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Seasons and rainbows

Guest post by: Douglas Long

Article Overview: Business can be both seasonal and cyclical. In big business this isn\'t so much of an issue but for small business this can create huge problems. Small business owners and entrepreneurs need to understand these seasons and cycles then use them for their own benefit.

Seasons and rainbows

Its spring in Australia.

I work from home and as I look out of my office window I see new growth and blossoms on fruit trees that, only a short time ago, were dry sticks. The camellias are putting on a magnificent show; orange and cream clivia flowers are appearing from clumps of green leaves and my vegetable garden is alive with ingredients for summer salads. The strawberries are looking good, too. It’s a great time of year!

Yesterday I was talking with a small business owner who’s going through a hard time. Despite having a reputation for high quality work performed on time and within budget – a reputation earned over many years – sales are down and cash flow has been negative for some time. No matter what he tries in order to generate new business, nothing seems to work and although his core customers continue to be supportive, he is feeling tired and frustrated. “Its hard to maintain enthusiasm and motivation when you feel that nothing’s working,” he said to me.

Business can be like that – especially when you’re a one-person operation and have no internal support. Most small business owners can understand the feeling.

Some years ago I took some overseas visitors to Echo Point in the Blue Mountains just west of Sydney. The day was fine but thunder clouds were rolling in and, in the distance, could be seen a rain storm coming across the valley. A particularly beautiful rainbow was shimmering across a rapidly darkening, sombre background. Close to me and my friends stood a father and his young son admiring the same view. “Daddy,” cried the boy, “take me to the rainbow!”

Rainbows, as we all know, are ephemeral. The myth is that there is a pot of gold at their end – the problem is that we can never reach their end. ‘Chasing rainbows’ is a term of slight contempt reserved for those who have plenty of ideas but achieve very little. The person with whom I was speaking yesterday asked me if I thought he was simply chasing rainbows as he sought to get his business growing again.

Every business starts with an idea – a dream, if you will – or a rainbow. A person believes he or she has identified some area in which they can make a contribution and that will give them an increase in personal satisfaction and, hopefully, wealth. In great enthusiasm they set off to make this idea a reality – they start their journey to the rainbow. Most don’t expect things to be easy – they expect to work harder than they have every worked before and they know that rewards will take time before appearing. But they do expect to reach the rainbow’s end!

This was the situation faced by the small business owner with whom I was talking. He’s been in business for 5 years. He’s very well qualified and has an impressive CV. His customers love him for his honesty, his integrity, and the quality of his work. But the nature of his expertise means that he is brought in to deal with specific problems which, once resolved, require no on-going constant relationship. So he needs referrals and new customers for growth and regular cash flow. But in today’s economic environment demand has dropped and he is struggling.

I suggested there was a message for him from the seasons.

1. Its not always summer!

Summer is the time for the beach; for barbeques with friends and family; for enjoying the warmth and sunshine.

For the last couple of years the man with whom I was speaking had been experiencing a “summer” in relation to his business. He had done the hard yards. He had marketed his expertise and had developed an impressive list of satisfied customers. Cash flow had been good and he and his family had enjoyed a high standard of living. Life was good.

But all summers end eventually and an important aspect of summer is to use this time to prepare for autumn and winter. If you’re a farmer, it’s the time for harvesting the grass that has flourished over spring and for making the hay and silage that will feed your animals over the winter months. In addition to everything else, it is a time to think of new ideas and to dream new dreams.

2. Winter can be a ‘downer’.

When its cold, wet, and miserable its easy to get despondent. The days can close in on you and sometimes there seems to be more darkness than light. This is a time when tempers can become frazzled and little irritants can escalate to become “bigger than Ben Hur”. But this is also the time when one needs to prepare the gardens for the coming seasons. It is a time for pruning the fruit trees; removing the remnants of past crops and getting the soil ready for new ones.

The man with whom I was speaking was in the depths of winter. We spoke of the need to re-examine his business model – to prune and prepare before moving forward. We examined possible changes.

3. There is always a spring.

Sometimes spring is late arriving – but eventually it always arrives. You plant the garden in late winter in the hope that about 2 weeks later new seedlings will appear, thinning can occur, and the summer crop is under way. But sometimes the spring rains and warmth are delayed; the seeds fail; and you have to sow again. Annoying but not disastrous.

You change your gardening practices to suit the conditions secure in the knowledge that eventually the conditions will be right for the seeds to germinate and grow. The important thing is to not lose faith that the right conditions will emerge.

We ended our conversation by considering the business conditions that are emerging now and what he will need to do in order to take advantage of these. He started to see the rainbow again.

Was it ever going to be possible for the father to do what his son asked – “take me to the rainbow”? No. But could the father take his son to the place where they saw the rainbow as ending – to where they might find the pot of gold? Yes. But to do that the father needed to take some careful bearings as to the exact location and then he needed to do some careful planning that was followed by action. I’ve got another meeting organised for next week when we can plan the way forward for my frustrated small business owner. He’s starting to learn from the seasons and rainbows.

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Article Tags: business cycles, business failure, business growth, frustration, mentoring, rainbows, spring, success



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