Speaking to business owners for decades, you recognize patterns.

Some are valid, some not so much.

Most business owners suggest their product, service offering or team are their greatest asset.

While admirable – they’re wrong.

Unless you are Apple, your product or service is not so unique. Competitors are in most markets and new players may enter in the future.

Your team, while great, will come and go. Modern day workforces are transient. Talent retention isn’t forever and will typically depart over time.

So, what are your 2 greatest assets?

I like to find my flow or cadence in business through executing a series of sprints rather than one continuous marathon.

The default setting in business is to commit yourself to one long marathon. Just start running and keep running. 60 hour weeks, evenings and weekend sessions are the norm. The finish line is a long way off and never in sight.

The alternative setting to this, is to allocate your capacity in a series of sprints followed by breaks.

With the recent Federal Budget changes being brought into legislation within Australia, I thought it might be prudent to provide some commentary.

Some commentary was overdue on the challenging domestic landscape us as business owners need to navigate.

While I describe myself as a ‘realist with optimistic leanings’, I’ve found my normal effervescent enthusiasm for entrepreneurism tempered by recent events.

I provide the caveat that my commentary focuses on current domestic trading conditions within Australia coupled with the implementation of key budgetary changes (subject to legislation) around the Big 3 – Capital Gains Tax (CGT), Negative Gearing and the 30% Taxation of discretionary trusts.

International volatility, geopolitical division, wars, the impact of ai and supply chain blockages are just some of challenges facing the world economy.

Domestically we are experiencing a cost-of-living crisis, high interest/inflation, negative GDP, poor productivity, crime, political instability and significant changes to tax policy which are all headwinds for private business.

In this blog, I share my thoughts on what business owners should do to navigate through these dangerous seas of uncertainty?

In my last blog, titled Don’t Get Stuck in Ops Land, I challenged business owners not to get lost in operations.

But knowing isn’t doing.

In this blog, I provide some proven tactics to break free of operations.

Operations feels familiar. Sometimes even comforting.

We often don’t even consciously think about it. Autopilot mode takes over as we cycle through well-worn tasks, without even contemplating our actions.

But getting stuck in operations can be a dangerous mirage for business owners.

In this blog, I turn the spotlight on business owners getting stuck in operations – or Ops Land as I call it.