Harvard is no doubt the most difficult university in the world to gain admission for bachelors.

But the reality is that it is 10 times easier to get admission into Harvard than to succeed in business.

So, the statistics that say, out of every 10 new businesses, eight fail, one struggles and only one succeeds is the whole truth.

Today I want us to discuss the survival strategies of businesses in the country.

But before that let us take a look at a story as told by Thomas E.Houck -Jim is a small business owner who’s been watching the economy evaporate in front of his eyes. Stress isn’t the word to explain how he feels. With his wife staying at home to raise their youngest child, his business bears the entire financial burden of funding their mortgage and lifestyle. If the slowdown continues, not only will his nightly tossing and turning get worse, he may have a full-blown nervous breakdown. Jim is fortunate to have a neighbor, Ken, who helps small business owners “lead better lives by running better businesses.” Since his business had gone so well for the past 10 years, Jim never felt he needed a consultant. Until now. His gracious neighbor, Ken,had to come to his rescue

So,the state that Ken was is the state that most Nigerian business owners are.

A lot of them are watching helplessly as their economy evaporate in front of their eyes.

To survive in today’s economy, a lot of drastic measures are required.

They include but not limited to intelligence,energy and speed.

There is no doubt that COVID-19 pandemic changed the way business is being done all over the world.

Some of the lessons that we learned from the pandemic is speed.

If you want to survival in today’s business,you have to have it at the back of your mind that another pandemic could be eminent.

What this means is that procrastination must not be in your dictionary.

Whatever that is meant to be done today must not be left for tomorrow.

Some people refer to this as ‘time hacking.

What it simply mean is trying to optimize time in order to get more things done in less time.

Elon Musk said that if you have a job that is supposed to be completed in one year,tell yourself that you would complete it in three months and get at it.

According to him, even though you may not complete the job in three months,you would beat someone who was focused on completing it in one year.

Another way of maximizing time according to Musk is doing crucial work first

To him that is key to a fruitful day.

He is of the opinion that by tackling important tasks early, you not only complete them well but also boost your productivity all day long

That is what is known as the 80/20 principle.

The next is intelligence.

Intelligence usually come by way of experience and observation.

It is a fact that for you to make the right decision in your business,you need the right information.

So intelligence helps you make the right decision.

If there is nothing else we learned during the pandemic from a business perspective is that we can always do more with less. Businesses had to scale down operations by reducing headcount and office sizes or locations. Businesses deployed technologies and digital platforms that meant one person could do the work of five. Businesses cut back on marketing spend and got smart about digital marketing. Businesses outsourced non-essential operations to third-party suppliers and partners. Basically, businesses learned how to make a kobo work like a naira during the trying times of the pandemic. This trend is accelerating too as every major global business today is bracing for an imminent global recession and cutting costs on all non-essential resources and activities.

The other survival strategies are

Cash flow is king:

As a small business owner, you must know how your cash flows. This isn’t fancy accounting; it’s simply tracking how cash comes in versus how it goes out.

Get back to basics:

Make a list of the things you did back then to bring in revenue. You probably moved away from many of those strategies when business improved. This is the time to aggressively return to them.

Trim the fat:

You have to as much as possible cut down on your over -head cost. One of the surest way of doing that is some of the thing you are paying people to do for you by yourself

Look into the future:

When clients and projects were rolling, most entrepreneurs believed that new business would materialize whenever things temporarily slowed down. Those times are gone. Analyze what money is coming in during the next three months, specifically from where, and when. Compare this to the new cash outflows that you assessed in the step above. If things are tight that’s fine; if more is going out than coming in, trim more and find additional income. Do this exercise each month, always looking at least three months out.

If you don’t work on the important things, the important things won’t get done:

Many business owners are in the same predicament as you. The ones who survive will do so because they’ll do the things above ASAP and get their ship righted.

Who lays the golden eggs?

Don’t forget who’s paying your bills right now – your customers. Although you want new business, it’s imperative that you keep your existing ones. Your competition is desperate, and they may try anything to get your customers.

Last words:

Entrepreneurs have a sink or swim, do or die mentality. Focus on the right things, and you’ll get through this. Jim left Ken’s house knowing he had a tough road ahead of him, but felt he had the necessary tools to face the challenges head on.

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