I Didn't Sign up to Be a Business Failure

80% of business owners report their financial performance has suffered greatly as a result of the crisis in economic confidence. Poor people, you think. They must want to take the ball and go home. No time for that. Business owners are working longer hours, don't take vacations and 72% spend nights and weekends on the job. But they still can't keep up.The Economic Intelligence Unit studied how the increasing pace of change (or what they call the 'shifting business landscape') affects...
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80% of business owners report their financial performance has suffered greatly as a result of the crisis in economic confidence. Poor people, you think. They must want to take the ball and go home. No time for that. Business owners are working longer hours, don't take vacations and 72% spend nights and weekends on the job. But they still can't keep up.The Economic Intelligence Unit studied how the increasing pace of change (or what they call the 'shifting business landscape') affects businesses. How are our sleep-deprived, vacation-less business owners handling the dizzying changes? They aren't. While 79% say it is important to respond quickly to change, almost half of the enterprises polled admit that the time needed to make critical decisions has increased. No wonder. Their executives are exhausted.How can we be so sure the pace of business is accelerating? In less than 10 years the number of adults using email increased from 49% to 60%. Where is snail mail? Left in the dust. Think a lot of adults are on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter? Not as many as make purchases online. We don't even have time for lengthy phone conversations. In the first 10 years of this century the average call time decreased from 2.2 minutes to 1.8.Are you tired yet? Take another look at the busy entrepreneur, galloping along on the business treadmill. Not only does the treadmill keep shifting course and changing inclines while continually speeding up, it dangles the carrot of major opportunities that, if only grasped, will boost profits. Can the hard-pressed exec reach that carrot? 90%-a fair-sized majority in anyone's book-say the carrot of opportunity eludes him or her because they were unable to anticipate opportunities in time to act.This exhausting, nerve-wracking pace and pressure result in over half (55%) of entrepreneurs who are fearful of losing their business. The treadmill continues: obstacles call for quick reactions but the wrong reaction could mean a business that flounders or folds. This leads to indecisiveness or timidity that makes the obstacles loom all the larger and threaten to overwhelm.So you know the bad news, and you're hoping the messenger has something promising. Something you can hold on to. Be glad you didn't shoot the messenger. We do have good news. You and those other worn-out entrepreneurs aren't in this alone. So one of the worst decisions you could make is to cut back on marketing budgets, eliminate training and strategic help and try to run the treadmill alone.Let us help you identify several breakthrough opportunities.