Small business? Look at your numbers!
Small business? Look at your numbers! It’s a question which I have often asked myself and the answer has also often eluded me. Small businesses are the backbone of our economy, particularly in regional and rural areas and have often been started by well-meaning entrepreneurs who want a lifestyle change. Often, they have had very little to no business experience. They may have been employees, but running your own business is another new level of learning. I have mentored and coached retailers as well as Business 2 Business providers and while many are making a cracking job of doing business others are failing and don’t even realise it. I had lunch in a regional café recently and predict that, unless it is privately funded, the business, in its current form, won’t last the year out. If you don't do your numbers you won't last I had trouble imagining they were making a profit, let alone paying themselves, as the owner, a fair wage, because on a Saturday morning they ha...