Do You Worry as an Owner?

admin August 24, 2014 Comments Off on Do You Worry as an Owner?

Worry, for the most part, is fear of the unknown.

An owner wrote that he was having the best month in the last five years but still worried and that he felt he was his own worst enemy. That’s because, he worries when sales are bad. And then still worries when sales are good because he has to put away money to survive the next time when sales are bad. He said he guessed he needed to trust that things will be okay regardless of whether he worries or not. He wrote his wife was trying to get him to stop the incessant worrying.

WorrySo, I’m for trust and faith, but the issue here seems to be more than worry. There is no plan (budget) in place. A good financial budget will allow earnings during lean months as well as great ones. That plan then will reduce worry the same as exercise reduces stress. But without a plan, we are paralyzed because we’re unsure of what to do other than worry.

So get a plan and implement and it will greatly reduce worry. That usually solves the issue. However, for some, we could be chronic worriers and that requires an additional attention. So the answer here is in two parts: get a plan and then focus on our personal worrying if it still exists.

Get a Plan to Stop the Worry

Described is a common situation which should respond to a straightforward solution. Good months follow bad months which is normal. But to assume whatever happens, happens is to hope for a plan without planning. The most fundamental business plan is a budget and that will relieve most financial stress.

So, create a Sustainable Sales Cash Flow budget. Click here to learn how to do it: https://cprint.com/creating-cash-flow-budget/

But All Worry May Not Disappear

Worry, again for the most part, is fear of the unknown. Having faith and trust with a plan (budget) allows us to act and move forward. HOWEVER, some of us will still worry even in the best of times. We actually have an instrument to test ourselves for this.

One outcome could be a condition described as Doomsaying. Sorta what it sounds like, it’s a person with a general negative attitude HOWEVER it is much more than this as some Doomsayers don’t outwardly display negative thinking.

More specifically, it is absolute thinking.

We see things in black and white. What I think is right. What they think is wrong.

Think of a politician you dislike the most. Now, write three paragraphs describing the good side of them. Doomsayers have a very hard time with this because they are engaged in “right or wrong” or “black and white” thinking. They fail to see the many shades of gray in every situation.

Real Example: two person shop (owner plus one worker). Doomsaying owner complained the worker was slovenly, untrainable, stupid, lazy, not timely and not technically competent.

Us: Okay, let’s get someone else.

Doomsaying Owner: “Can’t do that, they do all the work around here.”

Doomsaying in a business sense leaves us between rock and a hard place or being trapped by our own thinking. It results in there being nothing we can do to get out of where we are other than just to trust everything will work out.

Now, SHOULD this be a condition then we need to be aware of it so we may choose to arrest it. Not saying it is thinking our friend has it could be as he wrote, “his wife was trying to get him to stop the incessant worrying.”

So, get a plan (budget) and relieve the financial pressure which will relieve worry.  If you find also that you have Doomsayer type thinking, take steps to arrest it.

And yes, this is precisely what we do in our CPrint® International program. We help you budget, build cash and arrest Doomsayer thinking if it’s present. We’d be glad to provide you more information should you like. Message me at tom@cprint.com

Video Conferencing

I’m pleased to report that video conferencing is a tool we now commonly use which saves you money. We’ve been doing it since last year in fact and been using it internally for over four years now. By using video conferencing, it allows us to eliminate travel costs for most clients and increases our face-to-face time.  Don’t know if you can do it? Do you have a computer hooked into the Internet? If so, then you can. It does require a camera and microphone which many computers already have but, if you don’t, these can be acquired for $100 or less.

Even if you don’t use it for consulting with us, video conferencing can easily be used with your customers whether across town or across the country. It can be used with proofing, design meetings with customers and staff, sales meetings to reach customers in distance location, customer training and more.

If you and your business aren’t equipped for video conferencing, then you should do it. Just as we advised folks in the 90s to get email and then websites and even fax machines before that and before we knew what all their benefits, we advise that communicating with our customers via video conferencing sites (such as GoToMeeting or Skype) is growing rapidly and you should prepare now if you don’t have the capability already.

Hope this helps

Happy Trails,

Tom Crouser

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