Are you confident that you are making the best decisions and working on the right things to move your business forward, especially during these turbulent times?
Face it. The "Coronavirus Crisis" is real. I don't use the word crisis lightly. Small business is suffering. Fitness businesses are suffering. Your business is very likely suffering to some extent. Some of my clients have seen revenues drop 50% or more. I don't care how stone cold you are, that can cause a crisis of confidence.
The reality is that for many businesses, COVID-19 revealed shaky foundations. For over a decade, we have seen a largely thriving economy, credit has been easy to get and is cheap, and consumers have had a lot of disposable income. Because of that, many of the basics of good business got ignored; keeping a low debt-load, running expenses lean, building an emergency savings fund. All things that would make a big difference now. It is my hope those businesses that survive learn those lessons for next time. Yes, there will be a next time.
It is not my intent to pile on. We can't change the past. But we can chart a better path forward. The question is not "what did we do?", but "what can we do now to create even better businesses as we recover from the present crisis?"
During the best of times the biggest challenge business owners face is not knowing what their biggest challenge is. That certainly has been true in my business. We are subject to the "tyranny of the urgent", running around trying to put out fires, while never getting a handle on what should be the priority. This is called "The Survival Trap".
Does this look familiar?
There is a crisis in your business. You have run into a cash crunch. Your bank account is getting low and you need to raise cash fast. The obvious thing you need is more sales, right? So you try a bunch of different things to generate cash, focusing all your efforts on sales to cover your bills - for now. But you can only run so many sales, or deal with so many crappy clients, or hire so many outside experts. What are you going to do when it happens again next month, or a couple months down the road? Are you SURE it was a sales problem to begin with?
You can be.
A couple of weeks ago we posted an article about the Business Hierarchy of Needs, which outlined the five different core functions found in every business, and every fitness business.
Sales - The Creation of Cash
Profit - The Creation of Stability
Order - The Creation of Efficiency
Impact - The Creation of Transformations
Legacy - The Creation of Permanence
The goal is to have each one of these core functions working together seamlessly, so you can achieve permanent, healthy growth and move toward your company's vision.
In our example above, the low bank account may not have been a sales problem at all, but a cash management problem (the Profit level) or an efficiency problem (the Order level).
So how do you know? How can you create the confidence that the action you are taking is actually solving the real problem, not just covering it with a band-aid?
That's where the "Fix This Next" Assessment comes in. This powerful tool identifies the Next Vital Need in your business, so you can immediately know where to focus to level your business up. THAT is how you create confidence during crisis. Once you have identified your vital need, you can immediately put into action a plan to resolve that need.
So here's my ask. Take the Fix This Next assessment by clicking the button below. It's a series of 25 questions that covers all the levels of the BHN, and it won't take you more than 10 minutes. Stop guessing what your fitness business needs to level up and take action now.
