What is it that we don’t want to know about? What is it that is affecting the success of our businesses, but we dont want to acknowledge it, becasue it looks a little too scary. Whatever it is, in my experience it is better to face up to some of the challenges and difficult things before they become too great and costly.

David

I was reading an ‘internet article’ today about the Recession and the Credit Crunch. The basic position was that it’s down to you to sort it out. OK these may indeed be very challenging times, but you are the only person who can really sort it out. Whilst I totally agree with this statement, the flavour of the article turned me off though. It was all happy, happy - don’t think about the recession, think positive, others may be struggling but we are the winners and we keep on going! This sounds good, but is pretty difficult to achieve. In my experience the most important thing is to continually bolster your self-belief, look after yourself and accept that these are tough times, but keep on going.

On a related topic this is an interesting article on how successful entrepreneurs manage hard times - especially when the taxman is on the march!

http://knowledge.insead.edu/ToBeASuccessfulEntrepreneur080710.cfm 

I am always interested to hear from business owners about the strategies and tactics they adopt to survive and thrive in tough times.

David

Within this week’s Sunday Times a further story pointed to the success of Charles Dunstone - most well known for launching and growing Carphone Warehouse. I remember meeting Charles Dunstone and his colleague David Ross a number of years ago, when I gave a talk at the Mandrake - a meeting place for high growth business owners based in and around the South East of England. What struck me was that at the time Charles Dunstone was highly opportunistic - looking for the best and quickest way to take his business forward. Working alongside him was David Ross. David was the person who rang me and organisised for me to come down and talkk to this audience. It struck me immediately that one of the critical success factors within this business was the way in which desire to chase and capture opportunity was balanced with focus and organisation. Not surprisingly this helped me to firm up my belief that business success is based upon bringining complementary attitudes and skills together. For one person to grow a successful business - it can be done but there is more chance of actually making it if we bring a range of attitudes and skills into the senior team.

Whilst there is quite a bit of scare-mongering re the prospect of a recession, it is clear that there will be some sort of downturn in the global economy. This usually sends shivers down the spine of entrepreneurs and business owners. Can we survive?

This is usually addressed as a business issue - but experience tells me that the ability to survive an economic downturn rests as much upon the personality of the owner and lead team as it does upon the strength of the product or service. Some people are very good at managing a downturn whilst others are not. Do you know how your personality will affect your decision-making. www.21stcenturyentrepreneurs.co.uk is revealing some fascinating insights into the qualities of people who will be able to survive and those who are liable to dig a hole deeper than it needs to be.

Durham School

Economics & Business Studies Department

is pleased to host

Professor David Johnson

“When Darth Vader met

David Johnson”

“The paths we choose can

lead to achievement or despair”

A FREE workshop for aspirational business owners

DATE: Thursday 31 January 2008

START: 7pm til circa 9pm

VENUE: Durham School Exhibition Room

REFRESHMENTS: Food and drinks provided afterwards

It strikes me that a General Election in the UK would have added a bit of spice to this Autumn’s media jamboree. I must admit to being interested in what each of the parties has been saying during the conference season. From a business perspective, which party offers the busines owner the best deal. There seem to be strengths on each side. Labour would claim they have brought economic stability foe ten years and the Conservatives offered ‘Inheritence Tax’ inducements for those with looking to future generations.

What factors can a Govenrment influence?

A few colleagues of mine have mentioned that the Royal Mail is in a very tricky position at the moment. In an age of internet communication the number of people who are affected by the Royal Mail postal strike is probably significantly lower than in previous years when snail-mail was the primary means of communicating. There is probably a salutory lesson for both sides in this conflict as I cannot see anyone winning, least of all the consumers who still rely upon traditional mail.

Whilst the bulk of communication takes place via other media, such as the internet and telephone, the distribution of products, that may have been sold on the internet could be significantly damaged. Ebay is one such business, as are the thousands of businesses and individuals who use ebay to strike deals and then post product out.

Is yours a business that relies upon traditional mail and if so how are you handling this potential crisis?

The Royal Mail is offering guidance along the lines of ‘plan ahead’ to avoid those days when the strike is scheduled, but this will be a real challenge for some businesses. From my perspective, I see two types of approaches to this problem, very much determined by personality. Some business owners will be organised and structured and able to minimize disruption. Other, of a more creative disposition, are liable to struggle with this disruption, and may suffer more. Whilst you all know I am not a fan of business plans, I am a fan of business planning.

Well, I have been chatting in cyberworld about business planning and thought it useful to bring this debate to my own blog. I must admit the thought of a Business Plan is something that turns my stomach. It feels like watching Reality TV - gut wrentching and agonising to watch a bunch of wannabees showing me the realities of their private lives. (As an aside I think it important that we maintain the distinction between public and private life - For those of you who know I am a Psychologist, you may realise there is an argument in favour of this).

Anyway questions to ask about your business:

• Do you have a business Plan?
• If not, why not
• If you do, why, and how does it add value to your business
• If you weren’t writing a business plan would you be out selling?

Personally if I had to make my mind up I would decide against a Business Plan, until I needed some investment.

What do you think?

Do you sometimes feel you are just too busy to do anything well?

Creating and running a small business is a challenge. We all know that.

One of the biggest difficulties is that successful business owners are quite driven, proud, and don’t like to admit to not knowing how to do something. We try to solve problems ourselves. Most business owners will also recognise that this is a real source of strength.