Seven things winning business owners do in uncertain economic times

Why are some companies winning while others are struggling? What are the winning companies doing differently? How can you win in these uncertain times? It takes seven things.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hi, you have done too far censure.

Speaker 2 (00:09):
W F WOW for you your.

Speaker 1 (00:12):
Ro This is the pipe Man here on the Adventure
of Pipe Man W four CY Radio. And I am
here again with my positively Pipeman segment and we are
here with our expert resident guest on business and and

(00:35):
uh boy, do we have something great today to talk
about because we're going to talk about seven things winning
business owners do in uncertain economic times. And what could
be more appropriate than in twenty twenty five talking about this,
because certainly I think everything is uncertain times right now.

(00:55):
So let's welcome to the show once again. Michael Barbarita.
How are you.

Speaker 2 (00:59):
It's out, Thanks for having me again, doing my pleasure.

Speaker 1 (01:02):
So what are these seven things?

Speaker 2 (01:05):
Well, yeah, so you know, we can never really be
ready for uncertain times or bad economic conditions, but we
can be prepared. And these seven things is what we
is how we need to prepare for those difficult times
that happen inevitably.

Speaker 1 (01:26):
I always say expect the unexpected.

Speaker 2 (01:30):
Right, yeah, and sometimes you get surprised with where it
goes deeper than the unexpected unfortunately. Yeah. But one of
the greatest characteristics of a business owner is the ability
to be to adapt and to be flexible to change.
A lot of business owners aren't uh, and as a result, UH,

(01:54):
they have a tough They have a tough time thriving
in uncertain or add economic conditions or you know, unfavorable
economic conditions. You have to be able to adapt and
be flexible. And when you're not, when you're stagnant and
you're not, you don't have the ability to change mindset,

(02:14):
to change or make decisions quickly. What happens is is
that you fall by the wayside in these in more
difficult economic environment and so the ability to adapt is
certainly number one. Secondly, you have to be able to
define your personal goal. First. You know a lot of

(02:39):
business owners talk. When I ask the business owner what's
your number one goal, they always say, oh, I want
to increase revenue fifty percent, or I want to generate
a million dollars in revenue, or I have to keep
asking them, so what will that do for you? Because
that eventually gets them to whatever they number one goal

(03:01):
really is. So they might say something like so if
I'm interviewing a business owner, they'll say, well, my number
one goal is to is to do you know, an
extra million dollars of revenue. Okay, that's good. So once
you've done a million dollars of revenue, what will that
do for you? And they'll say, well, I'll be able
to hire somebody. I said, okay, great, you get a

(03:23):
million dollars of revenue. You were able to hire somebody.
What will that do for you? And then they'll say
something like well, I'll have i'll have extra time. Great,
I'm still not there yet. So a million dollars and
so you're doing a million dollars of revenue, you hire someone,
You have all this free time, what will that do
for you? And then, finally, after peeling off all the

(03:46):
layers of the onion, we get to their number one goal,
which is usually but not all the time, some type
of time freedom and leveraged revenue where the business runs
by itself. And then they have the time freedom to
go on date nights with their wife, they have the
time freedom to go to kids events. They have the
time freedom without worrying about the office or the or

(04:08):
the company. They have the time freedom to go on
more vacations. That type of thing that's usually not all
the time, but it's usually what their number one goal
really is so you really got to get down to
that level when determining your number one goal. So it's
your number one personal goal first, then your business goal

(04:28):
which is number three to now you can talk about
getting to the million. Now you can talk about getting
to the million dollars or how you're going to leverage
the revenue so that you don't have to be there. So,
but normally people start with revenue. They really should start
with that profit goals first, then revenue. The reason is
is because that profit is how you determine how you

(04:53):
know what what your take home pay is and and
what how much value you're bringing to the business. So
you start with net profit goals first. That way you
can determine a lot of things. I mean, you can
talk about revenue, but if your bottom line is weak,
we're what do we.

Speaker 1 (05:12):
Do here exactly? You know, you could have all the
revenue in the world, but if you are not getting
a jerry in net profit, the revenue doesn't do you
any good.

Speaker 2 (05:24):
Right, And then that's exactly right. Yeah, I mean, so
you have to have net profit goals first, then revenue goals,
and then the other thing, Dean is you have to
adopt a visionary mindset. You know, a lot of business
owners make decisions for the here and the now, and
they look at like the next three days when they

(05:45):
make the decisions in difficult economic times, that mindset is
a mindset of scarcity mm hm. And it's easy to
go into negativity and scarcey, but you can't do it
because the world isn't isn't ending, It's changing, and that's

(06:06):
why we need to adapt, not shut down. Avoid scarcity
based decisions and make visionary decisions. Think about the impact
of your decision next quarter, not next week, next quarter,
next year, five years from now. Make decisions that will
serve you in the long run. Because when we think
about the vision of our company, says business owners, we

(06:27):
business owners, it inspires us to think that way.

Speaker 1 (06:31):
Yeah. And I want to add to that too, that
that is basically how this network got started. I started
it in the worst economy in US history at that time, yep,
and at a time where streaming was not a word yet,

(06:51):
podcasting was not a word yet. But I did have
a vision because I was at what they would call
an internet radio station at that time, and because streaming
wasn't a word, and I was like, man, this is
the future, but not like this because basically the station,

(07:12):
you know, I was used to doing radio shows in
New York and fancy studios, and the station was doing
it to have their home at the dining room table.
And it's like, no, just because you can doesn't mean
you should.

Speaker 2 (07:27):
And if.

Speaker 1 (07:29):
My vision of where media was going to be, which
is where it is today, you still have to do
it the professional way, you know, and that is, you know,
copy what is the previous technology, which I call terrestrial
radio is the previous because it's not as popular anymore,
but still professional studios, professional engineers, stay of the art equipment,

(07:52):
and you know, basically I always said it was like
Bill Gates and IBM. Bill Gates had a vision of
a piece in every home. IBM couldnot see that vision.
They said, you're nuts. The mainframe's never going away. And
IBM suffered for twenty five years after that to get

(08:12):
back to where they were from that day, and they're
still not considered that they're still around, but they're not
considered the icon they were then. They never really recovered,
whereas Microsoft became that icon because of that vision of
Bill Gates.

Speaker 2 (08:30):
Yeah, I mean, that's a great example of that visionary mindset.
And you know, every business should have mission and a vision,
and that vision should maintain itself even if there's uncertain times,
even if there's bad economic conditions. Yeah, you know, So
that's that's really important if you can maintain that, and

(08:53):
I know it's difficult, but if you can maintain that
visionary mindset, it's going to go a long way. And
the next action item, Dean. Quite frankly, it's gonna freak
out everyone because it's about knowing your numbers. And I
have a few things to say about that. And one

(09:15):
thing I have to say about it is that I've interviewed,
you know, almost a couple of hundred business owners over
the last couple of years, and eighty percent of the
I asked three basic financial questions, what are your sales,
what's your gross profit percent? What's your net profit percent?

(09:36):
And eighty percent of business owners that I interview don't
know the answers to those questions. And winning business owners
make the right decisions in bad economic times or in
certain economic times because they make decisions based on the numbers. Now,
when times are good, you get buyed, you get buy out.

(09:58):
Looking at the numbers, you get Bye you can get bye.
But to win in uncertain times, to win in bad
or unfavorable economic conditions, you must make decisions based on
the numbers. And what I've done is I've I've identified
what I call the vital five. These five numbers should

(10:20):
be with every business owner at all times. They should
burn in their memory at all times, and that its sales,
gross profit, gross profit percent, net profit, and your current
cash balance. If you know these five numbers, I'm not

(10:42):
saying you'll know everything about your business financially, you won't,
but you'll know a lot of it and you'll be
able to make decisions with confidence. And the reason why
I say that is because if you track those metrics,
not only know them, but track them, and you see,
I'm starting to fall unfavorably, you can start You'll be

(11:04):
able to start looking into fixing those areas fixing them
and so yeah, and so by constantly understanding those five numbers,
you're able to manage your business more efficiently than eighty
percent of your competitors do.

Speaker 1 (11:23):
And you're so right. It blows my mind how many people.

Speaker 2 (11:27):
Like.

Speaker 1 (11:29):
Let's say they apply for a business loan, and all
the requirements for like an SBA loan. They don't have
any of it. Like balance sheet. I've heard people say
to me when I've said something about balance sheet, They're like,
what's that? Like how you run business will have balance sheet?
Or like when I talked to Prospects and we want

(11:49):
to come up with what their budget is for doing
business with me, and their answer is, I'll have to
check my accounts. And I'm thinking in my head, what
you know, Like you don't know how much money is
in your bank account, you don't know how much available
you have, like and for some of those people, that

(12:12):
is absolutely true, and that can cause serious problems in
your business to fly so blindly like that no.

Speaker 2 (12:21):
Question, and that's the problem. But you know. But now
I'm going to continue the freak out section session here
because next, winning business owners in uncertain times and unfavorable
economic conditions understand, not necessarily understand the financial statements, but
understand what the financial statements are telling them, what the

(12:43):
P and L is telling them, what the ballance sheet
is telling them, and what the cash flow statement is
telling them. And when I'm in a room of business
owners and I ask how many people in this room
have looked at their P and L look at their
P and L at least once a month. About half

(13:04):
the room raises their hand. In terms of looking at
when I ask how many people look at their balance
sheet to your point once a month, less than ten
percent raise their hand. And when I asked how many
people look at their cash flow statement, which is the
third statement of importance, once a month, I might get

(13:25):
one person to raise their hand. And what's incredible about
that is that cash flow is the lifeblood of a
business and it's being totally neglected by most business owners.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
I know, I don't even understand now you couldnt know
your cash flow because how you operate and stay in
business without that, I don't know.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
I don't know. Now. Once again, you cannot look at
these numbers and just always, you know, because you've been
fleshed with cash recently, you'll get by, you know. But
that's the issue we were talking about today, is what
happens at uncertain or unfavorable economic times, and that's when
it's a problem, big problem.

Speaker 1 (14:05):
Yeah.

Speaker 2 (14:07):
The next thing winning business owners have as I continue
to freak them out on this on this numbers thing,
and by the way, they don't have to the good
new sentences You don't have to know how to read
financial statements, but you need to understand the story behind them.
And you need to get help understanding the story behind
those financial statements. So you got to get that help.

(14:29):
And and you know, one of the beautiful things about
our business is that we're both fractional CFOs and strategic
implemitation specialists, So we know the strategy to do when
the numbers are First of all, we know how to
read the numbers, but technically and we can help you
understand what's what's happening, allow you to get the understand

(14:50):
the story behind the numbers. But then we have the
fix for it. And so the next thing that winning
business owners have and at certain times is a business
and cash flow forecast. Why well, because the business and
cash flow forecast helps you understand the outcome and ramifications
of your decisions before you make them, Yeah, before you

(15:12):
make them. And that's why it's so valuable. And that
you know, most business owners are surprised by income taxes.
That's probably one of the biggest shockers that business at
the end of the year. Right, Well, if you have
a business at cash boat forecast, you'll never be surprised
by that or anything for that matter again, because you

(15:33):
always know what your projected profit looks like. And the
same thing with the you know, the forecast from a
cash flow standpoint tells you when it's cloudy, not when
it's raining. Right. So the bottom line is, if you
want to thrive at uncertain times, you the number one
tool that you have to have, it's a business and

(15:54):
cash flow forecast. And so the next thing is the
winning business owners are uncertain times, they implement the right
business strategies. And what we've found, and we've talked about
this before, that ninety five percent of business strategies used
today are identical to your competition. They know work. So
your strategic plan at a minimum is to include a

(16:15):
position of market dominance, which you've talked about before, a
compelling offer, which we talked about the five components of
a compelling offer in previous shows, and joint venture partnerships
that are working, which is something we'll talk about soon.
Just to name three of several strategies that are available
to you. And the sixth, I'm sorry, the seventh component

(16:38):
here of a seventh action item is the general mindset
of business owners an uncertain time scheme is to cut everything.
You can't cut your way to success. We actually have
a formula for cutting expenses. So you cut the it's
a fourth part formula. You cut the expense if the

(17:00):
expense doesn't help you acquire a customer, if the expense
doesn't help you retain a customer, if the expense doesn't
help increase the long term value a customer, and if
the expense doesn't help deliver your product or service to
the customer.

Speaker 1 (17:16):
Yeah, because if you cut, if you cut expenses just
to cut them, they could end up being a lot
more costly than if you didn't cut them at all.

Speaker 2 (17:25):
That's exactly what happens. That's exactly what happens. And then
if you apply these rules to expenses, this is This
is also part of the seventh step, Look for the
what I call look to invest in the three a's
assets that produce revenue, amazing people to help you scale,
and automation to leverage time. Because success at uncertain times

(17:50):
is not defined by those who spend less. It's defined
by those who spend smarter mm hm. And so you
know we're all today, we're all facing the call to
adapt and to make decisions based on the numbers, and
those who do will make business a lot less terrifying.
And those who do will achieve that number one goal

(18:12):
that they set out for themselves. And those who do
will thrive in uncertain times and they're you know, Dean,
there are more millionaires and billionaires minted in bad economic
times than any other time period in history. Mm hmm.
And so that's why I put together the seventh the
seventh Step or seven action items for business owners.

Speaker 1 (18:34):
Love it and it is so true, like look at
the Rockefellers came out of the Great Depression, you know,
and so yeah, you came.

Speaker 2 (18:43):
Out of that when you study. Yes, she talked about
how difficult the economy was, right.

Speaker 1 (18:49):
Because yeah, because that's really when like those are the
best times when people think those are the worst times
to start a business, right, those are the best time
times because everybody else thinks it's the worst times. Right,
So how do people get more information from you? Connect

(19:09):
with you and all that good stuff?

Speaker 2 (19:11):
Yeah, thank you, Dane. Once again this week I'm markering
three lucky listeners. It's an opportunity to have an assessment
with me, a ninety minute assessment, and I promise you
that I will show you how to increase revenue a
minimum of one hundred thousand dollars without spending any additional
money on marketing or advertising, and simply go to our website.
Next step CFO dot net, forward slash contact. In the

(19:38):
contact page, fill it out and in the message section
type the word one hundred K and I'll send you
a calendar link where you can schedule a ninety minute
session where I guarantee that I will show you a
minimum of one hundred thousand dollars of additional revenue without
spending additional dollar on marketing.

Speaker 1 (19:58):
Or ass That sounds worth it to me for sure.

Speaker 2 (20:03):
Absolutely well.

Speaker 1 (20:04):
Once again, a very informive, great episode in a positively
pipemin segment. And so thank you very much Michael Barbarita
for being an expert you are, and thanks for being
on the Adventures of pipe Man.

Speaker 2 (20:18):
Thank you for having me t Thank you for listening
to the Adventures of Pipemin im W for CUI Radio.