Feeling uncertain? Keep on imagining the future...

2011 started off with news of disasters: QLD floods, Japanese Tsunami, carbon tax debate, weak consumer sentiment, Greek tragedy, stock market crash, the downgrade of USA credit rating and the bad news keeps on coming. Things can’t get worse than this, or can they? 

Bad news can affect how we see the world, our life and our business. We become fearful of the future and decide NOT to do anything "new", "risky", or even "necessary" to further our personal and business dreams.  The irony is that if everyone on the planet thinks this way, nothing would happen and economies (most of them driven by sentiment and confidence about the future) across the globe would collapse. What we don't realise is that we are all relying on each other to further our dreams and build our businesses.

I love how John McGrath puts it : "Stop blaming Julia, the GFC, the floods on what happens to your business".

I have been in business for over 16 years now, during which I have seen how some businesses flourished and some failed during the mid 90's recession, 2000 tech crash, GST year, September 11 and the 2008-2010 GFC crisis. When I look back at those clients who flourished, I can see a trend/pattern of behaviour distinct from those who didn't flourish/failed:

1. Leadership: the Entrepreneur showed distinctive signs of strong and courageous leadership coupled with a BIG vision of what their business would look like in the future

2. Value: the Business product/service added perceived and REAL value to its customers that they were at the forefront of their customers mind as opposed to their competitors

3. Upskilling: the Entrepreneur continuously learnt new management, sales, finance and marketing skills to improve their business

4. Financial MGT: the Business owner was a PRUDENT financial manager and ensured ZERO wastage of financial resources

5. Productivity: the Entrepreneur demanded the most out of his/her people and ensured they performed to their KPI's and gave 100% of their abilities (if not they were let go quickly!).

6. Adapt: The Business was agile and fast enough to adapt to the new challenges/uncertainties facing it with a strong team culture and open communication

7. Mindset: these entrepreneurs know instinctively one encompassing truth about business (and life for that matter) which is: "if you are not growing, you are dying slowly".

Hence imagining the future should be at the forefront of your mind and in everything that you do.