This is why This is happened!

I have been spending a lot of time with ME since the day our country went into lockdown. There is so much uncertainty ahead that has never been this way ever. I am trying to understand why This is happening to so many businesses and entrepreneurs and have been asking questions quietly to myself. For some I get answers and others I am still waiting to hear.

Life lessons that are most important are really the tough times that come our way. It's got a really creative way to push you to your limits and give you a chance to grow out of your old self. But it isn't going to be a happy lecture to sit through. It's going to get so nasty that you want to quit the class evert second that the class pass by.

I, like most of the small business owners attending this class have a tough assignment to complete & it's called "Countering the COVID".

This assignment beats you with a hammer on the head and pushes you to the ground on your knees. If you are on your knees now, there is a reason why it easily pushed you down.

THIS IS WHY THIS HAPPENED

a) You running low on CASH

This happened because of This -

• Your business didn't have a good collection strategy to improve your cash flow and you just went by what came in and didn't push the panic button when the receivables moved from 30 - 45 days.
• You didn't think that setting aside Contingency fund every month was important and spent as soon as you earned everything you earned.
• You didn't have the discipline of saving for yourself too! because if you had that you would have saved for your business.

b) You see revenue drop to ZERO

This happened because of This

• You never looked out for new avenues for revenue and busy only putting all your eggs in one basket!
• You were still in the mode of planning the sales for current month and not for two months in advance. Meaning your sales plan and pipeline for current month was already in place and sure about the inflow.
• Your business is functioning in Reactive mode and not in Proactive mode. You wait for things to hit you and then lick your wound.

c) You worried how you will Recover

This happened because of This

• You have not yet cracked the sales code and what works and what doesn't. You have volatile sales trend in the past months and unable to bring consistency.
• You have not worked out a clear plan to bring expenses and burn under control. You may be handling work that you are not good at.
• You are uninformed of ground realities to explore new opportunities or you do not built great partnerships with buyers and customers to fall back on!

d) You are afraid to seek Help

This happened because of This

• Your ego is not letting you to ask for help. This will kill many opportunities that are around you and could help you from this issue.
• You have exhausted all options available to you in your network and don't know whom to turn to. You never had a need to seek but the current situation is pushing you for it and that worries you.
• Before asking you are assuming the answer will be NO

Most if not all would be the reason for why THIS is happening in your business during the lockdown. I feel it's important to run the business in SOS mode for the first 3-5 years is very essential for all startups.

Most startup founders make a mistake of thinking that they need robust systems in place only after growing the business to a certain extent. This is the first mistake to be avoided as it affects the discipline across many functions.

Always try to build ancillary revenue streams around your business while your primary product or service is doing well. This comes as a support in a long way. Diversify as much as early possible so you don't have too many eggs to put in one basket.

Build second level leaders in your organisation quickly and decentralise the responsibilities among the right people so you can focus on building preparedness into your startup to weather such unforeseen circumstances.

Remember, global issues affect you even if you are small time business selling locally. Covid virus issue is an eye opener as to how an epidemic from a neighbouring country can hit so hard even the last man on earth!

THIS IS WHY ALL THIS HAPPENED!! HOPE YOU GOT SOME TAKEAWAY!

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