I’m writing this post the night before I travel to Woodland Park, Colorado for my first Free Agent Academy intensive event. Over the next four days, I will travel to Colorado and learn from some of the best entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs (like myself) about how to pursue a dream of self-employment.
This is not an inexpensive endeavor for me. The tuition is expensive, and I’m paying for a flight, transportation, and hotel room. Is it worth it? You bet it is. I am treating this as an investment in the future of my business. I fully expect to leave Woodland Park with lots of great knowledge and a super network of people that I can ask for advice and learn from.
The events of the last two years have shaken the business environment. Nearly every business has tried to reduce costs at every turn. While I agree that wasteful spending is not a good thing for business success, businesses cannot just slash spending without considering whether that spending is truly useful.
The case of Sunbeam and “Chainsaw Al” Dunlap is a great example of what happens when a company cuts too much, too fast. Dunlap was legendary for being hired as a CEO and slashing spending to amazingly low levels. When he arrived at Sunbeam, Chainsaw Al reverted to his tried and true method of cutting spending indiscriminately. The problem was that Sunbeam was a retail company that relied on marketing and a certain level of product quality. The reductions in marketing and quality assurance were enough to erode investor confidence in Sunbeam. Dunlap was fired not long after being hired.
I know it’s tough to justify spending in today’s challenging environment. However, you must continue to spend on the things that matter most to your business. That’s why good business planning and performance management is so important. You can confidently spend money if you have taken the steps to understand what drives your business and planned for spending in those areas.
{ 1 trackback }
{ 0 comments… add one now }