Over the last few months, I have been working in, not on DrivenByQ. It is the opposite of what business advisors say. They encourage you to work ON your business. What exactly does that mean? Well, they say you should stimulate and promote your business. They recommend you develop sales, marketing, branding and staff while improving your accounting systems.
After working ON DrivenByQ for fifteen years, our market position is nicely defined: Our back-end systems are mature and DrivenByQ as a brand is respected. The procedures we use are evolved and everything works well because we refined it over time. There is a point however when funds can deplete and need to be rebuilt.
When business travel boomed again back in September 2021, we had a small team. It left us short on manpower. The answer was to work IN the business as a driver and generate cash (or revenue). Rather than delegate jobs, it was time to graft – just like a start-up company. To compound the situation, customers on 60-day credit terms were straining our cash-flow.
It was demanding though because, fewer jobs (compared to pre-pandemic levels) linked together. In effect, we lost economies of scale. My jobs each day were stretching further apart and it meant longer hours for less money. With Omicron seeing another slow-down over Christmas, the decision to work in, not on the business was the right one!
Without paying as many sub-contractors, the mantra of working in, not on the business increased the profitability. In turn this generated the working capital to rebuild volume again. It was crucial to have the cash required for paying sub-contract drivers. After all, they provide our capacity for growth. Its just like accountants say: TURNOVER is vanity, PROFIT is sanity and CASH ..is king!