What Happened to My Business? Fixing Common Business Issues

Business leaders need more than a brain for numbers and financial intuition. Successful entrepreneurs have additional skills and intelligence that help them thrive. If you’re looking for long-term business success, you’ll want to start fixing common business derailment issues before it is too late.

Common Issues

Identifying sources of derailment early on in your business is far better than trying to save a dying business. Determining what may be holding you back is vital in fixing common business issues. It can mean the difference between a tune-up and an autopsy. Often, when businesses go off track, it starts with some underlying factors related to the way a business is being run. There are other factors outside the entrepreneur’s control that can impact the success of the business, but frequently, those issues can be remediated if the business owner has an eye on the big picture.

Lack of Coachability

When business owners are unable to take advice or internalize the wisdom of mentors and colleagues, it can be detrimental to growth. Businesses are seldom successful in a vacuum. Most people need some sort of coaching along the way to grow skills. People who struggle with taking the advice of others may find that it causes problems at some point in their business.

Lack of Emotional Intelligence

Business relationships are a vital part of success, and like other types of relationships, a degree of people skills and emotional intelligence goes a long way. Emotional intelligence is the ability to be self-aware and to pick up on social cues that indicate how others may be thinking or feeling. Entrepreneurs with emotional intelligence are better at understanding the perspectives of partners, vendors, and customers, which bodes well for business success.

Temperament

Challenges with temperament can have a detrimental impact on business success. When business owners exhibit behaviors or attitudes that are at odds with the culture the business tries to portray, it sets up a dichotomy that is challenging for customers and colleagues to manage. Your business culture and potential depend on your ability to maintain healthy relationships with customers, stakeholders, and other important players.

A Growth Mindset Helps

Business owners who are willing to expand their skills and abilities often do much better than those who are less interested in growth. Entrepreneurs who have limited commitment and lack the motivation to excel or fully integrate into the organization may find that it limits their growth potential and derails the business. Fortunately, training opportunities abound for business owners.

Everything from marketing to online business and accounting degrees is at arm’s reach and easy to access. Not striving for or investing in self-improvement is a passive decision to limit one’s access to greater success. If you are not willing to engage in ongoing learning, it could derail your business. Going back to school to earn an accounting or business degree could help you to develop your business acumen while learning the inner workings of finance, business ethics, or marketing strategy. Business owners are likely to experience growth if they look at their company as a living organism that requires care and nurturing.

Providing Your Business with Necessary Nutrients

In thinking about your business as a living entity, it enables you to identify the varying aspects of care it will need to survive. Aside from “food and water” — that is, cash flow and customer base — your business needs nurturing and healthy relationships with stakeholders, colleagues, and its supply chains. Creating a plan for growth and sustaining the company through the trials and evolution of years is vital to staying true to the needs of the business.

Your business can grow and succeed with your investment in education and training to improve your skills. Soft skills (such as dealing with others and being open to feedback and guidance) are just as important as other types of business skills and should be honed alongside more technical skills.

Do you need to revamp your business processes? The consultants at Idea to Plan can transform your business with data-driven insights. Start a conversation or contact us for more information.

 

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