It was the best of times, it was the worst of times – and through it all, businesses for the most part seem to do the same ol’ thing. When it’s the best of times, we go hog-wild, have extravagant Christmas parties, and buy the really high quality stationary that makes the receiver want to feel it and say to themselves, “Oooooo, this company must be doing well.” Then, sudden disaster. The economy goes down the toilet and what do we do? We lock the doors, pull out the shotgun, and start buying the crappy stationary to save 3 cents per sheet. Aaaagggh, Run for your lives!
So here’s a thought. What would happen if, during the good times, we let everyone else party. We throw parties too, but instead of renting out the 5 star hotel for everyone of our employees, we bring out the Wii and have golf tournaments and pizza. Instead of trying to impress the world with our big pocket books, we simply have a blast with our employees as best friends in a company should do every day. Of course, we keep this attitude through out all divisions of the company. Instead of shelling out cash for 10 high profile billboards (which are a fortune), we turn to our marketing guru, and say “Where’s the creative juice? Billboards don’t create buzz. What can we do with $1,000 , our personal networks, and our brains?”
What we have here is an interesting use of company resources. We treat the good times like they are the bad times. I’m not saying that we be cheap. I know I’m an accountant an all, but come on, give me some credit. No, I’m saying that we be the entrepreneurs we know we can be. We get creative, we marshal our resources, and we produce by making something huge out of nothing instead of throwing a lot of money at something and hoping it sticks.
Then when times get bad, which the will – we carry on like usual eating pizza, playing the wii, and having a blast while we innovate. All this will be taking place while everyone else is tightening down their belts, pulling out shotguns, and letting go of their staff. As they prepare for what looks like World War III, we rock the boat as entrepreneurs and grow the economy. The best part about this strategy is that when the bad times come around, we have resources that not only float the company but propel us forward.
I want our employees to never feel the wake of overspending in the good times followed by the tidal wave of job loss and disappointment in the bad times. As a matter of fact, Greg Warnock (an entrepreneur, angel investor, and business rock star) once taught me a lesson I will never forget. He was going over my business with me and asked me what I would do if I could get my hands on a chunk of change for my company. I immediatly fell into the trap described above. I stated talking about getting nice office space, buying things that create validity in my company (like that killer stationary), and on and on. I though he was going to slap me. He said in essence, ” Then you don’t deserve to be in business. Money should only be spent on one thing: getting more customers to give you money. How does getting an overly large and lavish office space make that happen? It doesn’t. Since then, I have evaluated every spending decision on that one premise. If I spend this dollar, will it lead to a customer giving me two? If not, I don’t need it. Thanks for the lesson Greg! p.s. This is the reason why Dashboard Accountants is a virtual Accounting firm.
As a side note, there is a good read in Utah CEO this month. According to Brandy A. Lee, in an article titled “Finding Cash in Lean Times” on page 44, one of the best things you can do as a business owner during the good times is to focus on your relations with vendors and customers. Pay on time with your vendors and treat your clients like gold. When the bad times roll around and you run out of cash, the vendors will extend terms instead of introducing you to collections and bankruptcy.
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