Will you dare to grow your business in 2023?

Normally, the new year brings new hope. There is an exciting vibe at the beginning of the year that pushes us to make plans for our families, for ourselves, and of course, for our businesses. For the latter, however, 2023 brings a lot of challenges which will inevitably threaten our goals for this year. Most of those challenges haven’t emerged on New Year’s Eve. They were inherited from 2022 – inflation with the cost of everything still rising, interest rates as never seen before, war in Ukraine which effects energy prices, among other things. Even some good news such as the lowest unemployment rate in a long time is actually bidding up wages and making it hard to find good people to join our business.

As if the macroeconomic environment wasn’t enough for businesses performances, on the personal side of things, mortgage payments have gone up again, while the value of our homes is dropping. The value of most of business is dropping too because of the cost of funds, while profits will be affected and less and less clients will be willing/able to buy our product or pay for our services. So all of our well-made plans for 2023 are suddenly in need of a rethink!

Almost everyone believes a recession is here or coming (will Australia dodge a recession of its own?).

What can you do? Is it all worth it? And if you are going to do something, then you want it to be all worthwhile, it needs to be a really good outcome. You don’t have time and the budget to waste.

In uncertain times like this, a question rises – Will you be brave enough to grow your business given what is happening around you?

It is expected that as business owners, we try to hit the brakes on new investments or even disregard new approaches or innovative alternatives to run our business. We tend to believe we shouldn’t review much; we just need to play it safe.  When banks become reluctant to lend more money, when the ATO is aggressively chasing lodgement and payment, and when cash flow tightens up, we are likely to turn on the ‘Survival Mode’ to run our business. We follow what we know, we look for familiarity. Then, aiming or having aggressive growing plans for our business sounds something too daring.

I have never met any business owner who doesn’t want to grow their business. Luckily, I was fortunate to meet some who not only understand that uncertainty requires them to rethink how they have been running their businesses but also were able to notice this ‘play safe’ behavioural pattern from most of their peers or competitors and decided to take advantage of that to thrive.

Over the decades helping business to grow, I have identified some common beliefs that can tell if an entrepreneur is running their business on the survival mode. Here is the list of those core beliefs.

• Some of them don’t have the propensity to ask for help.
• Some of them don’t know that help is available (they become inwardly focused).
• Some of them think they should not need help (“I should know all the answers”).
• Some of them are cynical about the effectiveness of any help they might get.
• Some of them have tried to get help and it hasn’t worked (so it will never work).
• Some of them have heard about coaches, consultants etc and hear that it hasn’t worked (therefore no consultant knows their stuff).
• Some of them just don’t want to spend the money – they feel safety in cash so why part with it?
• Some of them are not in enough pain to want to change their circumstances.

Well, if you have identified yourself in one or more of the beliefs pointed above, maybe now that the year has just started is the right time to rethink of what story you want to tell in the future – “I played safe” or “I was brave enough to grow in 2023”?

Welcome to 2023.
We are here to help you. Send an email to info@brdgepointgroup.com.au or give us a call on 1300 656 141.

Let’s take these next steps together.

Neil Parker

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Neil Parker

MANAGING DIRECTOR

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