While I am happily continuing my series of reflections on Duncan Bannatyne’s new book 43 Business Mistakes…And What to Do About Them, I’ve decided that DB is a “glass half empty” kind of guy. This book could drive you over the edge given its tendency to remind you that there are icebergs out there with your name on them! Let’s turn the switch to the positive!We must reflect on Bannatyne’s own context. A dour Scotsman once thrown out of the Royal Navy before dropping out then returning as a “Mr Whippy” ice cream van man, an aged care facility developer, and a health club/gym chain owner, DB tends to give the advice that comes directly out of his own experience. Yours and mine will be different. We will know stuff about our industries that he doesn’t and, conversely, we’ll lack strengths that he has always possessed. So, like so many business books, this one should be taken as a means of helping us reflect on our own situations, not see each of his mistakes, or lessons, as “normative” for our own situations. In other words, his business truth may not be ours. So….onwards we travel.
Mistake 13 is to burn capital faster than it can be replenished. Just common sense, really, however DB reminds us that having a modest office and living modestly makes good sense until we truly hit the big time. I think that the more important thing is to have a “use by” date, or measure, by which you can judge whether your business is going to work or not and then act accordingly. Capital will be burned, particularly by start-ups who must establish some kind of presence in markets often characterised by saturation and fragmentation. You’ve got to make a splash. Unless you obtain a lucky break, this will cost huge amounts of time and money.
Mistake 14 is to do deals instead of building relationships. This is DB’s version of Covey’s win-win approach to doing business and puts him at odds with people like Alan Sugar whose UK Apprentice aims to have dog eat dog until there is only one dog left. Again, though, DB’s advice must be viewed through “it depends” glasses. If you’re short of cash, doing a deal may keep you afloat. Sure, building long-term relationships is what it’s all about, but that’s in the long-term. Many businesses don’t get to see what the long-term looks like. So, my view here is that we should keep at least one eye on building relationships, and indeed look for the opportunities to build these, but take the chance on doing deals if they help the business to survive.
At numero 15, DB tells us that businesses fail when we are not hungry enough. Those of you reading these posts will recall that this was mentioned earlier. Further, I meet very few businesspeople who are not hungry to build and grow their businesses. I’m not sure that hunger is the problem. After all, DB lists another mistake as growing too fast (mistake #33, which I can now cover here!). Come on, Duncan, you’re telling us that we need to be so hungry that our kids start to look good when we visualise them covered with tomato sauce, but at the same time we should temper our growth since there may be an “optimal” size which our business will somehow naturally find.
This is the trouble with many business books. Their authors start contradicting themselves all too quickly. “Look after your people”, they shout, but then a page or two later scream that we should cut our costs as soon as trouble is in their air. Such costs, of course, start with the easiest to cut, our labour costs. Folks who know that they are for the guillotine at any moment are hardly likely to show loyalty, commitment and organisational citizenship, are they, unless we are overpaying them significantly.
The final mistake we shall consider in this article is not being able to sell. Heard it before, haven’t it? Duncan advised us in the last article not to hide behind our desks and avoid customers. Groundhog Day in Glasgow! In this part of his book, he assures us that, whatever our product or service, our passion will “shine through” if we can only show it. Success will follow closely behind. While I agree with Mr Bannatyne that passion is an essential ingredient in entrepreneurial success, its a necessary but not sufficient condition. All the passion in the world won’t sell a lousy product, improve a woeful location, or make profit in an industry in which everyone is losing money. I love passion and I love enthusiasm. I aim to show both and many of my learners over the years have stated that this is what they have most enjoyed about our shared learning experiences. But passion ain’t enough to get you over the try line, to hit a six, or to break 4 minutes for the business mile. Business is much more than passion.
We will continue to consider what else this might be in future posts. Get and keep your passion, but be smart enough to think beyond this if your aim is to start and build a sustainable and prosperous business.
In the meantime, welcome to the Year of the Dragon!
