Why so many good businesses don’t peak or profit
I have a gift. I see the missing pieces.
I’ve worked with or for many small business owners.
Sometimes business owners want to only use “friends”. Sometimes they are too overwhelmed to make simple positive changes they know need to happen. Sometimes they are honestly not ready to lead a small business, but do not want to delegate leadership.
There are some embarrassing examples I can think of that, at the time, made absolutely no sense to me what so ever. Like the time the French Culinary Institute grad went to the grocery store for pie boxes for a regular client but had no idea what size and “didn’t want to spend the money” on professional packaging purchase.
So — he bought 4 or 5 wrong sizes and crammed the torta into one awkwardly.
I would be understanding. But a day or two after that packages for high end kitchen tools we didn’t need started coming in. He spent excessive amounts of money on a holiday special he didn’t have logistics laid out for and barely advertised.
Why? For no other reason than he wanted to. His words.
Who are we looking out for? Is this business model about serving clientele or stroking our own egos?
Furthermore, had he not lied about display food (which was actually food he served), he would have failed his Health Department inspection.
Is this filling a niche? Is this customer service?
The sad part is — I think he really wanted to make people happy.
I don’t really want to get into identity politics, but this was also a shining example of pretension, tall white man entitlement, and privilege.
On the flip side, I have worked with minority business owners who are doing really good things for the community and work to support a healthy planet and animal welfare.
One stands out in particular that is doing everything right. They make vegan and gluten free treats that anyone with tastebuds, eyes, a stomach would love. Basically if you are alive, you would love these sweet treats.
What are they doing right?
They document themselves HAVING A BLAST every day or almost every day. They ACTUALLY reach out to potential client market pools. In six years, they have gone from one shared kitchen to now looking to expand to another state and are in more than 90 local retailers.
Other things small businesses can do that are EASY, that are FREE:
- Make a list of media outlets in your area and target market
- Write a media release and send it
- Plan an event or get together
- Use social media, event calendars, event pages, and create a website or webpage
- Ask people — the worst that can happen is the answer is no
- Branding: think about and finalize fonts, icons, and colors you want to use repeatedly
One nonprofit I worked with was disorganized and had terrible leadership, but had very good intentions and a vague plan with some history.
It was not without challenges along the way, but I was able to negotiate rates with sponsoring companies for athletes (rather than paying them directly), run logistics scenarios for events, draft and send athlete contracts, and sell workshops.
When I left, the board and leadership had a template for all of the things they would need to do to build a successful event series.
Between press releases, a Google Workspace, a new accounting software suite that was cheaper (but better) than the one they had before, a logistics spreadsheet (or two), financials by fund (event), and week by week processes to execute.
It doesn’t matter how much good your business does, or if it’s a nonprofit or for profit business — It needs to be run like a business.
Furthermore, it doesn’t matter how much good you do if the right people don’t hear about it.
Find out about what we can do here: Accounting, bookkeeping, marketing plans, content.
In the meanshile…
Make sure you:
- Watch your bottom line
- Cost your goods sold
- Create budget scenarios (Best, Breakeven, Worst)
- Have a sales plan — follow it
- Have a marketing and public relations plan — follow it
- Be prepared for contingencies
- Get help when needed!
