“You can't solve a practical business issue with theoretical solutions, you have to get practical and be an operator.” - Harrison Smith

Corporate Executives can be theory based, small business owners have to be practical.

I have listened to so many corporate executive types or business coaches that have come from corporate backgrounds talk about all this theoretical stuff, that has little to no application for Main Street businesses. Your larger corporations give the executive the benefit of: structure, cash flow, systems, and teams that are handling the actual work that is required to operate the business. They don't need to be an operator, they just need to oversee things. Time can be spent on strategy, analysis, and corporate development because there is no pressure to keep the lights on, they are just trying to find a way to make the company 1% better. Living your business life on the margins might feel stressful (meetings, presentations, etc.), but in reality it's not that stressful. In many ways, being a corporate executive is like playing a game with very little risk that you can lose (unless you really screw something up, but that's a topic for another day).

On the other hand, your Main Street businesses don't have that luxury. The operations of the business fall squarely in the owner's lap and if they stop running the business, the business stops running. A small business owner is balancing the needs of the daily operations with the needs for growth and improvement. When you are trying to generate sales, manage systems, make payroll, buy more inventory, pay your bills, and make sure your customers pay you; you aren't left with a lot of time to find those 1% improvements. Not only that, but those 1% improvements don't solve your issues.

For example, you may have bills to pay but your cash is all tied up in inventory and AR. Performing a gross margin analysis to find a 1% profit margin improvement doesn't solve that problem, you need an immediate solution to a cash flow issue. That solution looks more like securing a line of credit, offering early pay incentives for your customers, or negotiating discounts and/or payment terms with your vendors. You can't solve a practical business issue with theoretical solutions, you have to get practical and be an operator.

Next time you run across an issue in your business, take a look at how you approach it. Are you being theoretical and coming up with 1% improvement ideas that sound great, or are you being practical and solving the issue?