I begin my book Mistakes by describing the scene as trucks and vans left our business location at the end of an auction with our equipment, parts, tools, office equipment, everything. It was one of the worst days of my life. Fifteen years of my life went down the drain that day. The only good news was that we were able to pay off our debts, barely, with the proceeds of the sale.
Like every small business owner I went into this wanting a better life for myself and my family. This wasn't a new, unproven start-up but a well established business with a solid customer base and long-time employees. On the surface there was no reason to believe this would not be a dream come true, and for the first 10 years it was. The last five years, however, became a nightmare. The reason I wrote Mistakes was to explain how that happened in the hopes it would spare others from having to go through my experience.
If I had to sum up one overall problem that led to the dream becoming a nightmare I would have to say it was a lack of focus on my part. I didn't pay attention to the details. I didn't spend enough time developing a strategy for how our company would continue to move forward into the future. My competitors did and shot right on past us. I didn't pay enough attention to the financial numbers, and although I knew they weren't good I assumed they would somehow, automatically (?) improve. I didn't spend enough time working in our business, and even worse, much worse, didn't spend enough time working on our business. A business can coast for a period of time, but eventually you run out of downhill, and when the road begins to run uphill you won't go far coasting.
You can purchase Mistakes for your NOOK reading device by clicking on the book cover in the right hand margin. In this book you can learn about the mistakes I made, many of them not uncommon for small business owners, and how to avoid them so your business can continue prosper and be what you always envisioned.
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