It’s a holiday week all across the globe with bank holidays in the West and US, Eid here in the Mideast, and Pentecost both last Sunday (western churches) and this Sunday (Orthodox ones).
So let’s keep the posts light and open 3 days of FAQ and answers.
Here is today’s question which I get asked frequently so let me answer it publicly.
“George, I’ve been running my business for 14 years and I’m profitable. I’m busy, yes, but I’m making good money. Why should I change anything when what I’m doing is clearly working?”
Let me respond with a question of my own.
Could you take from right now the next 90 days off away from the business? Would it continue growing and thriving in your absence? Or would it start breaking down and perhaps even close without your attention in just 12 weeks?
Your answer will tell you what is working and what is not. You might be making great income but if that disappears when you do, then you’re one bad day, accident, or family crisis away from destroying everything you built.
In a sense you own a great paying job where it all disappears the day you quit.
A true story that’s been in the news this week is the actor Neal McDonough who was very successful until Hollywood blackballed him for refusing to kiss other women on screen out of devotion to his wife Ruve.
For two years he couldn’t get a job and lost everything including the house, cars and other “shiny possessions.”
He and Ruve and their five kids had to move into his friend, actor Luke Perry’s house because they had nowhere else to go.
The shame sent him into drinking and despair because he felt he had failed his family by not being able to put a roof over their heads. It was Ruve who eventually snapped him out of it and today he is successful again and back on his feet.
The point is that as an actor he earned great money but it was income only and it disappeared as fast as it appeared. If he had built equity alongside that income he could have better weathered the two years of being blackballed and been in a much stronger position when things turned around.
Unfortunately, for business owners, it’s much easier to be blackballed when they try to find a buyer or investor in their business.
A business that is too dependent upon the owner.
Financial records that are amateur and not up to par.
Missing documentation.
Weak management or team.
All of these will blackball the owner as someone who owns a job or a pain in the ass that is not worth anything close to what he feels and which will be heavily discounted and/or force him to stick around as an employee.
My work with clients isn’t because they are doing something wrong or being stupid.
I never tell a client how to run their company.
Instead, I ask the questions and provide the clarity that empowers them to implement the timeless principles that apply to them and their situation.
They gain a business that is attractive to sell but that also frees them from the day to day grind to spend their time and money where they want.
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P.S. Want to make your business more attractive to run…and that investors would love to own?
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George Sotiropoulos answers the most common question from business owners — why change what’s working — by challenging them to consider whether their business survives 90 days without them. Using the story of actor Neal McDonough who lost everything when Hollywood blackballed him, George draws a parallel to how business owners get blackballed by buyers when their companies are too owner-dependent, lack documentation, or have weak financials.