Blog Posts
SME in cash flow crisis
The world’s biggest kitplane manufacturer Van’s Aircraft recently announced that it was facing serious cash flow issues.
Over 50 years ago the company named after its founder Richard VanGrunsven started selling plans and parts to people wishing to build the high performance RV3 aircraft.
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Lacking time to work on your business
Do you sometimes get frustrated about working all hours and not having the time or mindset to work “on” your business to introduce the changes that will enable your business to grow to another level?
Your company is running at capacity. You keep winning more work and your business is very stretched.
You can also see plenty of opportunities to develop new offerings and enter new markets.
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Learning trust from our pets
This is Teddy, our lovely dachshund, ready for his first flight in a light aircraft.
To our surprise Teddy was very quiet and remained calm throughout the flight despite being in a totally new, confined and rather noisy environment.
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SMEs embracing change to grow
I visited the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris and I admired Clément Ader’s beautiful Avion III hanging from the museum's majestic ceiling.
Clément Ader filed 48 patents. His prolific inventions contributed to the development of emerging products such as bicycles, telephones, engines, aircraft and cars.
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Introducing changes to enable growth
Growing a business to the next level usually requires the introduction of significant changes.
When businesses are running at full capacity and the CEO struggles to find the time and thinking space to identify and implement the changes required, he/she might be tempted to hire a "Director of Change".
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Growing out of the fish bowl
The Chinese author Xu Zhiyuan writes,
“An insider is like a fish in a fishbowl, unable to see the exact shape of its surroundings even though those surroundings are perfectly clear to everyone else,” (Paper Tiger, p. xi).
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Companies need simple systems to grow
Small and medium size businesses often operate without formal internal systems as they are run by a few people who do everything themselves.
As the company grows and more people are required, chaos can quickly result from the lack of internal systems to control the business. If not addressed this can have serious repercussions and, in the end, can affect the viability of the company.
Here is a typical example of this situation.
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Identifying the "real" business issues
Far too often, people jump to conclusions about the issues facing their business.
This can lead to wasted time and money if the root causes have not been identified.
Here is a real-life example that illustrates the point.
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Building a Team to Grow the Business
Growing a successful business beyond the first few years brings new challenges.
As it enters new markets and grows further, the business changes and becomes increasingly complex.
There comes a point where the CEO needs more time to work “on” the business and can no longer manage the company singlehandedly.
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Growing a Successful Business
It is often said that only about 50% of newly created businesses survive beyond the first 5 years.
In fact, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) shows that 55% of new businesses survive beyond 5 years.
What is less well known is that more than 50% of those successful businesses still fail to reach 15 years.
These statistics are based on 2021 data but they have been fairly consistent since the 1990s.
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