Have you ever had a time when you feel like your helpless? No matter what you do nothing seems to work and yet, those around you seem to be doing incredibly well. This is what it’s like to be in the grip of a business failing.

Running a failing business is a scary proposition. There isn’t enough cash to pay all the bills and creditors start hounding you for money. You never know whether you should answer the phone or not because you’re not sure if it’s someone about to bring some business in or someone chasing you for an outstanding debt.

The stress levels at work increase dramatically and this often impacts loved ones as the days disasters spill over into home life. Is running a business supposed to be like this? Isn’t the reason why you’re working so hard is to provide a better life for your family?

If the business completely fails, then what is the outcome? Many people (especially males) tie their self-worth to their businesses and they end up getting more and more depressed as they scramble to save what is often unsaveable.

The first thing a business owner needs to realise is their self-worth has NOTHING to do with their business but has a LOT to do with their personal integrity while going through the tough time. The measure of a person is how they behave during adversity not how they act when things are going well.

Over the years I’ve helped a lot of business owners out and without exception they believe either;
1. A big deal that’s just on the horizon will solve their problems OR
2. If that investor just put a lot of money in then all will be good.

I recently said to a person, “Would you rather I cheered as you leap over the edge of a cliff or say something to stop you from jumping?” As I’m sure you can appreciate, it was a tough conversation.

A true friend is a person that says something to you when they think you’re in danger of losing your shirt in a business deal. A Facebook friend is a person that clicks “like” at the stupid idea just before you lose your house.

The silly thing is that we often get disgruntled by the friend who is trying to provide some guidance….and in our exuberance, we don’t listen to what they are trying to say to us. After all, who are they to pour a bucket of cold water on the brilliant new venture we’re just about to invest in?

The other night, I found myself in these exact circumstances but on the other side of the fence. A few friends were trying to provide me with some good advice about a new project I was about to embark upon.

In my arrogance, all I could think about was saying to them, “So what’s the view like from the cheap seats?” Gratefully, I didn’t say the words aloud but rest assured, I was thinking them.

It took me about half an hour to calm down and realise what they were suggesting had wisdom and despite my emotions they weren’t against me. In the end, after careful consideration I decided to adopt many of their suggestions. BTW, the project I’m working upon revolves around helping a group of young people reach their full potential.

Last night I watched an interesting video which really challenged the whole notion of the way I’d thought about marketing. For me, marketing had always been about informing people about the benefits of a product/service and explaining how it’s awesome! What I’d missed in my thinking was the reason “why” a business behaves the way it does and how this concept impacts customers.

The below circle diagram illustrates how most marketers think about their marketing activities. They proceed from the outside of “What” they do and move inwards towards “How” they do it and finally some get to the “Why” they do what they do.

Pause to think about this for a second. Brochures inevitably espouse the “What” is great about a product and “How” it’s going to benefit you. There’s nothing inherently wrong with this approach other than the “Why” you made the product has been left out.

In the video, the presenter encouraged the group of entrepreneurs he was sharing with to work from the inside of the circle to the outside. Talk about the “Why” and work your way out to the “How” and “What”.

He then highlighted that both “Apple” and “Harley-Davidson” use this approach in all their marketing communications. When customers understand the “Why” they then begin to associate with the company’s values.

For a while now I’ve been concerned that due to China’s massive appetite for debt it was going to experience a severe correction. When you consider the debt levels in China, they absolutely dwarf the levels the USA experienced during the global financial crisis of 2008. So where is China at now and are the debt levels like an elastic band that is being stretched more and more?

It’s estimated the total Chinese debt-to-GDP ratio has risen to 317 per cent at the end of 2017. Compared to 158% at the end of 2008 means this number is continuing to rapidly increase.

In real terms this means the amount of debt in China grew to RMB 262.1tn at the end of 2017, representing a year-on-year grown of 13.5 per cent. Considering China’s nominal GDP growth was at 11.2 per cent yoy in 2017, the rate of credit grown continued to exceed the rate of nominal growth.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) pointed out in 2016 that it took four units of debt to raise the GDP by one unit. A decade ago the ratio was 1.3 to one. It’s clear that China has a serious debt problem that could potentially drag the global economy down.

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How many times have you heard that question? Each day I’m approached by people trying to sell us poor quality traffic, wanting investments for a new venture or monetisation companies that want me to do a lot of work to integrate their system. The problem is….there are only so many hours in the day….

One of the biggest challenges that I have is how to best rank the various opportunities that come across my plate at ParkLogic. Investment opportunities that don’t have any synergy with what else we are doing are easy to dismiss. The tough ones are those that tick all the boxes.

If we went after all of the great opportunities then we wouldn’t get anything done and worse than that, we’d miss the best opportunities. The question is, “How do we rank an opportunity?”

For me to invest any sort of cash the business must be unbelievably good. The reason for this is that I’m never short on ideas to invest my money into. For me to put my hand into my pocket and invest in someone else’s business means their opportunity beats anything that I could potentially come up with.