EXHAUSTING TIMES? NOT IF YOU PLAN AHEAD

I've been meaning to blog for the past week or two but kept getting sidelined by various things, some fairly trivial and others very, very important (more on the very, very important will appear in our blog very soon) but one thing's for sure, the snow has gone...for now!

Something happened the other day which set my mind off thinking about how we run our businesses and make decisions on how to progress with them.

Before Christmas we were thinking of buying a new car, when I say new I mean newer than the one we currently have. Our car, the little treasure that she's been, had started to cost us more and more money and we felt like we were throwing good, hard earned money down the drain. After lots of deliberation, and test driving (the fun part) we decided that we weren't going to buy a new car just yet and that we would get another 6 months out of the one we have as it had just been MOT'd and taxed...makes sense right? Well, not quite...

Yesterday, after 2 months the exhaust fell off on our way to a meeting, not only making us late but costing us another round of money and no doubt will cost us a bit more over the next few months as you can sense that something else will no doubt go wrong with it! So, thoughts again turn to buying a new car but it is a big thing to find and spend money on something like this so we want to be sure that it will be worth it.

The reason that this random story got me thinking about our businesses was that it is very easy to 'carry on regardless' and 'make do for now' which can lead to all sorts of unseen problems. The new car analogy works particularly well in this instance as we no longer feel safe in the car we have and confident that it is going to help us get from A to B without breaking down on the way!

We all want to be successful in business and want to be the best, it's natural, but we don't always think logically about how we are going to get there in one piece safely. Would an investment in a new car a few months ago have saved us from the exhaust falling off or something similar...maybe? But it sure would have been a wise step in terms of our safety. Yes, it may have cost us a considerable amount of money in the first instance but it would have been a step we would have had to take some time.

Sure, everything breaks down and needs reapirs at some point whether it's a car, a lawnmower or a website but planning ahead and setting yourself up correctly to deal with the previously unforseen can give you a head start and not leave you stranded by the roadside waiting for the AA.

So my point is this, do as much as you can to prepare your business for the future and you will always be one step ahead of the game. It's simple but not always executed, even by us at times, but as long as you can accept that you need to plan and prepare you will be onto a winner.

To talk about the possibilities of how you can bolster your business against the 'Doom and Gloom' merchants of recent times please give us a call at The Studio on 01751 460 161 or email thestudio@design-farm.co.uk we will be more than happy to talk through what Design Farm can do for your business.