What’s letting your business down?

Times are notoriously tight at the moment. In a bid to help you hold on to your business hats, at Tailored Time we’ve been talking to our clients about some of the most common things that let a small/medium business down.

• Underestimating your out-goings – taking time to get these right from the start will help you avoid nasty surprises when it comes to calculating your margins.

• Bad cash flow – this can hit whatever the size of business. Keep a closer eye than ever on this – if people are beginning to let you down, don’t fulfill any more orders with them until it is sorted.

• Biting off more than you can chew. More clients mean more orders mean more cash. Or do they? This works fine if you have the operational back-up to support this but if you don’t, it can wreak havoc with your reputation.

• Forgetting your customers once the order is in the bag. All too often the customer who was king pre-order falls to earth with a bit of a bump as soon as they’ve signed.

This a selection of feedback from a few of our clients. If you are struggling, remember you are not alone. Some immediate, useful sources of business advice, fact sheet and information to help rationalise your business fears include:


The National Federation of Enterprise Agencies – impartial advice for small businesses.

The Institute of Directors - factsheets, online help and more.

Business Link – government agency established to offer support for small business


Please share!
If you want to share experiences or good practice of your own, we’d love to hear from you. Please ask your questions or add your comments here.