In my work as an investor and turnaround consultant I am sent details on multiple businesses every week. Some are for sale, some are distressed and some don’t even exist yet but they are looking for investment. Their slick pitch decks and Information Memoranda give a veneered story both of the golden past and the promising future, as if their businesses operate in a vacuum free from all the frustrations of the real world.
But nobody’s business operates in a vacuum and you only have to lift the lid up slightly on these businesses to start uncovering all the various real-world issues.
- The start-up that gives me a login to their newly written app and when I try to create an account it throws an error. They explain their star developer resigned 3 months ago without leaving any notes and they’re having to pick up all the pieces using freelancers.
- The company in distress tells me about the wonderful history it once had – but then on closer inspection it never actually made much annual profit and the Owner/Manager never paid themselves a market level salary.
- And the company for sale tells me how they are market-leading and known for their quality of service and they’ve just been a bit unlucky recently – but a brief look at their accounts shows revenues have been declining for several years as their customers go elsewhere.
And in essence that is what real life business is all about. Being able to understand and tolerate all the imperfections that go with the day to day running of a business. And being able to recognise the few things that are important enough to need fixing, whilst not getting distracted by the hundreds of things that are unimportant and can be left alone.
So if your business is imperfect and your days are full of frustrations be reassured by this: All those shiny websites and colourful sales brochures, all those pretty social media feeds and inspiring quotes – they are all hiding the mess of real life underneath. And that’s totally normal and nothing to worry about – it’s how you deal with it that counts.
