I am not one to make resolutions, but I do love a good goal or two!
One of my physical health goals for 2023 is to skate 23 laps of the Halifax Oval 23 times.
In spite of sleet, rain and a polar vortex I have managed to complete 23 laps, 10 times – that is 100 Km of skating so far! – Not too shabby!
However, during my last skate I noticed my skates were both catching and sliding on the ice, a combination that almost sent me, “a$$ over tea kettle,” as my grampie used to say!
It was time…I needed to sharpen my skates.
I had all kinds of excuses for not sharpening them.
…Where do I go?
…Will they do a good job?
…Is there parking?
…How much will it cost?
…Where will I find the time?
…Will it make a difference?
…blah, be, blah, blah…..
It took me snagging an edge and almost falling to prompt me into getting my skates sharpened.
And guess what?
It took 10 minutes and cost $9.
Compare this to what a broken arm would have cost me and my business!
Today, wearing sharp skates, I completed 23 laps 15 minutes faster and I felt safer and more in control!
The same can be said of our businesses.
Too often we wait until an almost mishap or a full blown crisis before we invest in the right tools that could have prevented the challenge in the first place!
In times of financial uncertainty it is our knee jerk reaction to cut expenses or to put off investing in our businesses.
Sometimes these cuts are too deep or the investment too little and they actually have the opposite effect. Instead of preserving our business we maim it by making it less efficient and therefore less profitable.
What are the skates that need sharpening right now in your business?
Do you need to invest in people, marketing, operational efficiencies or better financial systems?
Remember sometimes we need to slow down to go fast and sometimes we need to invest to be profitable.
Yours in good financial health,
April Stroink
PS. Want to see my skating stories and dance moves at the Halifax Oval? Follow me on Instagram for all the fun!
