Bulletproof Your Business Now
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About this ebook
Andrew Griffiths
Andrew Griffiths is highly regarded as one of the leading small business and entrepreneurial authors in Australia. He has written 14 books, published by Allen & Unwin and Simon & Schuster. Andrew's books have been translated into 10 languages, from Russian to Chinese, and they have been sold in 65 countries. Andrew is also a Book Writing Coach; he has personally mentored 750 new authors to write and publish their first book.
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Book preview
Bulletproof Your Business Now - Andrew Griffiths
YOUR
BUSINESS
NOW
ALSO BY ANDREW GRIFFITHS
101 Ways to Market Your Business
101 Ways to Advertise Your Business
101 Ways to Really Satisfy Your Customers
101 Ways to Boost Your Business
101 Ways to Have a Business and a Life
101 Ways to Build a Successful
Network Marketing Business
The Secrets to Building a Winning Business
101 Ways to Sell More of Anything to Anyone
YOUR
BUSINESS
NOW
Essential advice you need to survive
tough times in business
ANDREW GRIFFITHS
First published in 2009
Copyright © Andrew Griffiths 2009
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording or by any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publisher. The Australian Copyright Act 1968 (the Act) allows a maximum of one chapter or 10 per cent of this book, whichever is the greater, to be photocopied by any educational institution for its educational purposes provided that the educational institution (or body that administers it) has given a remuneration notice to Copyright Agency Limited (CAL) under the Act.
Allen & Unwin
83 Alexander Street
Crows Nest NSW 2065
Australia
Phone: (61 2) 8425 0100
Fax: (61 2) 9906 2218
Email: info@allenandunwin.com
Web: www.allenandunwin.com
Cataloguing-in-Publication details are available
from the National Library of Australia
www.librariesaustralia. nla.gov.au
ISBN 978 1 74175 989 1
Internal design by Midland Typesetters, Australia
Set in 12/14 pt Adobe Garamond by Midland Typesetters,
Australia
Printed in Australia by McPherson’s Printing Group
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Contents
Acknowledgements
Introduction
Section 1 There is no time like the present to make your business bulletproof
Section 2 What should you do when you start to get nervous?
Section 3 What needs to be done if the situation gets really serious?
Section 4 How do you survive when your business doesn’t?
Section 5 Some words of inspiration
Where to from here?
Recommended reading
Recommended websites
About the author
Acknowledgements
This book is written for all the people who have helped me to get through the tough times I have had in business over the last twenty-five years.
The list is long, but in particular I would like to thank John Stevenson, who helped me to grow up and take responsibility for my business; Tom Stevens for giving me many years of legal advice to keep me out of jail, always delivered with a smile and a wonderful story; Bevan Phillips, an accountant whom I love to deal with because he understands me and my addiction to entrepreneurialism; Bob Cobavie for being honest with me even when I haven’t wanted to hear it; Bob Fowler for inspiring me and listening to me rave on for hours about the power of positivity; Gerard Obersky, my constant sounding board and friend; Geoff Ingram who really is the franchising professional; Roy Lavis, a man who has shown me how to stay positive and focused during the toughest of times; and Neville Burman, who has always been a calm and wise voice in my periods of madness and mayhem. Neville taught me that if you explore enough options you will always find a way through, and I always have.
Last but not least, I would like to thank John Hill. We have spent many hours together discussing strategies, comparing notes, supporting each other when the chips were down and doing all of the things I talk about in this book. John is a wonderful entrepreneur whose enormous smile (and terrifying moustache) make even the hardest of times somehow easier to deal with.
Thank you all for playing a very major role in the writing of this book. Please believe me when I say that your advice and your friendship over the years mean the world to me.
By the way, this is my ninth book with Allen & Unwin. I only drove a few of the wonderful team over the edge while producing the best part of 600 000 words and over 1000 business building tips. Together I think we are helping thousands of business owners around the world achieve their dreams. Thank you one and all.
There are two kinds of businesses in the world:
those that have had tough times in the past and
those that will have tough times in the future.
There are no exceptions to this rule. Survival
depends on the action you take.
Andrew Griffiths
Introduction
Running any kind of business is tough. The irony is that we often make it far tougher than it needs to be. I started my first business at age seven and since then I have gone on to have a bizarre range of businesses including a SCUBA diving school and commercial diving operation, a mobile advertising billboard company, a travel business, two marketing companies and others that I have forgotten about or blocked out of my memory. I have loved every business I have ever owned, no matter how challenging some of them were. But the one part I really didn’t enjoy was the financial struggle that comes with being a small business owner.
Just when things seem to be going well and there is some money in the bank, something happens and the account has to be drained. Even worse is when you are struggling to pay your bills and people start chasing you for money. You begin to dread picking up the phone or opening the mail. It’s hard to be positive at times like this and unfortunately a positive attitude is the key ingredient to making any business successful.
Today I write books targeted mainly at the small business sector. They are sold in countries as diverse as China, India, Nigeria, Vietnam, Japan, Germany, Brazil, Iceland and the USA. I get correspondence from thousands of business owners from every corner of the world. I talk at many conferences, where I share my views on what it takes to grow a successful business. Throughout it all, the most common question by far from everyone I meet is, ‘How do we protect our business when times get tough?’
People are hesitant to ask this question, but with a little probing it soon pops out. The problem is that they don’t want anyone else to think they are in ‘trouble’, a euphemism in the business world for being in the financial poop. That is half the problem: business owners don’t seek help until it is virtually too late.
Bulletproof Your Business Now has been written to help any business