A turnaround/pivot case study

Profit had disappeared. Revenues were still declining. Cash was being tipped in to make payroll.?Jobs were being lost and the rest were at risk. ?Morale had sunk to an all-time low.

Sleep was nearly impossible.

As the Owner, the buck stopped with me.?

It was not a good time.

It got worse. My bank rang me - there will be no more lending and from now on I must monthly submit a report and agree to certain restrictive conditions - OR - they would take the house and everything with it.

That was my tipping point.

My mindset went from misery/despair to anger - then a very determined refocus – WAKE UP TIME - I needed to change or lose everything.

I had a Personal Assistant in the Philippines whom I was paying $150 a week. It has taken a while to find her, but she was a fast learner, loyal, and highly efficient.

I made a snap decision. I’ll reduce my overheads by hiring more like her.

It’s an easy decision when your house is on the line.

In 5 months, we turned the company around.

First: We returned to profit by reducing wages and by doing more, with less people.

Second: We used low-cost workers to build a lead generation and sales process that put the company back into growth.

Third: We revitalized the teams and, in both countries, employed more.?

3 years later we told the bank to bugger off and have never looked back.

What did I learn?

Start-ups or business in trouble or simply realigning competitiveness – it’s ALL THE SAME solution. ?Manage your Overheads, go to Profit, then work on your people and Growth.

In this connected world, to prosper, every part of your business must be at “World’s Best Value”.

The Philippines is the 3rd largest English-speaking country in the world. With a population of 104 million, it has an Americanised education system with a 96.5% literacy rate and a Christian culture - so the people have the same core values as most Western countries.

Skillsets are almost identical, sometimes more advanced than at home. You get your good and your bad, most of that comes back to your selection and management.

Wages can be 90% lower, in my case with a team in an office the total cost difference was 78% lower. ??We focused on selection and training – overall my Philippines team was also almost twice as productive (work that out on a calculator).

I also know this: The sooner you develop people in a team environment using tacit knowledge to drive profit and growth - with you away from the coalface, the better your life will be.?

Systemised processes? We didn’t have much when we first started using the Philippines. We used the Filipinos to systemise the processes as we taught them (via Skype).

Change today is better than nothing tomorrow

I’m now semi-retired, sharing my experiences to help guarantee your business success in the Philippines. Yes, you need to go about it in a certain way.

Message me to arrange a chat.?No strings, I’m happy to share my experiences.