THE SERENITY PRAYER OF BUSINESS MANAGEMENT

Contributed by Bob Bliss

                God grant me the serenity
                To accept the things I cannot change;
                Courage to change the things I can;
                And wisdom to know the difference.

Wait, isn't that the same prayer that addicts recite in a twelve step program? Yes, it is.  It's for those who are trying to get their lives under control.  Think about what this prayer has to say about a business owner dealing with the daily issues of managing a company. At the end of the day, are business owners really concerned about serenity?  If they are, is it evident by the way they run and manage their business?

How about you? Are you enjoying serenity at the end of each day? Or, are you wrestling with external influences you cannot control?

Business Management 101 tells us that the main objective of running a business is to turn an acceptable profit. It says nothing about serenity being an objective. Generally, we come out of school thinking we must use everything we have learned to control the profit formula of growing revenues and reducing expenses to generate that acceptable profit.

As I speak with print business executives across the country about market conditions, you wouldn't believe how much of the conversation is spent on rising energy costs and the negative impact that it is having on operations, materials, and supplies. Another favorite subject is commoditization of print, and the demand clients are placing on them for lower prices. Then there are the market changes due to new technologies that are shrinking the demand for longer runs and many products that have been printed staples in the past.  Finally, I hear how the economy is affecting their clients' print budgets, or the devastation of a client having to close their doors as jobs are being moved overseas.

When I switch the subject to internal conditions I hear of layoffs, shorter hours, fewer jobs, excess capacity, salesmen not earning their keep, lower margins, hoping to make it up in volume, spikes in overtime, and so on. The question I usually ask is, "What are you doing different to improve these conditions and the effects on your bottom line profits?" Most of the answers revolve around aggressive sales and marketing programs and the implementation of cost-effective technology. They feel that more sales will increase revenue, and technology usage is the best way to reduce expenses, which takes us back to the basic business formula of earning profits.

In the above paragraphs, these executives have identified the profit-killing events they cannot change. They have also addressed those they CAN change that will have a positive effect on their profits. But, do they always recognize the difference? If so, I wonder why they spend more time talking about the external influences that are beyond their control, and so little time on the invisible internal profit killing issues that they CAN control. 
 
I suggest it's because they do not have a way of tracking the invisible profit-killers that are bleeding all around them.  If they were able to identify and permanently fix these hidden leaks, they would have their acceptable profits and, finally, some serenity. But, I also suggest that to know the difference between accepting things that cannot be changed and having the courage to fix those things you can control, requires wisdom. This is where System100 comes in!

System100, the browser-based software designed to give you eyes for every facet of your business and help you eliminate the chaos, will allow you to bring profits AND serenity back into your business. 

By Robert C. "Bob" Bliss         
Communications Bliss
Print & Communication Solutions Consultant
In association with Ebiz Products LLC,
Distributor of System100 software

IT'S IN THE BOOK!

Had enough of chaos and messes in your company?

There actually is a remedy for all that!  Don't believe the old adage that "chaos in business is normal."  A little chaos gets to be A LOT of chaos, and chaos eats into your profits.

Get started on the path to order and more productivity.  Purchase Philip Beyer's new book, System Busters: How to Stop Them in Your Business, online at www.EbizProducts.com or at www.Amazon.com.  It will change the way you do business, and it might even change your life!