Ships and Businesses Have A Lot in Common: Is It The Captain or The Vessel That Insures A Successful Voyage? by Steve Smith

Ships and Businesses Have A Lot in Common: Is It The Captain or The Vessel That Insures A Successful Voyage?
by: Steve Smith

Ships and businesses are a lot alike. Both reflect the dream and inspiration of the owner. Both start with desire and get launched with excitement by all connected. Both tend to come in various styles and sizes and can be manned by 1 person or a whole crew. They also fall pray to the occasional disgruntle deckhand!

Ships (boats if you like) and businesses also require constant maintenance. The owners may not be involved with them daily but they’re usually top of mind around the clock. Depending on the level of participation, owners can spend a lot of time just floating in place or navigating the chosen waters of their voyage.

Businesses, like boats, need direction. It’s best if you know where you’re going before you begin your journey. Is your business ‘seaworthy’? Does your business have what it needs to make the journey? Can you make course corrections or do maintenance if the waters get rough? Do you have the know-how if the engine stalls or the weather clouds your vision?

Yes, there are many parallels between boats and businesses. One of the biggest similarities is the owner’s desire and commitment to stay the course. Many boat owners celebrate the day they buy their boat and the day they sell it. For most, the jubilation of owning one’s own watercraft is quickly replaced by the desire to unload a depreciating asset that knows no boundaries when it comes to sucking up all your money. As a business owner, are you sinking money into your vessel without any idea of the expected return on your investment? If so, how long are you will to keep going in this direction/?

So, is your business turning into a boat? Do you find yourself going around in circles or just tied up to the dock when it comes to pursuing the voyage to greater revenues and profitability? If so, you’re not alone. Many businesses that head for the open seas end up taking on water and finding themselves being towed to the nearest marina. Then, they sit indefinitely while the captain tries to determine what happened and what it will take to get back on course.

As a business owner (and a former boat owner), there are things you can do to get yourself out of ‘dry-dock’. Here are a few tips from my check-list on becoming seaworthy again:

1. Reassess your reason for ownership- Years of toiling away in a business or maintaining a boat can sap your spirit and drain your checkbook. Take some time to rekindle the dreams that encouraged you to start your business. If you’re clear about why you chose your venture, this alone can have a tremendous impact on igniting the passion to continue. Often times, owners feel overwhelmed with the demands of running their businesses and can grow distant for no other reason than the need to survive mentally and physically. Rekindling the passion that got you started does wonders for your desire to chart a new course.

2. Recalibrate your position- Sometimes the desire to hold on to a boat or a business without making the necessary course corrections can deplete you of all your resources. For boat owners, it’s putting their ‘pride and joy’ on a storage lot whole they contemplate selling. Business owners don’t have that same remedy. Your business is your life, the future to your financial freedom, the totality of your existence. In most cases, you are the business! Your current latitude and longitude are the direct result of what you know and what you’ve chosen to do. If you’re off course (regardless of the weather) it’s a result of what you don’t know and haven’t done that’s got your business in uncharted water. Take a critical, unbiased look at what you have done so far to determine what was missed and what didn’t go as expected. The answers to your future are in the decisions you made in the past.

3. Evaluate what makes your business different from others- Everyone has choices including the customers you serve. Since boats are an emotional purchase, the prospective owner usually decides to purchase based on something that touched them emotionally. Consumers make their decision to purchase based on something unique about the business, the way the service is provided, the particular array of products offered or the way the business owner treats them. Whatever the reason, determine what makes you different from your competition. Nothing brings a greater sense of pride than having a unique position that your customers’ value and your competition envies.

4. Is your business structure right for today’s market?- When diesel fuel crested $5.00, many boat owners decided to seek other recreation. What about your business’ exposure to economic influences? Is the business model you built still viable for today’s marketplace? Are you making productive use of today’s marketing tools; think website? It’s very common to find matured businesses run just like they were when they opened, some 20 years ago. A business that’s positioned for growth needs to be nimble, flexible and adaptable in order to weather the severity and frequency of change in today’s marketplace.

5. Thoroughly evaluate who your customers’ are- Consumers are faced with ever increasing choices. It’s not just a matter of who offers what you offer but what else a customer can chose as an alternative to what you offer. People want value which does not mean lower prices. If you offer value and promote price, you attract customers who value price. As a small business, the product or service you provide contributes a small percentage of your overall success. Figure out what drives your success and it will be smooth sailing.

In reality, running a business is much more difficult and demanding than owning a boat. And while captaining a boat has its own special challenges, the similarities with running a business are noteworthy. In the end, you must insure your business is seaworthy, you have your direction well planned and you keep a sharp eye on the horizon. It also helps to remember to have fun. After all, that’s the main reason we boaters decide to take the plunge!

About The Author

Steve Smith is the OneCoach Business Partner for Saddleback Valley-CA, where he now coaches and mentors small-business owners and entrepreneurs, helping them get the answers they need to grow the businesses they want.

http://onecoach.com

“OneCoach is the only business model that matches my personal ambition and professional desire to help other small-business owners successfully grow their businesses,” said Steve.

For the past 20 years Steve has grown nationally recognized consumer brands for large corporations such as General Mills, L&F Products, Carter Products and Hillenbrand Industries. Although his roles were always to develop sales teams and grow nationally branded consumer products, Steve developed a keen sense of what it takes to help others reach their career or business goals. Over the years, with several top companies, he developed dozens of successful sales professionals and assisted hundreds of small businesses in achieving profitable, market share growth.

Steve graduated from Frostburg State University in Frostburg, Maryland with a bachelor’s degree in Business Management. He is an expert in sales team leadership, brand marketing, performance coaching and creative problem solving.

Steve has chosen to focus his talents and passion for helping small business owners as a way of contributing to one of the greatest liberties available to people in America- starting your own business, reaching financial freedom and living an extraordinary life.