Trucking Consultants Ahern and Associates Offer Advice to Struggling Trucking Companies

Trucking Consultants Ahern and Associates Offer Advice to Struggling Trucking Companies

Running a business is like running a personal campaign; it takes hard work, sacrifice and focus on your ultimate goal. When people initiate a personal campaign to improve themselves, for example; lose weight, get rid of a bad habit, exercise more, be nicer to their families, run a marathon, learn a new language, play a musical instrument there is a high probability they will fail. At some point, early in the game or near the finish line, most people abandon their campaign to get better. Why?

When companies are challenged, the same thing happens. In my, many years, of auditing transportation companies, there are numerous fundamental issues that face most challenged entrepreneurs and those fundamentals can be broken down into 6 challenges;

1. It takes longer than they thought. In other words, when owners implement changes, they expect instant gratification.

2. It's more difficult than they thought. Improving the bottom line, when a company is struggling, is always hard. If it were easy, we'd all be able to do it.

3. We find other things to do. Distractions tempt us to lose our focus.

4. We don't achieve the expected reward. Sometimes, we can reach a goal, personally, but the results doesn't get us the recognition we desire. This creates frustration rather than inspiration to persist.

5. We declared victory too soon big mistake!

6. We have to do it forever. That's the biggest problem that most struggling companies face;

Discipline.

Persistence.

Consistency, and;

These attitudes and these traits must be utilized, on a daily basis, consistently, for a company to survive and prosper.

For some people, they would simply rather accept defeat and vow to do better the next time. The reason most people fail, in personal goals or in business, is they don't anticipate the challenges and they don't anticipate the amount of effort necessary to overcome the challenges. However;

If people are properly prepared.

They know what to expect;

They can deal with the challenges;

They can overcome the challenges, and;

They will achieve success.

Every New Year, millions and millions of people set goals;

They're going to lose weight.

They're going to quit smoking.

They're going to start exercising.

They're going to change their attitude, and;

For a 2 or 3 week period, they focus a substantial amount of their energy on change, but;

Then, reality sets in!

Change is hard!

Practice is an inevitable part of change, and;

In order to be successful in anything, it requires a lot of hard work.

The point I'm making; many people don't succeed because they're not properly prepared, they don't analyze the situation as it actually is and they feel if they exert a little effort, for a specific amount of time, then they should obtain immediate results. It goes back to what I stated earlier;

People today want instant gratification.

If they expend any effort, they expect to have an immediate result it's like the person that goes on a diet;

1. They start running on a treadmill for a week, and;

2. After one week, they expect to lose 20 pounds.

3. When that doesn't happen, frustration sets in, and;

4. Frustration leads to failure.

If there is one thing I can impart to people that are challenged, in their everyday lives or their business, it's to be optimistic. That doesn't mean that you shouldn't be realistic, but;

If you're optimistic.

You prepare for the challenges.

You analyze all of the issues, before you start implementing changes, then;

As the challenges occur;

You are properly prepared for the challenges, and;

Frustration won't defeat goals.

When trying to implement any type of change, whether it's a personal change or a business change, optimism is a way to influence and inflate your self confidence. Optimism is the reason new restaurants open up every day;

Optimism is a reason most smokers, despite the Sergeant Generals Warning on every pack of cigarettes, believe they are less likely to die of lung cancer than most non-smokers.

It's the reason why most newlyweds believe there is zero chance that their marriage will end in divorce, even though they know that 50% of marriages self destruct.

In some instances, people can be over optimistic, but optimism is the reason why successful people are successful. A business that doesn't take risk, based on optimism, is the business that's most likely to fail;

Optimism helps us rebound from a setback.

Optimism helps us reassure that the things that we are doing will have a positive affect, and;

Optimism, in some instances, is being stubborn and doing what other people won't do because you know, that if you continue to stay focused and persistent, you will achieve your goals.

In closing, in business (as well as personal life);

You need to have a plan.

You need to constantly be willing to change "the plan".

You need to be able to "think out of the box".

You can never take your focus off achieving a specific goal, and;

Once you achieve the goal, you must continue to focus to make sure that you will continue to be successful in whatever endeavor you chose.

From a business perspective, in order to be successful;

You have to constantly challenge yourself.

You have to constantly embrace change.

You have to constantly be focused, and;

You have to constantly make your employees performers.

All of these traits encompass one word; optimism!

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