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Chaos, Confusion & Catastrophe: The Three C’s of Small Business

Written by: Michael Gerber

Article Overview: I just have to get this out of my system. I have had so many negative experiences n the past few weeks with “service companies” who simply have no idea -- none, zilch, completely vacuously zero – of what service is, that I simpl could not restrain myself from writing about it and sharing it with you, given how committed you are to fulfilling the vision of entrepreneurship.

Chaos, Confusion & Catastrophe: The Three C’s of Small Business

I just have to get this out of my system. I have had so many negative experiences n the past few weeks with “service companies” who simply have no idea -- none, zilch, completely vacuously zero – of what service is, that I simpl could not restrain myself from writing about it and sharing it with you, given how committed you are to fulfilling the vision of entrepreneurship.

Call any 100 small companies, any 100, and you will find out for yourself that chaos, confusion and the resulting catastrophe are alive and well in 99% of them…(and by saying 99% of them, I’m being generous.)

The dismal fact is that most small businesses are a hopeless mess.

And that’s why most small businesses fail.

Because they are a hopeless mess.

And they are a hopeless mess for some very specific, undeniable reasons.

Let me share them with you:

Reason #1: It is obvious to me that the average owner of the vast majority of small, medium or large businesses simply hasn’t a clue what to do about the mess that inhabits his business. What’s worse, he doesn’t know the difference between a mess and a its opposite – clean, credible, committed, capable, organized, energized, focused, delilberate – in short, able to deliver what it promised, or, even worse, able to understand what a promise is!

Let me give you an example.

I called from the yellow pages a window washing service.

I was foolish enough to believe that I could call any one of the long list of window washers in my yellow pages and get someone to wash my windows!

Ha!

After calling seven companies and connecting with their voice mail message…”Hello, this is Simon and Shuster Window Washing Clinic…We Do The Job For You!…We’re not here right now, but we DO want to do business with you…so, please leave a message, your name, your number, what you are interested in, when you would like it done, and how much you are willing to pay for it, provided, of course, that we can find someone to do it!”

Yes, I’m pulling your leg. That wasn’t really what the voice message said. But, it might as well have been, for all the good the call did!

They never called me back!

Nor did four of the other companies I left a message with.

So, you can imagine my relief when I did get a call back. And how relieved I was that it was a real person. And how unimaginably relieved I was to hear that he has been in the Window Washing business in my small community for over…18 years!

Now that was reassuring.

18 years!

I’m going to get my windows washed, a voice said inside of me. I am, I am, I am!

I felt so incredibly relieved, joyful, fulfilled. My windows are going to get washed, the voice said, and I’m not going to have to worry about it any more.

So, we made an appointment, my Window Washing maven and I, for 8:30 the very next morning. I cleared out the other appointments I had, knowing that if I didn’t keep this appointment, my windows would go for who knows how long, unwashed.

I waited up most of the night. I was truly determined. I set my alarm for 7, just so that I could handle all the other things I needed to handle in expectation of the fulfillment of my window washing dream. Clean windows, yes! Clean windows just around the corner.

And 8:30 came. And 8:31. And 8:38. And 9:00. And 10:00.

The sucker didn’t show!

He didn’t. And he never called me, either.

Oh, but I called him. I didn’t dare believe that he had actually stood me up. I didn’t dare believe that he hadn’t called me to explain what happened. I didn’t dare believe that any business owner could be so demented! But, demented he was. I checked my schedule…yes, it was 8:30…yes, it was the day I waited for him…yes, it was a fact that he didn’t even respond to the 37 calls I made, to reconnect, to reestablish the rapport that I thought we had.

How many times has that happened to me? How many times has that happened to you? How many business owners…supposed entrepreneurs…are living in the chaos, living in the confusion, creating an infinite number of catastrophes for the people they make commitments to? How many do you know? Why not tell me your stories? I( would love to hear that I’m not the only idiot out there on the planet, living in the belief that the world is populated by people who make promises…and keep them!

Let me know.

I need some relief.

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Article Tags: catastrophe, chaos, clue, confusion, fulfilling the vision, job, negative experiences, small businesses, voice mail, window washers, window washing service, yellow pages, zilch



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