Using Your Knowledge Better
Business is simple. It is a series of processes that, when working in harmony, create more value than the cost to produce them. The difference is profit: Sale Price – Cost = Profit.
Business doesn’t just require knowledge, it also requires using it correctly to get the results you want. A great example of this is captured in the following story someone shared with me on Facebook. It is obviously a made-up story, but it cleverly references the power of knowledge when implemented with purpose.
Once Albert Einstein was sitting right next to a man on a flight. Einstein told him that he is a great scientist from Germany. Einstein proposed a challenge to him, “I will ask you a question and if you are not able to answer it, then you will give me $5. Then you ask me question and if I am not able to answer then I will give you $500.”
The man thinks $5: $500 seems like a good ratio, so he says, “sure”.
Einstein asks, “what is the distance between Earth and the Moon?”
The man hands over 5$ to him and replies, “I don’t know”.
Now it’s the man’s turn to ask Einstein a question. He asks, “which animal goes up a mountain with 3 legs and comes down with 4?”
Einstein thinks and thinks and finally hands over $500 to the man.
The man took $500 and went to sleep.
Einstein is so annoyed, he woke up the man and said, “hey, I had given you $500 so tell me, which animal goes up a mountain with 3 legs and comes down with 4?”
The man gives Einstein another $5 and replied, “I don’t know”.When it comes to quickly increasing the success of your business, you aren’t rewarded for your knowledge until you focus or leverage the knowledge to serve you.
Business is made up of several actions and processes that when woven together create growth and profit, we refer to these in our consultancy as “fly wheels”. Some examples of some simple fly wheels within your business would be: Know your customers/ stock more products they want/ increase sales. Improve the customers perceived value/ they tell others/ more customers. Increase the convenience of purchase/ increase your prices/ more profit.
Imagine these flywheels are like cogs in a clock; they all rely on being round and complete to create a self-sustaining process. Each cog drives or supports another cog which in turn supports another, ultimately, they all need to work together to consistently show the correct time.
So, in your business, if you are not getting the results you desire, you need to look for a broken flywheel like a watch maker would look for a broken or seized cog in a clock.
How to identify your flywheels are stuck or broken?
Start by creating a three column table. In the middle column list all the things that are good, then under that, all the things that are not. In the column on the left, list next to each thing the things that contribute to this being a success or a problem. In the column on the right, list the other things that are impacted positively or negatively. Track across your list and you will see that the words in each of the three columns are the start of some of flywheels in your business that are working and are broken.
If you are not continually working on these things as your main priority, you are not running your business. And if you aren’t, who is?
Come on, you can do this, commit to building your business into something that you are proud of! Somewhere where your staff look forward to coming to work, where the customers love to spend time and a business that rewards you well for your effort.