So up he got, handed me the brown envelope with his spidery writing
on it and jumped into his Mercedes. One week later he returned and
asked for the figures. We mumbled and stuttered and made our
excuses about being too busy trying to save the business. He fixed us
with a cold stare, wished us good luck and left. I never saw him again.Two weeks later we shut the doors on the business. We were unable
to meet our creditors and had to lay off all thirty staff who worked in
the factory. We sold the shops for a fraction of their true value and
got together just enough money to stop us from going bankrupt.A harsh lesson. Particularly harsh since we subsequently realised that
since we had got rid of the accountant partner we had been making
about £8000 profit a month. We could easily have saved the business
with a relatively small cash injection and our friend with his sound
fundamentals could have provided the money at the drop of a hat.8 .Wake up and smell the profit
Fundamentals, fundamentals, fundamentals.
And the biggest fundamental of all is that it’s all about the
money. It’s not about awards, it’s not about ego, it’s not even
about seeing a customer’s face when they’ve had a great cup of
coffee or a wonderful lunch. It’s about the money. It’s about
making really, really sure that the whole thing adds up. That you’re
not living in some romantic dream world of serving customers and
keeping them happy and making sure they don’t feel ripped off!
Needless to say, in any business that we have jointly or separately
operated since then, the fundamentals are never ignored and we
always, always, always do a weekly profit and loss. Always. The
fundamentals of business are ultimately the same as the fundamentals
of anything. If you don’t get them right then you’re sunk. So – is it
clear? It’s all about the money. Now let’s move on...