PostScriptum: переводы

→It was very interesting to work with one business where the own¬ers had bought their first premises. They did the refurbishment and opened up their bar/cafe. After about six months, they were doing OK but not really taking off - and certainly not producing profits that would make either of them a millionaire. They were also working in¬credibly hard, with at least one of them on the premises all the time; and it was open long hours, seven days a week. They couldn't go on like they were forever; they'd either go bust or mad. But they couldn't expand either by taking on another outlet because they didn't have any money. The deposit and the expenses they had incurred in buy¬ing the property had left them borrowed pretty much to the hilt. What was the way ahead? Financially and physically, there's a limit to how long you can run a business at break-even or just above: it's exhausting and there's no light at the end of the tunnel.
This is a situation that a lot of start-ups get into. They're not really making money, and they're certainly not making real money. The owners are probably living on a very small salary, or none at all. And, of course, your lives are not your own: they now belong to the business. If you take your eye off the ball by, for example, having a day off to watch the school concert around Christmas, the till will take less on a crucial day in the retailing year.
So what do you do? First you work hard on improving things. You look at the competition to see what they're doing differently from you. You try to work out why their premises are busy all day long whilst you have lulls at different parts of the day. You get feedback from your customers by asking them what they like and dislike about the experience they've just had. Learning from all of this, you tune the look and feel of the premises and perhaps the products on offer. Trade goes up a bit, but you're still hovering round that break-even mark.
You look for cost savings too; but you're probably down to the bone by this stage anyway. You can use the situation to try to get a bit more off your suppliers' prices, but after six months or more in business you've probably got the costs down as far as you can.
The question arises: 'At what point will you decide that the concept has a fundamental flaw, take a step back and replant your strategy?'
My view is that you must replant when you're still in control of your business. I think there's a pivotal point in most small businesses at about half a year. You haven't run out of money yet, but the account¬ant has drawn a graph showing that you are within months of that happening. So, you're still in control. You could just wait the extra twelve months, watch the constant drip, drip, drip of cash going out and than have the bank step in and tell you what to do. When they do that, it almost certainly means you've risked it all and lost it all.
There is a general view out there that you haven't given a concept enough time until you've tried it for twelve to eighteen months; but I like to look at it more practically. Much earlier than that you've had warning signs. Suppose you realize after six months that break-even is still the best month that you ever have. Why wait another year? You're going to have lost even more money; and that's assuming you haven't had a heart attack or a nervous breakdown. You're taking risks with your health and your family life, for goodness' sake - and you haven't even got the compensation of pots of dough.
Look, you're a businessperson. In your heart of hearts you'll know when you've tried everything and still not reached profitability; so don't hang about. Have a radical rethink. Take a step back and have a hard, honest look at things.
Get off the premises for a sensible amount of time to weigh up your position. List your strengths and weaknesses. The strengths will include that you've learnt a lot in several months' experience. You know how to organize builders, buy fixtures and fittings, and design a retail concept. You've learnt how to hire, manage and fire staff and you've learnt the technical part of your particular trade. You own or have a lease on the premises and you've improved them since you took over. You've still got a bit of cash in the bank.
Now look at the next crucial part of the planning process - your weaknesses. Look for a fundamental flaw. If it's the location, stop kidding yourself that somehow, as if by magic, it's going to improve. If it's the concept, admit it - to yourself first of all, then to your friends and advisers.
Now look at your options. What could you do to overcome the weaknesses? Is there a skill that you lack that you would learn if you worked for someone else? Think radically and then write down the options you've got. Talk to anyone who can help you to get away from your fixed idea of what you've being trying to do.
The first option is obviously to continue as you are, keep tuning and hope that things pick up. The other options are more radical and probably involve a major change of direction.
It's decision-making time. Which of these options are you going to go with? Remember, a major change of direction is not an admission of failure; it's a decision to stop banging your head against a brick wall.
Back to the bar/cafe owners. I got them to review their strategy by first looking at their strengths and weaknesses. In the months that they had been in business, they had learned an enormous amount. They knew how to recruit and handle staff, they knew how to organize a kitchen and make sure that the logistics of serving customers were appropriate in terms of portion, price and speed of service. These are all very valuable lessons and an important 'soft' asset for any business. They could transfer those skills anywhere if they had the money to start an expansion programmed.
Now, if they could sell the premises they'd bought as a going concern, they'd probably get at least as much as they'd paid and spent on it, and perhaps a bit more. With that release of capital they