What Is A Healthy Business?

Written by Adam Foster

29th September 2022

Setting out into the world of business is like entering Aladdin’s Cave of Chaos.

After all, being an entrepreneur is all about finding a way to effectively solve the problems of those in need and who are usually willing to pay for your time, product, solution or be a part of your community.

Developing a business that continues to meet the demands of your clients, be sustainable and profitable will no doubt throw its challenges, constantly. So what as a business owner should we be looking at as points of interest or metrics that help us understand the health of the company.

I say health because our businesses are alive and like all living things they need to be healthy to survive.

For us wonderful humans we have some vital signs that indicate the status of our body’s life-sustaining functions. Our body temperature, blood pressure, heart rate and respiratory rate are metrics that are core to our health.

More often than not, we are looking for our businesses to be around for a sustained period of time. Whether you still want to be involved in that business is another matter. Whether you are building to sell, creating or adapting a multi-generational business, or just keeping yourself busy until your retirement, longevity is carved by business health.

So what are the vital signs that indicate our businesses have the mojo to keep going and why is it so important to have an understanding of these potentially silent  (or not so silent) killers?

Each business will have their interpretation to their own identity, numbers and strategy. However, just like our heart rate, if there is no pulse or in our case available cash, then the rest of the body will soon die…and we don’t want that.

There are many factors that will impact on the overall health of the business and the ability to be sustainable. While some of the factors may not be running at an optimum level, when you become aware of these areas it gives you the opportunity to adapt, develop and improve.

Overall a healthy business is an organisation that operates and functions is a state of continued well-being and has the ability to successfully adapt to the changing environment.

This includes:

  • having a clear vision for the company
  • being strategic and measuring progress
  • providing products and services that have sufficient demand
  • having a continued flow of purchases of your products and services
  • possessing and delivering operational competence
  • developing a positive culture with an engaged and skilled workforce
  • financial stability
  • minimising risk
  • developing and keeping a positive reputation
  • setting and hitting suitable targets

Business health is about developing a business that can continue to adapt and react to the ever changing world, the demands of clients, and also create an environment of passion and success within your business.

As business owners what do we get from this? Information to be able to make better informed decisions, hopefully the pleasure or building something worth being part of and one that I am personally passionate about….not having all of your time, effort and sacrifice be at the expense of your own health and wellbeing.

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