and I have to say, quite bluntly, that I am sick to death of business owners doing exactly this. They see signs that their business is struggling and yet seem to do nothing to stop the decline until it is too late.

I fail to understand why the founder of a business, a business that was started with energy , enthusiasm and dogged determination would simply let it fail by not asking for help.

I often get approached by business owners who are desperate for help but who have left it way to late for any rescue or recovery.

A perfect example: ?I was approached last year by the owner of a previously successful service business who had seen a serious decline in sales and profitability for a number of months and who came to me with a cash runway of two weeks looking for some form of rescue – impossible, ?even for me.?

It turned out that the market had pivoted and he had not moved with it, if he had come earlier we could have addressed the problem , his service was still very relevant but the purchasing route had changed. ??This business would still? be here today and had every chance of continuing success if he had simply asked for help earlier in the process.

Unfortunately in his attempts to stop the decline he had taken out a large loan secured against his house. He ended up losing both his business and his home.

?The message here is that if your business is struggling or you are simply seeing a decline that you are unsure how to address then reach out and seek advice before it declines too far and the only advice that you need is from an Insolvency Practitioner

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