Lord Ganesha is considered the master of 14 techniques and 64 art forms. He is also considered the God of knowledge, intelligence and wisdom.
While we are deep into the Ganesh Festival in Maharashtra, India, let's delve deeper into how the God of knowledge guides us into being effective in business.
With digitalization taking over the world information in all sorts and form on every subject be it personal or professional is available to one and all. Knowing about something and being informed about something are completely different concepts, Why is knowledge superior to mere information, because it is gained through experience and learning in a disciplined manner
How often do we entrepreneurs ask themselves the following questions:
- do I know my customers sufficient enough to gauge his commitment to pay the outstanding well?
- am I aware of how well my vendors are financially and will they be in a position to execute my orders on time?
- my sales growth is phenomenal but am I making profits at the end of the day? And if so why is it not reflecting in my cash position?
If these basic questions are answered with a 'no', then definitely there is a serious need of introspection to decipher our own businesses in terms of effectiveness of operation, generation of cash flows, risks associated with the industry we operate in and lastly growth in sales and profitability.
Let's understand what knowing your business really means:
- Every business small or big has a Vision, Mission and Goals. It is written on paper and in ISO manuals and put up as a nice décor in the office, however, rarely we try to understand how vision and mission need to be inculcated not just in our minds as entrepreneurs but in our entire organization as a whole.
- As business moves along the entrepreneur keeps adding people, processes infrastructure and infusion of funds. While doing this the ultimate vision and mission of the organization is never put in the forefront. These changes take place on a need basis and are therefore not aligned to the ultimate goal and are also not integrated internally. this is how entrepreneurs keep experiencing lags in one or the other aspect sometimes people and resources are lacking sometimes processes are lacking sometimes both are lacking. This kind of shakes the balance of an organization and a well thought out vision and mission gets sidelined and fire fighting becomes the daily routine.
- Some basic understanding and knowledge about accounting and financial aspects of business is also very critical. The moment the word accounts is uttered a typical entrepreneur relates it to record keeping and transaction accounting. It is never viewed in terms of translation of operations into financial numbers. Accounting in itself creates accountability for every area of operation and is therefore important to understand the basic statements of account which is the balance sheet profit and loss statement and the cash flow statement
- Product and service organizations place a lot of emphasis on quality of their product or service And all efforts are directed to maintain it however what is missed out is are these being maintained in the most cost effective manner or quality is being maintained at exorbitant costs.
This article is aimed at drawing attention of entrepreneurs to the fact that knowledge of their own business in terms of the industry, operations and financial reflection is very important to keep them on the track to achieve the ultimate vision and mission.
