The Constant Entrepreneur: Advice for Running a Productive Business

Seeking Advice Too Late

For several months I have been helping the owner of a deeply distressed company try to save the business. When I got involved, the business was losing money every month, owed the bank a large amount of money and was seriously delinquent in its loan payments, and had severe operational and quality problems.

This morning I learned that the inevitable had happened – the bank has seized all of the company’s assets and has forced the business to close. There are no winners as the bank will recover just a fraction of what is owed; the owner and his family who invested in the company have lost their entire investment; and many vendors (including me) have been stuck with large amounts owed them.

The sad thing is this. We could have helped save the company – but the owner waited until he was in serious trouble before seeking outside help. About 8 months before we were retained, the company lost a large customer and started losing money. But the business kept operating as it had been hoping that it would turn itself around. Each month things got worse. Had the owner sought help at the outset, we could have helped him take steps needed to get the company profitable.

This owner, like so many business owners, waited until it was too late before getting help. It’s like not going to the doctor when a lump first appears, but instead waiting until you are too weak to move.

No owner knows it all or has all the answers. The moral of this story is that help should be sought when the first symptoms appear, not when foreclosure is inevitable.

Will Limkemann
Limkemann Business Advisors
440-871-0976
www.neobizadvisor.com