The more & more we work on Financial Freedom clients we are Strengthening our view that they don’t know Financials & soon will be out of Business.
Yesterday, one Luxury Bus Owner contacted me. He was having Inter-State VOLVO Buses – all with Bank Loan & Re-payment issues. Here are the forgotten Financial Lessons for business owners.
DEPRECATION
Any kind of business should take understand what Depreciation is a Silent Killer. If you are into vehicle business then 20% is your depreciation. If you are into electronic hardware business then 50% is your deprecation.
So if you own a 1 Crore Bus & Make only 10% Profits, you are actually loosing another 10% through Depreciation = Rs. 10 Lakh total loss.
CASHFLOW
Most of the business have credit payments affecting their Liquidity. The Sales will show 50 Lakhs but actual cash received will be Rs. 30 Lakhs. The expenses can be 40 Lakhs and you are actually 10 Lakhs Loss on cash calculation.
To overcome such situation the owner will raise debt of high interest.
DEBT
Can you show me a Clean Business owner without Debt? NO. Everybody thinks Debt is making them Rich. But infact only 10% of Debt-Takers are playing it well.
Theoretically the Debt EMI should be 4X of your Cash Net Profits. Otherwise Interest is Silent eater for your Profits & You are just few months away from Bankruptcy on Covid like lockdown situation.
ROI
Why you run the business? To pay your bill? Then you are WRONG!
Business should be Run only on One Condition: ROI
If you run business for other Passion & Happiness, without taking care of ROI , then you are under vacation Or doing charity.
AUDIT
You should record at least yearly progress on your ROI. A simple XLS Sheet would look like:
- Income
- Expense
- Deprecation
- Operating Profit
- Taxes
- Net Profit
- ROI
OPPORTUNITY COST OF CAPITAL
You should know about Opportunity Cost of Capital. If you put money in Bonds you will get 10% Interest without doing any work or taking any risk.
So you should only do a business if the Business Returns is more than Opportunity Cost of Capital of 10%. We would recommend ROI is 30% OR MORE as running business have capital depletion risk than the bonds.
GROWTH
Next thing to apply is Growth. You should be having 30% Growth to grow in the Path of Super Riches. Otherwise you will be having same Income in 2020 & 2050 as well. But 30% Compounded Growth will take you in the Mansions!
Yes, Business is the Path of Super Riches!
TECHNOLOGY UPGRADE
Accept it or not, A Business Owner is a Sailer in the Wild Sea! You are exposed to lot of risks of Technology Obsoletion which can wreck your boat. so you should be constantly Innovating based on Technology Changes & Customer Preference.
See the following dying business as of 2021.
- ATM the trend moved to Digital Payments like PayTM, PhonePe, Google Pay etc. so Cashless Society is becoming Reality. So if you are building ATM Counters you should think again.
- Petrol Pumps things are moving fast to the EV world as it gives Clean Environment, Less Fossil Fuel Burn etc. – So you should be starting EV Charging outlets instead of Petrol Pumps.
- Movie Theaters The Covid lockdown measures coupled with OTT Giants like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc. led the Multiplex Movie Audience to Buy sophisticated Home Theaters. So the habit of “Going to Theater for Movie” is getting changed. These heavy investments lead to the Electronic Market boom while Ruining the brick & ortar theater owners. Many of the theatre owners have not realized that the “music has stopped” and they are Arrogantly fighting against OTT counters.
- Taxi & Mobility One of the core hidden reason of Covi & Lockdown is the Global Warming. More people travel, more the fuel being burnt, more the carbon emissions & destruction to the mother earth & system. So the appearance of Uber Cabs, Remote Working etc. have reduced the travelling requirements.
All these are par to our STD Booths eaten by Mobile Phone Revolution in the past. Understand it. Adapt it. Utilize it!
GROWTH ASSETS
Another financial mis-alignment is most of these business owners does not have Stock Investments. Stocks is the place which zoom your returns 500% or more in 5 year term. But the uneducated owner will see returns for 1 year & run away from stocks.
You should have Free Cash for Position in Stock Market during Bear Times. Super Bear Time Investments are Never Loss after a 1 year period.
Stock Market is the BAAP OF ALL ASSET CLASS which made all Filthy Millionaires like Warren Buffett, Ramesh Damani, Ambani, Adani etc. So don’t run away from stocks like amateurs – you should learn it properly.
Remember, during 2020 stock market crash we & our clients were buying growth stocks at great discounts. In period of 1 year itself we got 200-500% returns on the same. We multiplied our wealth in last 2 years.
Stock Market helps you to convert problems to opportunity!
See our Performance.
MENTOR
Do you have a Good Mentor? What is their Success Rate?
If you No Mentor that is an Issue.
If you have a Wrong Mentor then it is a Bigger Issue!
Choose a Growth Mentor even if you have to Pay them – as you will get Multi-fold returns in the future.
RUN OR RUIN
So all these parameters have to be evaluated, recorded, analyzed & repeated periodically to arrive at the Conclusion.
You are Running it Or Ruining It!
REMEMBER THE CORE PRINCIPLE OF WARREN BUFFETT IN RUNNING BUSINESS:
DO NOT DESTROY THE CAPITAL
SUMMARY
I have given you my 2 Years of Core MBA Lessons & 10 Year of Business Execution including my Experience from clients. Covid like times are the place where your Mentor is telling you to Pause, Re-think & Move!
