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Who’s looking out for the iceberg?

A ship’s captain was working down in the engine room. An orchestra conductor was playing as part of the orchestra. A film’s director was seen working in the special effects studio.

Imagine the above scenarios.

The ship’s captain is supposed to be planning and guiding the course of a ship. Similarly, the rest of the examples mean to show that the people responsible for the direction of their enterprise should be doing only that.

As business owner if you find yourself doing the technical aspects of your company, then who’s going to steer the business and aim for success?

The entrepreneur starts off as three people in one: Entrepreneur, manager, and technician. And as the business grows, the latter 2 roles need to be assigned to other individuals in an organization.

Making sure if the daily operations run smoothly is the task of the manager. Performing the daily routines of a business is the task of technicians.

There is only 24 hours to a day. And challenges, or opportunities don’t come announced. The entrepreneur is the ship’s captain.

Who else cares for your business, as much as you do?

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Write it down!

If you’re not documenting what you do, you’re setting the stage for failure.

There are 2 grocery stores in my neighborhood. I mainly go to one, due to fast service. But sometimes the shop is out of stock.

I asked the shopkeeper why he doesn’t keep stock all the time. He said he does the purchasing only when the need arises.

So, I told him that he could keep track of his inventory by writing down the quantities of each item sold every week, allowing him to make purchases ahead of time so that he doesn’t lose customers.

And that should also allow him to forecast demand as well as identify fast moving items, which ultimately allows him to plan a budget and calculate profit/loss.

He was very excited about the suggestion. Hopefully he implements it and benefits from this.

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Surviving the Fittest

I’m not a big fan of the ‘survival of the fittest’ concept.

It breeds a competitive, cut-throat environment. People (and businesses run by them) need a nurturing environment to achieve their full potential.

Competition is only with one’s self, to always strive to outperform our own selves, against our previous achievements.

Every small business out there deserves a leg up, a helping hand. I believe that small businesses can do better than what they are used to. So much good can come out of it.

MSMEs (Micro, Small, Medium Enterprises) are the backbone of the economy. These are also the entities that an average consumer deals with mostly.

Everyone wins when MSMEs do well.