After being COVID-19 free as a nation for 24 days, we hit a bit of a bump in the road last week with several new cases and counting. While it is in no way cause for panic or any great concern, it is however a timely reminder that we are living and working in a fragile situation that is out of our control.
How agile and flexible is your business? Do you have a plan ready to go should COVID-19 return, or some other interruption arrives? Have you gone back to business as usual now? Over the last few months we’ve had some great conversations with some insightful business experts covering how to plan and operate in uncertain times, and be ready for any other bumps along the way.
Incorporating change
For the majority of business owners through COVID-19, some kind of flexibility and change to normal operation has been needed. But don’t forget this will likely be the case for your customers as well – although life is back to being somewhat normal at the moment, for a lot of people it will have changed their outlook, their values, their purchasing habits, and the way that they generally live and work. So, what will be the impact of that on your business? Maybe it’s nothing, or maybe it means you need to adapt to a different operating model to incorporate changed behaviors. We had a great conversation with CEO of Yellow, Darren Linton on just that. Have a listen to that podcast episode below.
Is your business still working for you?
Lockdown was an ideal opportunity for business owners to review what they want out of their business, and how they can design a business that works for them. But just because we’ve moved out of lockdown doesn’t mean you should stop thinking about your business and the big picture. If you’ve thrown yourself into going back to business as usual, you may be missing opportunities. Is your business structure working as it is? Do you have the right people doing the right tasks? Do you even enjoy what you’re doing now? These are really important questions to ask yourself as a business owner, and if you don’t have the time to do it, I’m afraid to say you probably have a greater need than others! We chatted to RightWay business advisor Anna Steele about using the opportunity to look at the big picture.
Cash flow
Knowing what cash you've got coming in, and what cash you've got going out at any time is incredibly important. For the majority of industries, buyer behaviours will have changed, even if just a little and that will have an impact on your cash flow, and may do so from here on in. Because of how fragile things are at the moment, the best way to have a plan to manage your cash is to look at mapping out multiple cash flow scenarios. Look at the best case, worst case, and the most likely scenario, and map out what each would likely result in. If you've got three scenarios mapped out with the cash outcomes and business situation for each, you'll then be in a good position to make decisions moving forward, as you will know what cash you've got to work with should things change. Two of our RightWay business advisors, Daniel Murphy and Isaac Gommers, covered how to do a cash flow during these uncertain times.
