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The recession busters

You have obviously recognised that you either have or are likely to have a problem with this current downturn in the economy.

So what do you want to achieve?

Perhaps the answer is to make more money. Or to protect what you have already got. Or to have a comfortable retirement. That's fine, we can certainly help as long as we have time on our side.

But if it is to dig yourself out of a hole you are already in we need to ask another question. Just how much time do we have to sort out your immediate problem?

"The time to fix the roof is when the sun is shining". JF Kennedy

This program is designed to help an existing business to make more profit and therefore continue to provide you and your family an income well into the future. It is designed for those with the foresight to look forward, see the difficulties ahead and decide to take action today rather than bury their head in the sand.

If you're reading this because you cannot afford to pay next week's staff wages or have just received several County Court Judgements from suppliers you just might have left it a little late and instead should be taking advice from an insolvency practitioner. Nothing to be ashamed of as many successful businesses have been born out of failure. Using an insolvency practitioner can create a clean starting point for a business with future potential by removing debts from the past.

Not so long ago life was so much simpler. Businesses could get by or even be hugely successful just by understanding and doing the basics. We didn't need to be good at selling. We didn't need to be good at marketing. We didn't actually need the best product or service in the world either. All we had to do was offer a service or product and we achieved some sales and some profit. Most businesses owners were happy just to make a living. They didn't want the stress and hassle of building a proper business. They simply needed to be prudent and live within their means.

But these are changing times

With frightening speed the credit crunch has hit us. Inflation has increased, the banks either stopped lending or would only lend at higher rates and at the same time they are demanding increased security.

What this event shows is that the pace of change is always accelerating and we cannot afford to be complacent. Although there may be more risks for the uneducated there is greater opportunity for the knowledgeable. In fact I am going to make a very bold statement. "The key to success today more than ever before is having the knowledge. The knowledge of how businesses really work and not just the technical knowledge about a product or a service."

But where can you get this knowledge. Many of my older clients will say its from the School of Life. They learnt as they went along. Made mistakes and didn't do them again.

Today I am no longer sure that we can afford the time to do this. Change is moving so fast that unless we learn quicker and quicker we will fall behind. And falling behind will not bring you the success or profits you are obviously looking for. So you need to find out the "tricks of the trade" as quickly as possible and put them into practice.

You could spend years reading every business book you can find and I have done this but have you been as frustrated as me in reading a 200 or 300 page book to discover just one or if you are lucky two golden nuggets which make it all worthwhile? Sometimes I have found nothing new at all. But every time I did find something, however small, I wrote it down, tried it out, kept it if it worked and discarded it if it didn't. I wanted objective tactics and techniques that worked for small businesses. I didn't want anything subjective, or unusable. I didn't want anything that would only work for big businesses with big budgets.

So the need for this Recession Busting system was clear. By following our simple step by step approach you will be surprised how easy creating a successful business can become. Starting with the basics, the Recession Busting Workbook will guide you on to more sophisticated strategies to make more profit. But it does need time and a plan for Business Success. You have to get the ground rules right from the beginning. No jumping straight into advanced marketing techniques. You have to work through the workbook logically which is why we have created a 12 month Business Basics programme which is issued to you every two weeks.

RSACR Matrix

The programme is broken into five distinct parts, which I refer to as the RSACR Matrix.

  • Recognise that you have a problem.
  • Stabilise the situation to prevent the situation getting any worse.
  • Analyse the problem fully so that you identify the real cause of the problem.
  • Capitalise on the breathing space with some medium term fixes.
  • Revolutionise your business because doing it the old way got you into trouble.

Each of these parts has several elements as follows:

Recognise

  1. Why businesses fail. (available FREE)
  2. 9 things business owners wish they had known before starting in business. (available FREE)

Stabilise

  1. Surviving on lower sales
  2. Increase prices
  3. Cutting direct costs
  4. Cutting overheads
  5. Slow down cash outgoings
  6. Speed up the collection of cash
  7. Financing your business
  8. Management information

Analyse

  1. Personal strengths and weaknesses checklist
  2. SWOT analysis
  3. Understand your figures
  4. Financial analysis

Capitalise

  1. Market research
  2. Increase the number of customers.
  3. helping your customers buy more often
  4. Increasing the average transaction value.
  5. Increase customer retention

Revolutionalise

  1. Strategic planning
  2. Improve the efficiency of processes
  3. Customer service
  4. Buying other businesses