What’s the missing piece in your business puzzle?
As an entrepreneur or manager, you, no doubt, have a strong working knowledge and expertise of your product or service. But, that’s only one piece of the business puzzle. You cannot be expected to, nor can you expect yourself to know all the “pieces” that must come together to manage and grow a successful business.
When you start a business you assemble a few puzzle pieces independently or with help. First, there’s the product or service you’ll offer. Then, the next piece might be location, plant and/or equipment. Next you will pick up the suppliers piece so that you have materials to meet demand. You may begin working on the puzzle alone or you may hire help. This is a very important piece because you may have to learn how to manage someone else and you have to assemble all the supportive pieces… compensation, payroll and payroll taxes, workmen’s compensation and maybe even the benefits piece.
As the business puzzle gets larger, the pieces get more complex. Pieces that you thought were right no longer fit. You spend more and more time in reassembly mode, trying to keep it all together. Personal time and family time may go by the wayside as the puzzle consumes you.
When you started your puzzle, you thought you would be in control… your own boss. Instead, eventually you cannot tell where you end and the puzzle begins.
You need a master puzzle solver. Depending on how disconnected the pieces have become, you may even need a team of professional puzzle solvers, each with an ability to work on a different section of the puzzle. You may need help with the sales and marketing piece to grow your top line… or the human resources piece may be difficult to control… or the accounting piece may not add up… or the logistics piece may not deliver.
Business owners often have difficulty with the cash flow piece. Others can’t decide how to assemble the business structure pieces because they’ve received conflicting advice.
When assembling your business puzzle, many difficult decisions as to the best fit are made quickly, often by gut instinct without the benefit of research or hard numbers to back up those decisions. It’s like being blindfolded when solving the puzzle. This can be especially scary… as guessing your way out of a problem rarely works.
Finally, in these demanding times with a faltering economy and rapid technological change, competition will try to steal your business pieces. They may target your customers piece or your trained personnel piece or your technology piece.
Realize this: you are not alone. Many others facing the same demands have received answers, assistance and resolution from the master puzzle builders at EFX. We can help!
