Business famine: How Do You Handle It
For every profitable day, you would have just as many non-profitable or even loss-making days. Every entrepreneur must go through them. In fact, the basic construct of an entrepreneur’s psyche centers around that unique ability of entrepreneurs to withstand these periods of famine. How then, do you handle it when it happens to you? What do you to ensure a profitable business and to keep an enterprise afloat? Personally, this is what I do and it works for me:
- Accept it; better still, ignore it: Bad days are bound to come by and the sooner you accept that reality, the easier it is for you. Accept the fact that you would have to face clients walking away from you, bad business, debts and money refunds. If you operate each day on your business completely ignoring the fact that certain days can be that terrible, you are on an another league of business operations. Your company, then, is visionary, ahead of competition and it is made of stuff that can withstand the vigor of entrepreneurial vicissitudes.
- Add other sources of income: The best thing about business is that it isn’t like a job where you just have a single source of income – your salary. In business, you are the pilot and you can make as many income streams as possible. All you need is that enterprising nature, go-getting attitude and the raging fire within your stomach to do the same. While you are working on your main line of business, find ways to garner more revenue through other methods like adding more products and services, being an affiliate for other businesses and even starting new businesses after you semi-automate your main business.
- Market like a pro: Recessional times are desperate times and desperate times call for desperate measures. I had written about how obsolete conventional methods of marketing are and the fact they don’t seem to do anything for the present day entrepreneurs. Introduce an online presence for your company and promote the heck out of it, bring in more leads through the Internet channel and develop your brand like crazy. This, more often than not, works.
Have you been through bad times recently? If yes, what did you do during those times? What, if any, is your mantra to sustain through turbulent waters of entrepreneurship?
