The need for Road To Growth Business Advisory

Why is sustainably profitable business growth so elusive?

Owning a business that can boast sustainably profitable business growth can prove to be almost impossible for many owners. It’s common for business owners to see some encouraging growth in the first few years after startup. But it’s also common for growth to dry up soon after that initial rush. More activity at this stage leads to more problems, and it usually falls to the owner to sort these out. The owner now doesn’t have the time to think about growing the business. They may even prefer not to, knowing that more growth will lead to even more stress, causing the business to stagnate.

Road To Growth Business Advisory is here to guide these owners to sustainably profitable business growth while lowering stress levels. And it achieves this by changing the way owners view and manage their business. Owners can then shed the disappointment of a business that fails to meet their initial hopes, and create a business to be proud of.

Hopes and Dreams

When most businesses start up, the owner’s dream or vision is usually of a life where there is little stress (they’re their own boss now); where the team under them has everything under control, meaning they can now work a relaxed five-day week – if that – with relaxing holidays away from the business routine; and where they can indulge in a few of the luxuries in life, whether they be a new car, overseas trips or new, bigger home. But …

The Reality

Sadly, this rarely turned out to be the case. In fact the track record for new small to medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Australia is far from encouraging.

Some reports have suggested 35% of small businesses close within 5 years of being established with a further 20% closing within 10 years, while others will tell you that more than 60% of small businesses will close within 3 years. While the difference between such figures gives little faith in their accuracy, what does become apparent is that the success rates are not encouraging … which is the complete opposite of what owners had in mind when they opened their doors.

Why Is This?

But if SME owners are so highly committed to their business (and they overwhelmingly are), then why are their businesses not all roaring successes?

For the most part it’s certainly not due to lack of effort on the owner’s part. Most owners work much longer hours than their staff (including weekends) for relatively little financial reward (on some occasions nil), yet still struggle to keep their heads above water, let alone make progress, profit and grow their business.

No, the main reason is that there’s a huge difference between making products or providing services that can be sold, and making a successful business out of doing that.

An ABS analysis of why businesses closed listed some of the main reasons as lack of financial awareness; a neglect of strategic issues due to a focus on operational ones (which is usually a strength of the owner); a lack of systems; and no established quality programme.

So it’s clear, if you’re an owner who wants to secure sustainably profitable business growth, then things need to change. Simply viewing a few aspects of your business differently will raise the performance of your business no end. But if you really do want to improve things, the first step you need to take is far and away the most important.

Are you ready to take that first step?