In the last six months I’ve visited more than 20 states and met with more than 75 staffing companies, and I’m afraid I’m dumber than ever in telling why one company succeeds when another doesn’t.
Sure, the core business aphorisms can explain a lot.
Conserve cash. Them that got, get. There is no free lunch. Cash is king.
Find out what you’re good at and do it. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably isn’t. Ninety percent of winning is showing up.
Save those pennies, and the dollars take care of themselves. Pour your heart into it. Do unto others …
Those that identify with and follow those maxims often find success. But that advice is freely available to everyone, so why is it that some will find their way around the current collapse in the credit markets and others not?
One underrated factor in success is luck, or better stated, timing. When my dad started his staffing company in 1974, he picked the wrong time.
Sacramento was heading into its worst recession ever. Aerojet cratered. The Arabs bombed us with an embargo.
My dad barely survived it. If you checked in on him in November of that year, you would have said he was a failure, that he was doing something wrong. Depression. Shame.
But your status at a single point in time does not tell the story. My dad was down but not out.
Similarly, I met a lot of companies this summer who are not doing well because the housing crisis blew a hole in their industrial business. Some of these companies may fail. Some of the best ones may fail.
Life, as Scar fretted in “The Lion King,” is not fair.
Your only hope if you’re a victim of bad timing is to persevere and make timing a factor that works in your favor. During the credit crisis, that means conserve cash, work harder, last longer. Have faith in your convictions and know that a timing error does not mean that all your other assumptions are false.
