246. Keith Cunningham | How Business Owners Should Think During a Crisis
Jun 1, 2020
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Keith Cunningham, one of the most important business voices of our time, shares insights on strengthening decision-making, reinventing ourselves, and the three audits every business owner should conduct. With the uncertainty of today, he challenges us to cast a new vision and not let attachment to the past hold us back. Prepare for future disruptions and make necessary adjustments in order to move forward.
Reinvention is crucial for business owners during times of crisis and uncertainty, as those stuck in the past face challenges while successful businesses innovate and adapt.
Conducting expense, efficiency, and capacity audits are essential for business owners to align their expenses, streamline processes, and reduce costs, allowing for greater efficiency and resilience during difficult times.
Deep dives
Importance of Reinvention and Letting Go of the Past
In this podcast episode, Keith Cunningham discusses the crucial need for business owners to reinvent themselves and let go of attachments to the way things used to be. He explains that successful businesses often gravitate towards innovation and adaptation, while those stuck in the past face challenges. Cunningham emphasizes that reinvention is essential during times of crisis and uncertainty, urging listeners to think about how they can adapt their business models to withstand future disruptions.
Three Audits for Business Owners
Cunningham shares three important audits that all business owners should conduct: an expense audit, an efficiency audit, and a capacity audit. The expense audit involves identifying and eliminating unnecessary expenses to align with current revenue. The efficiency audit focuses on streamlining processes and delivering value with fewer resources. The capacity audit helps businesses identify excess capacity and reduce costs accordingly. Cunningham stresses the significance of aligning expenses and capacity with the economic reality, allowing businesses to be more efficient and resilient during difficult times.
The Importance of Cash and Cash Flow
Cash and cash flow take center stage as critical considerations for business owners. Cunningham advises businesses to prioritize cash and align expenses with revenue. He cautions against relying solely on government assistance and urges business owners to create a plan to sustain their finances beyond the period of government support. It's essential to reassess expenses, reduce fixed costs, and build up cash reserves to weather future crises.
The Value of Thinking Time
Cunningham emphasizes the value of thinking time for business owners. By dedicating regular time to think and reflect, entrepreneurs can uncover insights, ask big questions, and find answers that can shape their business strategies. He encourages the practice of getting ideas out of the mind and onto paper, helping to clarify thoughts and identify potential risks and opportunities. By integrating thinking time into their routines, business owners can develop a habit of proactive and strategic thinking.
Are you holding on too tightly to the way things used to be?
With all that is going on today, there is so much uncertainty. A marked lack of clarity. As business owners, what are some of the things we should be thinking about right now? Don’t let the past, and your attachment to it, stop you from casting a new vision that will bring you into the future.
To help you get clarity, we sat down with past guest Keith Cunningham. He is one of the most important business voices of our time because he challenges us to look at our businesses and identify what opportunities we have today that we didn’t have in the past — and that’s just what so many people need at this moment.
Many of us are facing the challenge of having our goals become irrelevant or unattainable in an instant. We have a second interview with Keith Cunningham where he walks through in detail what he did when he was at rock bottom to build himself back up — way back. That will be shared during our virtual goal-setting retreats this fall. If you want to learn more about that, you can go to the1thing.com/setmygoals.
In this episode, you will learn...
[09:56] Strengthening your ability to make decisions
[14:55] How we should be thinking to remain cautious
[24:12] Why we need to be willing to reinvent ourselves
[27:45] The three audits every business owner needs to be doing
[32:25] The ONE question you can ask yourself to move forward