Do you do New Years Resolutions?

By Stephen Sacks
Stephen Sacks
After running numerous trading businesses over 30 years I sat down with my ever patient wife Harriet over Christmas 2016 and told her that I would launch an advisory business aimed at helping entrepreneurs navigate the numerous funding opportunities open to them. Rather creatively (not) I decided to call it Funding Nav. It’s USP would be in driving down the average cost and risk in external funding by utilizing free cash opportunities first and foremost. It was a hell of a first year as clients literally jumped at the chances we were offering to supercharge their businesses funding, we raised a fortune for some businesses and at the end of that year I wrote my first book, “Reboot Your Business,” to reflect all that I had learned.

It’s bloody annoying for those of us that are regular visitors to the gym, how busy January always is!

For most of the year you can get in and out without inexorable queues, waiting for flabby beginners to either injure themselves because they haven’t got a clue what they are doing or else run out of motivation because they have no idea how to pace themselves.

The subscription-based gym model actually relies on these New Year’s Resolvers to basically subsidise the rest of us for the rest of the year as they don’t dare stop paying, since that will be an admission of the terrible truth that they hate the gym and would rather stay unfit than apply themselves to achieve the results that they crave.

There are a few, of course, that breakthrough (about 5%) and are still coming religiously the following December, and have the results to show for it. Generally, they have either a very strong motivation to improve or else, they have employed the services of a personal trainer to help and motivate them to remain focused on their goal.

Business, of course, is the same, isn’t it? There are simply so many diversions that are easier options to follow than a strategic goal which delivers ongoing growth.

What will change in your business between the beginning of January and the end of December next year? What will you do to make the difference? How will your business and you have improved in the next year? How much closer will you be to your personal goal?

2019 will, of course, be especially challenging given that the political class have no cohesive strategy to guide our future and feel that it’s ok to take political risks where the cost to us all and our businesses is unknown.

So, whether we are in or out or whatever and regardless of other events how are you going to ensure that your business grows and generates cash in 2019?

Here is an idea - why not take advantage of Funding Nav’s business MOT. It’s a day’s consultancy over the year which breaks down into four sections (and hopefully a fifth)

  1. Agree where you are at.
  2. Agree where you want to get to.
  3. Set a plan to get you there together with you which be specific and deliverable
  4. Hold you to account at the end
  5. Hopefully, rinse and repeat in 2020.

The cost of this process?

Just £2,000+VAT and this is fully refundable if you don’t feel that you have made at least £10,000 of additional profit at the end of the year as a result of the process and frankly we would expect most businesses to make many times that.

We are only making this offer available to ten businesses and expect many more applications.

Email me at stephen.sacks@fundingnav.com to book one of the places. Its first come first served!