What are you? business owner or Consumer?

Are You Thinking & Acting

                                             Like a Business Owner or a Consumer?

It has finally happened!   Your business is rapidly growing.  Everything is working just as you dreamed.  Inquiries are coming in daily, sales have doubled, customers are coming in regularly, and employees are scrambling to meet the demand.    You are busy putting out fires, trying to keep new customers happy and old ones satisfied.  Money is flowing in the door, yet leaving in a rapid torrent.   You are constantly scrambling for dollars to pay your obligations:  payroll, new equipment, increased inventory, vendors, and taxes.  The pressure is building and something’s got to change.  

You think  "I know I will go the bank and borrow money and that will solve my problems.”  Maybe and maybe not.  Throwing money at a problem is not always the first or the smartest thing to do.  There are other things that must be done first! One is taking a look at you.  Are you thinking and acting like a business owner or are you still thinking like a consumer?  

 And what’s the difference?

You think, “I will go the bank and borrow money and that will solve my problems.”  Maybe and maybe not.  Throwing money at a problem is NOT  always the first or the smartest thing to do.  There are other things that must be done first! 


One is taking a look at you.  Are you thinking and acting like a business owner or are you still thinking like a consumer?   And what’s the difference?


  A consumer style thinks only of pleasing the customer and getting the product out as cheaply as possible, not about what is good long term for the business. A consumer owner is one who is fearful of making hard decisions because a customer may not be pleased.  “If I raise my prices, all my customers will leave me.”  That is not true.  “If I change anything, I will ruin everything.  All I must do is work harder and longer and I will get through all this.  My crisis style of management has worked before (the thrill of doing the almost impossible in an improbable time) and why should it not work now?”


Right? Wrong!  The owner has to take the step to become a planner, a thinker a controller, a motivator, a financial manager, a leader, not just for today, tomorrow or next week, but for the long term.


So before you rush out to tackle the week, ask yourself,  “Am I more attracted to crisis than thinking?  Do I have excuses for not planning?  Is it more attractive to be in the field:   waiting on tables, moving inventory, digging a ditch, writing a computer program than thinking about being a manager and figuring out what the business needs to grow?”   


It’s up to you!  What are you going to do? Think and act like a business owner or stay in crisis and act like a consumer.