4 Ways To Survive Business Disaster

Want a scary number? According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, only 25% of new businesses last 15 years or more. Maybe even more surprising is that 25% of all new businesses go under in the first year.

And that number of fails only goes up year over year. The odds aren’t always in the favor of new start-ups. But, as we’re talking about today, there are ways to extend the life of your business when things get dire.

What can you do to stave off business death? There's options.

Key Takeaways

• Prioritize and complete ongoing projects to stabilize operations
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• Look at your overhead and where you can save
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• Find high-impact, low-cost marketing strategies that drive lead generation without big spending
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• Managing costs and planning for worst-case scenarios can extend the business runway and ensure survival

How to Plan for Business Disaster

When I talk about runway, I literally mean the amount of time you can keep a business alive with cash on hand. So, what happens in a scenario where you have a limited runway and your lead generation is struggling?

That creates a number of problems you’ll have to face head-on.

The problems create a slow death, inch by inch and week by week. You’re wasting money and lacking focus, and that’s typically when owners start panicking.

Suddenly, you’ll start thinking about slashing the marketing budget and cutting workers, all the while you’re still dying a slow death.

Time is the enemy.

What can you do to keep the Grim Reaper away from your business? There are options. But the biggest tool against this happening is to plan and know what you’re going to do when it does happen.

Have an emergency plan in place so you aren’t scrambling.

Eliminate Overhead

You immediately have to start asking: What can I get rid of? Is there an unneeded overhead? Because to me, you need to find ways to bolster that marketing budget.

Leads are the thing you need in this case, and cutting off the source of said leads is as good as giving up.

So, where can you save $10-15,000 a month? If you’re a start-up then even two or three thousand a month is a big deal, as that’s rent. Can you sublet the space, run out of free location? Is taking CSR overseas an option?

These are hard questions, but they’re also ones that will allow you to recover in six months and figure out lead flow.

And speaking of hard questions, are you prepared to trim your own salary to make things work? If I’m being honest, 2024 is the first year I didn’t cut my own salary during the slow season.

These things take time to get better, but finding ways to live long enough to see them get better is vital.

Prioritize, Prioritize, Prioritize

When you get into this mode where the runway is running out, the jobs you take on become important. It’s here that consolidating ongoing work and protecting customer trust is one of the most important goals.

I talk a lot at Wilson about the focus of core services or offerings that can increase an average ticket, but it’s also here that you’ll want to find a sweet spot for bringing in revenue and making those bookings worth the time.

Service time is a huge cost. Other huge costs include factoring in the costs of services and software. Is it worth it to stop or reduce ServiceTitan? It could be. After all, the name of the game is survival.

I’d compare it to breaking skin versus breaking bone. Things like salary and SEO are breaking skin—short-term pains, easily healed by time.

Breaking bone is terminating managers and getting rid of departments. That kind of thing takes time and isn’t easy to heal. Keep that in mind when it comes to survival.

Free and Cheap Marketing Options

As I said, decreasing the marketing budget isn’t a good option. However, there are plenty of ways that sub-one to two million outfits can get money, find leads, and generate runway.

Outbounding on Facebook Groups, NextDoor, and other social platforms can generate work if you are willing to grind—or find someone to do said grinding. And that’s all free or cheap.

And sometimes it’s as simple as going into those groups, seeing someone say they need help with HVAC or need an electrician, and milling through those cold calls for service.

You can fill up your own schedule quickly that way if you’re willing to dig.

And related to marketing, make sure you’re spending the money you do spend wisely. It should all be on direct lead generation—LSA preferably. Don’t worry about branding costs right now.

Remember the runway. You can do it.

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