and tangible business value. The process will provide the means by which to improve profitability and the value of your business but also ‘how’ to go about working your way out of the business, for maximum payback. ‘Formula 1 For Business’ uses as a metaphor for business a Formula 1 racing team which has many of the same components:
The Vehicle is the business itself and naturally much attention needs to be placed on the set up, capacity, functional efficiency and speed at which the vehicle performs. Without a fast and reliable vehicle you simply cannot win in either in the competitive area of the F1 racetrack or in the competitive arena of business. Our focus is firstly to do the things which will allow the vehicle to get up to full speed.
The Driver is critical because no matter how impressive the vehicles performance capacity, it simply will not perform to capacity if it is not driven with skill and expertise. If the driver is only accustomed to driving at a speed of a hundred kilometres per hour and yet the vehicle can deliver two hundred kilometre per hour performance, the vehicle will not deliver it’s potential. This can often be the case with small to medium enterprises so we also focus on the skill and comfort zone of the person driving the business.
The Pit Crew are other team members are the staff. Without attracting, motivating, getting the best out of and ‘keeping’ the best staff, it is very difficult for the vehicle to reach anywhere near optimal performance. Pit crew performance either in F1 racing or in business can determine success or failure and we invest some time in showing what works in having employees perform.
Specialist Engineers are represented by those specialist advisors that provide council to the business to comply with regulations and enhance performance. Accountants, Lawyers, IT specialist, HR specialists and Management Consultants all contribute to strategy, various aspects of operations and ultimately play a huge role in overall success or failure.
Information Monitoring is crucial to both the race car environment and the ability to run a business. You can only manage what you can measure and having accurate and timely information and measures in business today is the basis for sound decision making. Knowing the KPI (key performance indicator) measures of a business and the people within it largely determines the performance of the vehicle. We provide the seldom discussed insight into ‘knowing your numbers’.
The Sponsors are those who provide the financial backing for the whole venture. They seek to gain a return from their investment from a winning team. Both business and racing would be impossible were it not for the ‘sponsors’. In an SME this may be the owner, the bank or even some outside interest; their performance imperatives must be satisfied. Attracting or building the finance for your venture is critical.
The Fans are the stakeholders and buyers of your product or service and without their following, contribution and satisfaction the show cannot go on. Ultimately there must be a market for the product or service, someone willing to purchase. Acquiring a customer and keeping them is the basis for business growth and ultimately what determines your business success.
All of these components are necessary, functional contributors to the ultimate function, profitability and value of your business vehicle. Throughout the book we provide insight into the various components, how you can make them work for you and what to do to enhance their role in building your businesses profitability and value.
Another key concept within ‘Formula 1 For Business’ is that of ‘incremental improvement.’ Elite performance in any field is a function of many small improvements and constant vigilance with monitoring. The system we present will help you to implement one thing at a time and to be diligent in testing and measuring everything you do.
The book does not provide any quick-fix or window dressing, temporary or illusory benefits. The experience of the authors is that when most business owners get started with these tools, they eventually fall in love with their business all over again. They typically enjoy substantially greater earnings, often for significantly less personal effort and ultimately build the value of the business which can be ‘cashed in’.
This book is not intended as simply a nice read to while away your precious time but rather as an instructive device to improve your lot. Also don’t expect everything to work the first time you try as rarely does success come in the first effort with anything – you need to persist.
We have witnessed this transformation happen to all sorts of businesses and their business owners and it is our sincere hope that when you implement several of the techniques in this book, you will enjoy the transformation from hard-working operators, to manager, to owner to business collector/trader.
We wish you well in your quest to transform your average family wagon enterprise into a Formula 1 racing business!
Are you ready? Is your harness secure? Now, start your engines…..
CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION TO THE FORMULA 1 PROCESS
Sadly, modern-day businesses get started, operate and all-too-often die, for all the wrong reasons. We have observed businesses that have floundered and in some cases died, when they could have (and in some cases should have) been spectacular success stories. We have also seen competent business owners and operators who have been forced to sell their businesses for little or no reward, for all the years of hard work they dedicated to the cause. We have also seen highly qualified owners with business degrees, who bought and subsequently killed good businesses, and in nearly all of the above cases the principals always had somebody or something to blame.
If, right now, you are standing in an airport bookshop, casually thumbing through this book to get one gem, or “secret” to keep your business growing and ultimately reward you with a passive income until you decide to accept a favourable offer from a keen buyer, then I will give you the first of many - up front. Businesses fail because people fail. Circumstances around us are constantly changing and it is up to us as the drivers of dynamic businesses, to adapt our business operations to the changing landscape. If we don’t change our business model to match the new buyer demand, we can face extinction and if we are not mindful, it can happen quite rapidly.
But why do university graduates also fail? There may be many reasons for this, but for me (as a post-graduate with a partial doctorate in process) I put it down to the difference between knowledge and know-how. Most commerce and economics texts are filled with superb examples of knowledge but in most cases, academics can’t teach you know-how. I know that most consulting academics will argue that they have business experience running their own (usually one-man) practices and/or their departments, but how many of them have faced the real hardship of a market paradigm shift (if you want to understand this, talk to the owner of a video rental store) or a legislative barrier? Think of those people who started or purchased an LPG changeover business for vehicles in Australia, before the government started to talk about abolishing tariff subsidies on LPG, or the installation subsidy on fitting gas to a vehicle.
This book focuses on business know-how, for a practical learning process that can be understood and used by anybody who has or wants to own a business. Most importantly, the knowledge can easily be implemented by the reader without too much effort. I urge you, the reader, to absorb one chapter at a time and implement the knowledge as you go. It requires care to ensure the business you have does not experience too much turbulence at once, as staff and customers can both become disillusioned and seek to distance themselves from the business.
Let me firstly present my key reasons for
