Should I take it as a sign to close?

Sometimes closing is right. But make that call from the numbers and a clear head, not from a bad month interpreted as a message.

Does prayer help a struggling business?

Many owners would say it steadies them, and steadiness changes decisions. It is not a substitute for a cash-flow plan, and nobody honest will tell you it is.

How do I tell the difference between a bad season and a broken business?

Look at whether the unit is profitable — whether a typical job makes money. A profitable business in a slow season has a cash problem. An unprofitable one has a pricing problem, and more volume makes it worse.

← Answers

Is my business struggling because I have done something wrong?

No. Faithful people run businesses that fail, and dishonest people run businesses that thrive — which is exactly why nobody should read a P&L as a spiritual report card. A hard quarter is usually a market, a customer, a price or a mistake. Those are findable. Guilt is not a diagnosis.

The idea that trouble means disfavour is cruel and it is also false

It is cruel because it lands hardest on someone already frightened, and false because it is contradicted by every honest business owner who has had a bad year. If it were true, the most upright operator in your trade would be the wealthiest. He is not, and you know it.

Look for the ordinary cause first

Margin drifting while revenue grows is usually prices lagging costs. Cash tight while profitable is usually receivables. A quiet quarter is often seasonal and visible in last year's numbers. Almost every crisis that feels existential has a boring explanation, and boring explanations have fixes.

What is worth examining

Not whether you have been faithful enough, but whether anything was decided from fear — a price dropped to survive a slow month, a client taken you already knew was trouble, a date promised you could not hold. Those are worth looking at, and they are decisions, not verdicts.

Say it out loud to someone

Owners carry this alone longer than they should, and it gets heavier in private. Someone who knows the numbers and is not depending on you for a wage is worth more than any amount of re-reading the accounts at eleven at night.

Also asked

Should I take it as a sign to close?: Sometimes closing is right. But make that call from the numbers and a clear head, not from a bad month interpreted as a message.
Does prayer help a struggling business?: Many owners would say it steadies them, and steadiness changes decisions. It is not a substitute for a cash-flow plan, and nobody honest will tell you it is.
How do I tell the difference between a bad season and a broken business?: Look at whether the unit is profitable — whether a typical job makes money. A profitable business in a slow season has a cash problem. An unprofitable one has a pricing problem, and more volume makes it worse.

Written for your trade

This is the kind of thing Solomon works through with owners using their own numbers. See how it works →