Making Your Small Business Work in Tough Times

Virtually all businesses are under increasing pressure as the world economy tightens and consumer spending declines.  Sound businesses will survive.  The best will thrive.  This a truism for franchises as much as it is for sole traders and partnerships.

The owners and directors of small businesses (less than, say, 50 employees) can feel the the pain of challenging times far more quickly than the executives of global corporations.  They will usually have their own assets behind their business.  As an owner, their business is an extension of themselves.  Hard times can cause much anxiety as costs are managed while the morale of staff is kept high.  It’s a tough combination!

Dr Dave purchased his franchise bookstore just prior to the current global meltdown.  Despite this, he has transformed his business from one of the poorest performers in his franchise system to one of its best.  His performance relative to other stores during December 2008, the most important month of the Australian retail year, was the best in the state and one of the best in the nation.

How did he achieve this?  By considering what he could and couldn’t do as a franchisee, taking advantage of all the support that his franchisor had to offer and, where necessary, pushing the envelope by launching an array of local innovations and new retail strategies.

Dave Poole has had one tumultous year as a new franchisee.  He won a potentially lucrative deal to sell the books at the three Donald Trump seminars scheduled for Australia in November 2008, but then lost every cent of his money when the tour’s promoter went bust.  He worked late nights to supply 450 books of up to 30 years in age to a new college being established in Sydney.  He learnt that some customers are much more profitable than others, and that some customers, in reality, should be fed to the sharks of the industry.

To make it, Dr Dave slept one night a week at a lodge near his store, called on every resource he knew to turn a profit, and learnt that making it in small business requires more than a dollop of passion, energy, and commitment.

Having taught business strategy and leadership for years, Dr Dave has walked the talk of small business and continues to do so.  He is thus uniquely qualified to share his war stories, reflect on his many mistakes, and impart the wisdom that comes with diving in and having a go in the tough yet amazingly rewarding world of small business and franchising.