Approximately 20 years ago a relative passed away and we assumed ownership of a small business he owned. Even though we received offers from individuals interested in purchasing the business I decided to keep it. It had a long history in our community, was profitable, and had great employees who wanted to remain. Like many Americans I had long desired to own my own business, and this looked like the perfect opportunity. The problem was I had no experience as a business owner nor did I understand the technology of the business. Due to the experience of our employees I knew the tech part would be covered, and I felt I could learn the nuts and bolts of running a small business.
The first several years it was everything I had hoped it would be. Sales were good, profits were solid, we were banking money and moving forward very well. I made management mistakes during that time, but our level of profitability enabled us to cover those. However, when the economy began to weaken our sales slowed down dramatically. Our clients would have us repair equipment that normally would have been replaced in an effort to protect their finances. We started going through our savings rather quickly to cover costs. Year after year we lost money. I stopped taking a salary hoping that would allow us to survive the economic recession, but no one understood just how deep this recession was at that time or how long it would take to recover. My inexperience led to more mistakes which cost us more money, money we could no longer afford to lose. Although I learned from those mistakes they were costly to the business.
Many small businesses have failed during this recession, and most will blame those failures on the economy. While there may be a measure of truth in that it is also true that many small businesses continue to do well during this downturn. It is also true that businesses fail during more prosperous times. It is not the economy that is solely at fault for the failure of small businesses, it is how those businesses are managed during those times that make the difference. Good economic times will cover up a lot of management mistakes, but slow economic times magnify the mistakes we make in leading our businesses and make those mistakes much more costly to the company.
I learned a lot about leading a small business from the mistakes I made and from resources I began to gather about leadership and small businesses. Unfortunately, I did not learn them in time to save our company. It eventually closed. All the hard assets and our property were sold at auction for pennies on the dollar. Fortunately, we made enough to pay off all our bills but there was precious little beyond that to show for 15 years of running a small business. The first few years of owning our business was a dream come true; the last few years was a nightmare trying to find ways to keep it open. It was an especially painful time for me in many ways.
Coming out of that experience I decided to write a book that would help other small business owners avoid the mistakes I made that could cost them their business. Because the experience was so recent and painful it did not take a long time to write this particular book, certainly not as long as the other books I've written relating to pastoral ministry. Mistakes: Avoiding the Wrong Decisions that will Close Your Small Business is available for NOOK devices. In the book I detail several of the decisions that I made for our company that turned out to be wrong and led to its downfall. If you avoided even just one of the mistakes I discuss in the book it could save your company thousands of dollars.
Avoid the nightmare of seeing your small business close. Don't spend sleepless nights wondering if the decisions you need to make are the right ones. Avoid having to tell long-time employees they no longer have a job due to your closing the company. Do not live through the horror of watching others drive off with your inventory and equipment after an auction leaving you with bills to pay with no money coming in. Learn from my mistakes and you may avoid making them yourself.
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