community WEATHERING THE STORM IN BUSINESS Better Business Column | By Rich Evans
This week we launch our new Better Business column. One thing that has been staggering to me over the last few months is just how many businesses were unprepared for COVID.
I know what you are thinking, you are thinking how could anyone be prepared for a Pandemic that was not foreseen? Granted the actual event was a surprise to us all, but what I am referring to is the potential tough times that as business owners we may be faced with at any point in time without warning. I have been in business now for over 20 years, and in that time I have experienced every up and down you can imagine. We have had big wins and we have had monumental losses. Throughout it all I have developed two things that put me in the box seat during the recent pandemic. Firstly, I have developed a real mental resilience which I believe is one of the most important skills a business owner can have. Secondly, I have been burned so many times that the five basic principles of how to guide my business through any storm are ingrained in my brain. When COVID hit, without even realising, I went straight
Issue 317 - 3rd July 2020
1. Know the score
the beginning and be prepared to go back there. For me that has meant doing the deliveries for the papers on Wednesdays for Bathurst and on Fridays for Lithgow. Do I like getting up at 3am and doing this? No, of course not, but ‘whatever it takes’ means just that - not whatever it takes that doesn’t interrupt my sleep… Whatever you can do yourself, do it.
2. Make the tough calls
Find ways to change things up, new ways of doing business, new services you can offer. Is there something else your customers could buy from you? Did you know that it is more expensive to get a new customer than to resell an existing one? The biggest challenge is communicating with your customers and letting them know you have something else they could be interested in. One of the best thing to do in this part is to try and understand from your customer’s point of view what stops them from buying from you? For us we know it is that customers can’t see the long term gains marketing gives them from a short term investment, so we are looking at ways to finance peoples marketing over 12 months to give them time to see the returns.
3. Work out what you can do
I am not talking about spiritual faith here, although for many business owners that may be part of it. What I am taking about is the faith that if you are passionate about your business, you have a viable product or service that people want and need and you have done all four of the above steps, have faith that all you need to do is get to work and focus on getting it done. Don’t worry about the outcome or stress about the process, just do the work. I know these five steps might seem a little anecdotal, but let me tell you I have navigated many a storm and pivoted my business at a moments notice and we are still here, so there may be something in it.
back to survival mode and made sure we were going to get through this. Here are my five principles of weathering the storm in business, but they can also apply to life in general. They have served me well and if you are looking for some help to get back on track, they maybe of use to you as well. It always amazes me how little financial information some owners have about their business. Over the years I have found it useful to develop some basic Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and then build systems to track those so we know how we are travelling at all times. Knowing how much you need to operate your business at the barest minimum is essential, without it you cannot make any kind of call on where to make savings, or where to invest what little capital you may have to get the best result. This is also the point where you need to take stock of the overall position, can you trade comfortably through this period, or are you at risk of losing too much? From a guy that once lost everything he owned from hanging on too long, trust me, this is not a position you want to be in. Once you know the score, the first thing to do is make the tough calls. It is never a nice day to have to let people go, but in order for the whole business to survive, sometimes it is necessary. The mistake is putting it off hoping things will get better, every week that slips by just makes it harder, so swallow the pride, be honest with people and make the calls that need to be made. The longer you wait the harder it gets. It is not always just people either. It may be moving the business back home, or making other changes to the business that are ‘tough’. But what is really tough, is realising you left it too long and not having a way out. I know your business may have previously gotten to the point where you had people doing things, but in tough times, you have to remember what you did in
NOTRE DAME RURAL CLINICAL SCHOOL “INTERNS DAY IN SURGERY”
Three local actors, Donna Dykes, Sandra James and Leo Murnane were the stars of the Lithgow Rual Clinical School’s “Interns Day in Surgery” on Wednesday 24th June 2020. They acted some important clinical scenarios to enable students to hone their skills in diagnosis, management and emergency medicine. Story submitted by Jennifer Corney
“This was the fourth year that this event has been run and provides invaluable training and learning opportunities for our final-year students who will shortly graduate and become junior doctors in our larger city and rural hospitals,” said Associate Professor John Dearin, Head of the Notre Dame’s Lithgow Clinical School. The students embraced the simulated clinical scenarios with great enthusiasm, describing the exercise as very helpful as they prepare for their final exams and internship next year. It was also wonderful to have alumni Dr Michael Gould present on the day, facilitating a session on acute resuscitation and pharmacology. At the completion of the clinical scenarios, the actors were presented with certificates of thanks and a small gift of appreciation for their engagement with the school. “We look forward to their return next year to help with our student teaching and thank Dr Carmel Mezrani (Acting Head of Student Matters/Medical Education Development Officer) for coordinating this highly successful annual event,” said Professor Dearin.
4. Innovate
5. Have faith
If you would like to have input to this column in the coming weeks, please contact rich@villagevoice.net.au
BEEHIVE ANNOUNCEMENT In line with health regulations we are sad to say Beehive has been deferred until at least Term 4, 2020. Keep reading the Village Voice and find us on Facebook for future updates. Stay warm, stay safe. Thank you so much. Lorna Fitzpatrick Joint coordinator
Pictured (in orange – local actor Sandra James, far back – Dr Michael Gould, seated – 4th year med students, Aleksandra Klimova (left) and Dinithi Samarwickrama (right), and Associate Professor John Dearin looking on from front of photo
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