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Posted: Wed 4th Jun 2025
I work with a lot of businesses where things aren’t going well.
The business looks good on the surface, but under the hood, there’s a lot of chaos and a poor financial situation. It’s also usually the case that the owner is the one who is most aware of these issues and struggling with them internally.
The first part of the work we do is to get crystal clear on where we are right now. This isn’t just a numbers exercise but a coaching exercise too. The reality is, for most owners, that they know their business is a bit of a mess, they know the numbers aren’t good, but they haven’t got the confidence or energy to really stare the monster in the face.
So we do a lot of unofficial coaching to help make this process as painless and low-stress as possible. I won’t go into detail on how we do that, but some of the key things we end up working on again and again are themes such as:
It’s ok that your business is a bit of a mess... It’s normal and common
It’s probably not as hard to fix as you’re telling yourself
If we don’t get a clear picture of where we are now, it’s almost impossible to fix things, and your business will close anyway
Even if your business did close, which it probably won’t, it’s really not the end of the world or as big a deal as you might be telling yourself
I ended up closing a good business during COVID because I was so burntout with it. That business had a great client base, good sales and profitability, a good reputation and a great team. So I have first-hand experience of how our minds as business owners can sabotage our health and businesses. If I had had someone to guide me through the aforementioned points, that business could have easily scaled to something fantastic.
The specifics we need to tie down are the financials and other factors like the motivation levels of the owner and team, the reputation of the business and the client base.
Sometimes this needs an accountant or finance analyst, but often it can be done with a few heads around a table and some reporting. It depends on the size and complexity of the business.
Watch this webinar on how to get your team to step up so you can step back from daily operations:
Once we’re clear on the business’s current position and we understand the numbers, we build a plan for getting to a better place (assuming there are issues, which there usually are). How you go about the planning process is vitally important, and where most people slip up.
What we’re not going to do is "plan for growth". You can’t grow a thing that isn’t working well, but generally speaking, the business owner's mindset is to always go to ideas and growth as the solution to everything. Ironically, it’s this mindset — left unchecked — that often gets businesses into trouble. Another problem with planning for growth is that it’s demotivating. You can never truly achieve growth, it’s just a woolly word that says we’ve got to do better/more.
Change is hard work, so it’s imperative that we build a plan that you, the owner, are actually motivated to achieve; otherwise, it just won’t happen.
The planning process we use for this is two-part:
First, we do an aligned strategy. That’s where we start by getting clear with you, the owner — what do you actually want from this business?
So many owners are stuck in the trap of constantly trying to make ends meet in a business to make sure the bills and staff are paid, but there’s nothing in it for them. If you’re constantly stressed, constantly trying to make ends meet, and have no plan in place for how your business is actually going to work for you, then it’s not surprising your business isn’t where it needs to be, because you can’t possibly be energised and motivated. For a business to do well, its owner has to be energised and motivated.
The aligned strategy is very top-level planning that follows three steps:
Owner strategy: What do you want from your business across one, three, five and 10 years for it all to be worth it?
Financial strategy: What numbers does the business need to do to pay the team you need and give you the lifestyle you want?
Business strategy: Who is our ideal client? Are we positioned as the number one choice for them? Have we made it a no-brainer win/win for them to spend what they need to spend with us?
Working through this process gives owners a combination of a reality check and a massive motivational boost. The reality check is often, "This business isn’t currently set up to ever work for me", and the motivational boost is in the realisation that with some changes, it can be a fantastic win-win business that gives them the lifestyle they want.
Next, we go to step two, which is planning for how we get from the current situation that we established in step one to the ideal situation we just mapped out in the aligned strategy.
The way in which you do this will, of course, be unique to you and your business, but the common pattern we follow with our small and medium business clients is:
Phase 1: Stabilise
Priorities: Fix cash flow. Fix processes. Get the team aligned. Get numbers, systems and disciplines in place.
Typically, owners want to skip this phase because it’s not aligned with an owner’s energy, which is ideas and new things. Skipping this stage is a mistake, and as soon as you’ve got a tiny bit of traction in this stage, you’ll wonder how you ever survived without it.
Phase 2: Optimise
Priorities: Increase profits. Scale processes.
Again, owners are tempted to skip this stage because here you are increasing the business profits by optimising what you are already doing well, not adding new things.
Phase 3: Growth
Priorities: Add new revenue streams and/or innovations that increase profitability.
This is the stage owners want to lead with and can now prioritise because you’ve got a profitable, cash flow-generating, systemised business engine. That engine gives you the time, mindset and financials you need to make growth activities work. Without having cash, profit and time, growth efforts are often more detrimental than beneficial to your business.
And that’s the process.
There is, of course, a lot of coaching, workshopping and system-building along the way, but the key thing to understand is that at some point your business has to get these things in place.
If you and/or your business are struggling, don’t bury your head in the sand. When you do this, it eats away at your health (physical and mental) and is on a slow trajectory to closing down, going bump, or being sold for next to nothing.
Your business has to work for you, and it should make you happy. Your business should contribute to your life, not drain you.
If it’s not working for you at the moment, that’s ok. There’s nothing wrong with you, you’re not a failure — it’s just a common part of the journey.
But don’t let it stay like that for years. There’s a way forward, and there are people there to help you progress forward as painlessly as possible.
Reach out to your network, reach out to the support you have at Enterprise Nation.
