The holiday before it all went wrong

Last week I talked about the four money personalities (you can find it here). Today I want to tell you about the moment one of them gets genuinely expensive, and it’s the Avoider, the one who’d rather not look at the numbers at all.

There’s a pattern I’ve seen more times than I can count. A director gets in touch because the business is in real trouble, and when I ask when it actually started, the answer’s almost always three to six months earlier. And somewhere in that gap, there’s usually a big holiday.

Not a coincidence. A proper trip away with the spouse, right before the wheels came off. I don’t think that’s an accident. I think, somewhere underneath, they already knew. They just wanted one last good break before it got difficult.

Here’s the bit worth remembering. If you’ve got a problem coming, you almost always know about it three to six months before it actually lands. Not the full picture, maybe. But that nagging feeling that something isn’t quite right. Most directors sit with that feeling instead of acting on it.

The fix isn’t complicated. It just takes a bit of guts, and putting your ego to one side long enough to pick up the phone.

I’ll tell you something that might surprise you. Nothing you tell me will surprise me. I’ve been up that mountain and down the other side more times than I can count, and one thing I never do is criticise. What’s done is done. There’s no point looking backwards. The only thing that matters is today and tomorrow.

So if you’ve got that feeling right now, the one you’ve been quietly carrying for a few months, don’t wait for the holiday. Speak to someone first. It costs nothing, and it gets you a clear plan instead of a guess.

Do you need someone on your side? I’m Mark Smillie.