Welcome to The Water Trough, where we can't make you drink, but we will make you think. My name is Ed Drost of The Small Business Doctor, and I'm really excited you chose to join me here as we discuss topics that are important for small business folks just like you. If you're looking for ideas, inspiration, and possibility, you've come to the right place. Join us as we take steps to help you create the healthy business that you've always wanted. Welcome back to the water trough. This is Ed draws to the small business doctor at the end of each of my podcasts. I wish you a healthy business. And I imagine people are probably wondering, why do I wish you a healthy business? Well, for starters, I am the small business doctor, and it would follow that doctors are concerned about well being about health. And in my case, because my patients, my audience, are small business people and they're businesses, I am concerned about the health of those small businesses. But what exactly does it mean to have a healthy business? Well, a healthy business naturally is a business that is doing what you intend for it to do. And let me Be clear about that. Success is not the same for everyone. Some people think of success as having tremendous amounts of money. Some people think of success as having considerable notoriety, being known by many, and being appreciated and recognized by many. And still others see their business success as being something related to the service that they provide for others, where money is less important and the outcome or the benefit, if you will, for the recipients of the services and products being offered by the company are the focal point. Each of these forms of success are valid forms of success. And in each case, To achieve these things, a business has to attain a certain level of wellbeing, okay? And that's where the idea of having a healthy business comes in. Now, there are naturally a variety of markers for the wellbeing of a company. But there are three in particular that I consider to be of tremendous importance. And those are the environment, people, and financial matters. The environment, people, and financial matters. So let's begin with the environment. What do I mean by environment?

The environment, very broadly speaking, is all of the operations, all of the activities, all of the things that are going on outside as well as inside your business that have some impact on it.

For example, let's say that you're in the business of shipping materials via, and for you, One of the environmental concerns, or one of the environmental challenges, is the cost of fuel. Needless to say, the higher the cost of fuel, the greater your expenses. And as a result, you're going to have a significant impact on your business. It may require that you raise your rates. It may require that you cut back on certain shipping routes. The environment is all encompassing. And the environment consists of those things that are within and also outside of our control. The environment is not necessarily ours to manage. There are components of the environment over which we have absolutely no control. Our best case scenario is to anticipate the things that are coming down the pike and to be able to respond to them accordingly. But our environment also. Are those things that can happen within the business, the business environment itself. And these sorts of things we do have control over to some degree. Business environment, internal environment can include things such as the culture within the business, the operating conditions, the space in which one works. And so on and so forth. Environment is important, but it's often overlooked, because we tend to think of those things that are within our immediate control, and we say, those are the things that matter. And while many environmental factors are, within our control, more often they are outside of our control. And as a result, we tend to ignore them. But the truth is the environment and our ability to anticipate the effects that it has on us And our ability to mitigate the effects of the environment are extremely important. Let's move on to people. people include things like our customers, our employees, our suppliers, and probably most importantly, Ourselves, particularly if you're a solopreneur, if you are working for yourself by yourself, the customer is your second most important factor, but you, you yourself, your ambition, your desire, your level of knowledge, your enthusiasm for what you're doing is a critical driver of the well being of your company. Now, if you have employees, naturally, you know, and I know, you can't do it all alone, but nor are you expected to. Employees are a critical part of our business well being. We cannot have a healthy business if we have unhappy, unmotivated, dispassionate employees. We cannot have a healthy business if we ourselves are unmotivated, dispassionate. We need these things to be in working order. We need these things to be, if you will, healthy, in order to have a healthy business. And then of course the customers. Now, the customers we have no control over per se. Yes Lola,, I hear you, thank you.

That's my birdie in the background. You'll have to forgive her, but she does like to get involved every now and then.

We have considerable control over ourselves, We have control to a lesser degree over our employees, but as far as customers are concerned, our control is pretty much focused on our ability to provide what they're looking for and to respond to the things that they ask, the things that they question, the things that they need after having either a. Purchased from us or be while they're inquiring and trying to decide if that's the path they want to go. People are very, very, very important in maintaining a healthy. business. The third thing is finances or financial matters. You might think that financial matters are first and foremost in this equation. Yes, you need to have adequate cash flow in order to have a business. But let's not forget there are people for whom cash flow is really not an issue. Now, you might be laughing here going, well, who does not need money to have a business? Rest assured, there are people that are in a sufficiently self sustaining state that the money is the least of their concerns. Financial matters are critical nonetheless because We all need, no matter the source, no matter where it came from, we all need the cash flow in order to get things done. To purchase our raw materials, to advertise, to market, to pay our employees, to build our products, to further develop our services. Cash flow is necessary for all of these things. And in order to have cash flow, a healthy financial environment within our business. Most importantly, we have to be aware of what our financial condition is. We have a variety of documents that are available to us, balance sheets, P& L, so on and so forth, that tell us a lot about the business. And even a solopreneur needs to have control over the flow of cash. We need to understand where it's going, where it's coming from, and what we have at any given point in time. These things allow us then to predict and plan accordingly for future endeavors. The three of these things together, the environment, people, and finances. All contribute to our business well being. They all are components of our business health. And so I ask you to consider these three things. And rest assured, there are others as well. I see these things as the three pinnacle components of having a healthy business. But ask yourself about these. Look at your environment. Look at your people. Look at your financial information. Ask yourself, Where you stand in each of these places and take the necessary steps to maintain Control over each of these things if you can do this you will then set the stage For creating a healthy business. This is Ed draws to the small business doctor and Once again until next time I want to wish you a healthy business