Many of the business owners I have been working with tell a similar story over the last four to five years: Business was great, then it was not, and the trick now is how to get the business back to “good” again. Then I hear, “I do all this marketing, I get all this business so I have to stop marketing, then the business is complete and I’m back out there marketing and I can get either one steady.” Somehow it all has to even out, right?
Diversify strategies and build in flexibility
Evening out the swings in income and work-flow in business takes practice, patience, strategy, and intentionality. Business owners should always be marketing, even when they’re busy. They should either do it themselves or delegate it to an employee. Business owners should always be “working” on the business they brought in (again, either themselves or by employees). This evens out income and it evens out work-flow. It takes time to make this the culture of one’s work day and one’s business. Then, on top of that, there’s the hard decisions of how much to set aside in boom times for leaner years. Is the money best saved or reinvested in the business? All these challenges are on-going in business. Been there, done that, still doing it. The balance and the planning have to be intentional.
The same is true for your portfolio. We use a platform that allows our clients to take advantage of the brain trust of those with PhDs and master’s degrees to determine how their money should be invested based on their philosophy(ies) and willingness to take risk. Notice I used “philosophy(ies).” This platform allows my clients to employ different money managers with different philosophies all at the same time. Because, let’s face it, the market is going to do what the market is going to do, and every money manager has an opinion about what you should do as a result, from “buy and hold” to “stay in cash and actively manage investments for positive returns.” Just as in business, as in portfolios – sometimes there are tough decisions to make along the way, but if one builds in different strategies and provides flexibility for money to grow, chances increase that one will reach investment goals that serve their lives. When the time comes to make changes, changes can be made easily and with unbiased advice.
While I can’t help you directly with the business decisions, I can refer you to people who can. And if you want to talk portfolios, please give me a call.
