Can my business afford to do this?

Adviser in the spotlight

I’m hearing the same question come from so many business owners at the moment - can my business afford to do this right now?

Over the past couple of months, I’ve taken some great distinctions out of Mark’s article on Budgeting and Steph’s on the importance of your sales process and it’s really highlighted to me how important it is to plan our way through uncertain times. Being aware of the situation means we can make better decisions and get better value out of the actions we take and right now everyone is searching for value across the board.

Last month Steph flagged that our natural instinct is to cut costs when things get uncertain and a different approach in pushing for growth at the top line. Taking this a step further, it’s important to understand where we need to invest in different parts of our business to ensure we add value which in turn allows us to grow and move with the economy, not just stand still while the market moves around us.

So how do we know if something is adding value? There are lots of ways to see the value in our actions which all come back to a few consistent themes

• Is it going to save me time – Do I update my bookkeeping software or engage a bookkeeper so I don’t need to spend nights and weekends wearing the finance hat and more time focusing on the growth of your business?

• Does it let me leverage an existing resource – Is upgrading my equipment going to allow me to get more work done in a day and get through jobs faster and get more done? Or can I upskill one of my team into doing more work, freeing up time for higher-value activities?

• Is it going to prevent future disasters – It’s better to have a truck off the road for a day for maintenance than for a week with a problem or upgrading the fences before we lose livestock through old ones.

It’s easy to become overly conservative in the face of uncertainty, but with the right tools and accountability, an opportunity can be found.

We place value on what we perceive as important to us so understanding where these things rank in our priorities is a key question to consider when understanding whether a business can afford to do something or not – because a better question might be can I afford to do nothing?

Stu