Never let someone else run your business
Tuesday, 01 March 2011
Like many business people when I get together with colleagues and peers the conversation normally turns to our efforts to overcome various business challenges. Sometimes they are just niggling little issues that require a few minutes of venting and then they're gone. At other times, the obstacles are larger (or seem that way) and warrant further exploration and a sounding from others. There's a great comfort in having people around you whose opinions and judgement you can trust.
In the course of just such a conversation the other day our chat let to various friends, family and associates who work either in local or central government. Many are now feeling under extreme pressure. Some face working reduced hours, others pay freezes and yet others are facing up to possible job losses. While there is nothing that I can do to change the situation, one adage that I've always thought wise for private sector businesses doing business with the public sector is "never let someone else run your business."
As an SME or growing business, it can feel enormously exhilarating when you land your first government contract. Whether you work in health, education or maybe transport, landing a contract with a government department, even at regional or local level, can give your business a whole new impetus and important revenue stream. The trouble is it is also far too easy to get sucked into letting such relationships grow to the point where they are then responsible for the majority of your company's profit. In other words, without realising it, someone else is now running your business.
I feel for those private sector businesses that are now seeing their customer base dissolving only to realise they didn't plan enough diversity into their customer mix to protect them from such a dramatic shift. Fortunately the clients who use our serviced office space and managed office suites at One Heddon Street in London seem to have protected themselves well against such a possibility.
Philip Parris, Chairman, Harvard Managed Offices
