Accepting And Dealing With Losses In Business
image
Making loss is one factor that may remain constant in your business if you refuse to accept it. Financial losses are business or investment decisions that went wrong and costs one to loose lots of money but it happens to most of us and for some this loss might continue for a very long period because they have refused to come to terms with it. Not being able to accept ones losses and mistakes psychologically can keep your business trapped for a long time because of your refusal to accept and move on. It is a state of denial you must break from if you want your business to proceed to the next level and grow. Rather than being prideful and stubborn first you have to accept responsibility for the fact that you made terrible decisions and it has cost you a lot. This is what differentiate a failed business from a successful one, the ability to realise mistakes and accept responsibility for them.
Only when you have accepted responsibility can you get better and to do this first you need to stop everything and asses the entire picture. Asses the entire situation, the factors that went wrong, the decisions you made by reviewing all the events that happened carefully. Ask yourself constructive questions like "where did it go wrong" "did you predict the market too early" "were there factors you over looked or factors you took for granted". By asking and answering these questions you can determine what went wrong or what mistakes you made that caused you to make losses.
After assessing the entire situation you can create a better action plan for your business. What things you would do differently, the factors you would make sure to consider and the timing you would not neglect all depending on the kind of business you run.This will go a long way in helping you make better business decisions, you could also seek the help of more experienced people who can help you in pointing out mistakes easily and help you take better decisions.
You might also need to cut down on expenses because at a period where you have lost a lot it is important that while you take time in getting your business back on its feet that you don't create more gaps. Try to reduce your cash outflow and find ways to increase your cash inflow. Keep track of all expenses your business is incurring, same with personal expenses and cut down on unnecessary items. This doesn't mean you live like a miser but that you cut down unnecessary luxury items or perhaps previously planned vacations. This will help reduce the load as well as reduce the emotional strain you may have had to go through , it will also help reduce the time it would take in getting your business back on its feet.
The final things to do in dealing with loss is to be patient. Now that you have put everything in place and you are making better decisions it is only natural that things take time to grow organically. Rather than be impatient and worry about what would go wrong you can take this time to put more things in place to ensure similar losses don't happen in the future. You could also use this time in improving your knowledge and experience in that field, by going on trainings or getting mentored by people who are doing better in the field and it's only a matter of time before things start to fall in place.