Surviving the Storm
Over the last few years we’ve seen the heights of the greatest market in history and the depth of one of the worst recessions ever. While most people would think that this makes for the most difficult of time to run a business, at New Leaders we think it was a very valuable to start our company during this turbulent period. This means our company is well balanced to fend off the worst symptoms of bad economies and to scale up for when the market is healthy. All this was accomplished without wasting a single investment dollar. Our customers have been our investors from day one. We are operating at a strong profit margin. We’ve served over 150 customers on over 300 projects and the average person working at New Leaders makes nearly $100 per hour.
Certainly we don’t have the millions to throw around like many startups. Which sounds really fun. But the fun never lasts. We learned that money that was earned is twice as sweet as money that was merely invested. The lessons of cash flow, savings, and restraint have made us a stronger more viable business that will last. Being able to weather any economic condition that will come our way is crucial for long-term success. We are now focused on the scalability of our business model and growth of our customer base.
The important lesson here is to learn to make money early and often. I believe that businesses that do not take this discipline seriously will always have trouble earning money and living within their means. When their shareholders look at their earnings (if they have any) and see the high costs to run the operation they will want to make changes. Those changes could mean the end of your job if you aren’t careful.
Remember that there’s more than just one way to start a company. You can bootstrap your way to profitability if you try. We are an example of that. The first day you’re in business instead of sitting around and writing a business plan and figuring out how to sell your stock to people. You might be better off developing a product or service in finding customers that are willing to pay for it. After that, investment may never be required.
Posted on Jan 17, 2010 by Kevin Milden
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