TOW#517 — No compromises
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If you take a closer look at why things sometimes don’t work out the way we wanted or we didn’t reach goals we’d set, you’ll find that in many cases the main culprits are the ‘compromises’ we made.
This comes to the fore mainly when setting up or developing a strategy for a business, or any other project / activity. Even if you hire the greatest business strategy consultancy to create the best concept, it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’ll be successful. The success of the business will depend largely on consistency and persistence in the implementation process.
I can very often be heard saying that developing a business is like getting on a bus at one stop, and you need to get off at the tenth. Your task is to persevere in the process (journey). At each stop there’ll be a challenge, a barrier, a temptation that will entice you and distract you from the goal you set. Whether it be money, image, competition, team, buyers, or something else, there’ll always be someone and something standing in our way that will change our strategy.
Just to be clear, I’m not saying that you shouldn’t change your strategy sometimes and adapt to market opportunities and conditions when necessary. It’s just that that’s only 50% of a project’s success or failure. The other 50% concerns the deviations and compromises we make, and a lack of consistency during the implementation. We went one way, but then we changed course because the road we were on was difficult, or it brought more money in the short run, or we had to sacrifice a little of our time, energy and so on.
In order to make it clear what I mean when I say ‘no compromises’, I’ll give you an example of a local village eatery. And I’ll gladly take the opportunity to promote this particular establishment — the fish restaurant ‘MOST’ near Istibanja (near Vinica). I think that this restaurant is unofficially the first that can truly be called a ‘Traditional BIO Restaurant’ in our country (if you know of another one please leave a comment).
- All produce is from their garden: when something runs out, they don’t run to the local shop to buy it, they simply inform their guests that there’s no more left of that particular product.
- Seasonal offer: they serve only what’s in season.
- Wine / rakija: homemade. I was there when they were making the rakija and the owner told me that despite the fact they lose in quantity (and therefore also profit), their rakija is processed three times in order to increase its quality.
- Fish: bought from local fishermen who fish in natural waterways. They don’t use artificially grown fish from fish farms. Of course, this makes it more expensive than usual.
- Bread: they make their own. In spite of the fact that it saves them neither time nor money, it’s their signature brand and they don’t plan to stop doing it.
- Prices: also, even though prices are a little on the expensive side (for that region, compared to other restaurants) and the owner only has space for a small number of guests, he doesn’t plan to change neither the quality of what’s on offer nor the way they work.
Most people (bosses) would certainly look at how to adapt to the market, reduce quality and prices in order to attract more guests and make more money. And that’s good, but it’s the same reason why these ‘entrepreneurs’ won’t be written or spoken about, because that’s reserved only for those who believe, and who are persistent and unique in their business concept.
The next time you want to make some sort of compromise, consider whether it’s worth it, in terms of money saved or earned, but also in how far that compromise will take you away from your vision and the values you want to promote.
Wishing you success with the changes to come,
Petar Lazarov
Member of the Team
MACEDONIA-EXPORT Consulting
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