If you run a small business, there may be times when you run into trouble. Whether this ultimately means having to shut down or overcoming those challenges, the tips below will help.
Adjust Your Thinking
When your business looks like it may be in trouble, you might be feeling a lot of things: stressed, terrified, depressed and more. However, it’s important to get a handle on your emotions and think clearly. When you’re overwhelmed, you are more likely to make additional mistakes. Try to be mindful about your internal chatter and whether you are saying negative things to yourself. You need to identify the issues facing your business, reframe how you see them, and approach them as challenges.
Manage Your Money
Whether or not your issue is largely a financial one, it’s important to be careful with your money if your business looks precarious. First, you should cut back on spending as much as you can. If you have creditors you are struggling to pay, you should try to communicate with them and see if you can work out a plan. You may also want to see if you have another source of cashflow. This might mean selling something or picking up another job. You might have more things of value than you realize. For example, if you need access to a cash lump sum to get your business back on its feet and you have a life insurance policy, you might be able to sell it as part of a life settlement. You can review a guide on how to do this.
SWOTing and SMARTing
These are acronyms people use in the business world. SWOT is a kind of analysis you can do, assessing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to your business. You should be using it regularly, but it can come in particularly helpful if your company is in trouble. SMART is about goalsetting and endeavors to make sure you set goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. Essentially, when things are troubled, you can perform a SWOT analysis so that you can identify the goals that will get you out of trouble again. For example, you might identify one of your weaknesses as marketing. A SMART goal might involve hiring someone to manage your social media in an effort to increase your conversions by a certain amount and by a certain date.
Knowing When to Stop
There’s a saying that you shouldn’t throw good money after bad. Working hard to save your business and not giving up is wonderful—up to a point. However, you should also recognize when it is time to close the doors, and this should be before you do irreparable damage to your own finances or other areas of your life. You shouldn’t look on having to close your business as a failure or even as a sign that you shouldn’t run your own company. Many people have been through similar experiences and gone on to success. Instead, consider it a learning experience, and get back on that horse.
