By Dan Fine, Business Advisor at Hive Business.
Improve financial performance. Quite a boring sounding phrase, probably close to being meaningless to the average reader. I wish it had more zing given that it’s the primary service we offer at Hive. So let’s substitute those three words for something more comprehensible: freedom. When someone offers to help you improve your financial performance they should be helping you achieve freedom through discipline. They can do that by helping you do three things:
- See where you are
- Understand your realistic options
- Make a plan
The plan you go with might involve making more money. Or it might involve working less for the same money. Or you might want to work two days clinical and retire at 55. It varies for everyone, but it must be what you want.
On point 2, when evaluating your options, play to your strengths. Take the parable of American Civil War hero Ulysses S Grant, a widely respected leader, military strategist, and a fearless soldier. His story did not end there; using his national fame and status he ran for presidential office… And got in. What followed was widely understood to be the worst presidency in history, filled with corruption and scandal. Then Grant set up on Wall Street and lost all of his own and much of other people’s savings. The problem was that Grant entered into two new fields, politics and investment, with no experience in either. Yes, they were available options, but his goals weren’t aligned with his strengths, resulting in disaster.
When we’re helping you to improve your financial performance we’ll begin by understanding you and your business, and then together we’ll assess your best options. Once you’ve chosen one we can build a strategy with you to get there. Being a full service agency, we don’t fall into the “if all you have is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail” trap. So we can avoid making generic plans and focus on what is going to serve your business best.
People assume that Hive only works with high end dentists. Not true. We don’t put much stock in where your practice is right now, but we’re interested in the size of your ambition. Working two days clinical and retiring at 55 reflects a pretty radical personal philosophy, ambitious in its way, and so we’d be excited to look at specific ways to help you do that.
Everyone is in a unique place, with different options. That won’t change, but what might is your attitude. It’s time to embark on the mission to improve your financial performance when you sense an appetite for change. The Hive service isn’t a comfort blanket, you will invest time, money and energy to build a plan with us and stick to it. In return, we will be with you all the way.
The relationship we have with our clients is collaboration to effect executive purpose. That’s a long way from the alternative that we see every day; practice owners drowning in management as they try to coordinate activities through different suppliers that don’t speak to each other. To improve your financial performance means gaining control over your own destiny and achieving freedom through discipline. Control begins the moment you talk to us, and from that day it will never stop.
All of our individual services are available separately, and we are happy to team up with other suppliers when we are asked to. It’s just that in our experience it never quite works out. That’s why our primary service is to improve financial performance. It’s the biggest goal we can imagine, everything comes under its rubric. We think it takes three things:
- a great working relationship
- a holistic approach
- all services on site
This philosophy runs through everything we do, from accounts to tax planning and marketing, but none of these services mean anything unless they serve your agenda and give you control. And freedom.
Get in touch on 01872 300232 or email us at hello@hivebusiness.co.uk.
