Risk is in your blood

You and I have something in common.

Just like me, risk is in your blood.

I know that’s true, because it’s true for all business owners.

You can’t create a business without taking some measure of risk. It’s always a jump into the unknown.

When I started Insight Associates, the risk I took was leaving a stable income to start my business – without any clients.

I was about to become a father for the second time, and I was leaving my job – what was I thinking!?

Back then, I was the Finance Director of a company with a tyrant of an MD. I was the only surviving member of the board after nine months of tumultuous change. And I was tired of it.

My vision was simple: I wanted to work for myself, and help smaller companies achieve the financial management much larger companies take for granted.

So the risk of starting a business was worth it to achieve this vision. And I was willing to invest to make it happen – leaving that stable income and putting my money into the business instead.

And you? When you first created your business, I’m sure you had a vision for where you wanted it to go, too.

You understood the risks you’d need to take to get you there and were willing to invest in order to make it happen.

But several years on, are you still willing to take risks in order to grow your business? Are you still willing to invest to make it grow, even when it seems like a financial jump into the unknown?

Or have you become comfortable with the way you run your business, and a lot more cautious and conservative about the risks you’re willing to take?

I find that as time goes by, too many business owners lose that initial drive to spend money growing their business, because they are too scared of losing what they already have, and the need doesn’t feel urgent enough.

Faced with difficult choices – to buy new equipment you’re not sure you can afford, to grow your team so you don’t disappoint customers, maybe even to change your business model as external conditions change – it’s too easy to say, “Not today. We’ll see what tomorrow brings first.”

And then you drift backwards.

Here’s what I’ve learned over the past 25 years.

If you want your business to grow, you must continue to put money into it – even when that feels risky. Even when it feels like a financial stretch and when there’s a chance you could lose as well as gain.

The business owners whose businesses move from £1-2 million to £10 million and beyond, all have that growth mindset.

They invest — in tools that make it easier for to scale up and deliver results faster….

In people so they can deliver services in the best way possible….

In training so they don’t fall behind the competition….

And in processes and systems that create efficiency.

In any given moment, your business is either growing, or it’s coasting.

So ask yourself: What investment must I make to help my business reach its next stage of growth?

Then, if you want to talk about how to make that investment in a financially sensible way, let’s talk.

No investment decision is ever made on a hunch…

We can help you look at your numbers so you know how much to invest, where to find the money, ensure you are investing in the right places, and minimise the risk so you equip your business for enormous, swift growth – not bankrupt it by mistake.

As your outsourced finance department, this is the kind of strategic insight you get from us.

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The company owner took responsibility for building an accounting function which they understood very little about.

They had no idea what an efficient, successful finance department that helps propel a company forward looks like.

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