Below you can find five awesome tips that will help you to lead your company out of crisis without filing for bankruptcy.

1. B Y S U Z Z A N N E U H L A N D
THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR
DIGGING OUT OF CRISIS

2. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
Several small-business owners are suffering the effects of growing debt. Lenders
press borrowers, prices of goods and services rise. Economy goes up and down, and
sometimes recession takes long. The numbers of businesses that filed for bankruptcy
in our country last year were huge and they are growing. In order to save their
companies, owners can take the choice of bankruptcy, however, such process
has a price. Just paying the services of a lawyer and covering the court filings fees
may get close to ten thousand dollars. Besides, in the long-term, there are damages
that may be caused, on one hand, to the business, and, in second hand, on the
personal credit scores of the owner him/herself.
Image courtesy of
Daniel Rubio at
Flickr.com

3. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
So, how can you avoid such a fate? Below you can find five
awesome tips that will help you to lead your company out of crisis
without filing for bankruptcy:
1. Dispose any view of your business as a company in
distress
This is very important. It’s almost impossible to define a company
in distress, but not just impossible: it’s dangerous. Considering that
your company fits into such category is a judgment that not even
experts dare to conclude so fast. It depends on concrete cases,
but there are around twenty-five different symptoms of potential
distress, and an issue like this is seldom made up of only one or
two of the signs in mention, nevertheless. It is actually the
consequence of a larger number of them interrelating with external
factors and together.

4. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
2. Reexamine your budgets
Your company’s budget may be not working out properly if the current debt
continues its increasing rate. After studying your company’s actual financial
situation, you should create a new budget and make sure that you not just cover
the fixed costs of every month.
Thus, you can designate an amount
of the budget for covering the
variable costs of your business. If
you don’t want your debt to rise to
heavens and taking years for paying
it off, you should dedicate much of
what is left to pay, as silly it may
sound.
Image courtesy of Images Money at Flickr.com

5. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
3. Never underestimate your board
The main advantage of a board is, precisely, that there are
different perspectives and possible solutions for a single
issue. Don’t consider it as a real-world necessary evil, because
you are missing an opportunity for success as a team. In some
cases, substantial events happen and no one saw them coming.
The truly independent board members could have answers when
you ask them the right questions, especially when your business is
getting through a real distress situation and the company have had
a period of eighteen to twenty-four months of weak performance.
Again: if you ask them the proper questions, a senior team can
easily give you a list of employees, potential and common risks of
the company and a plan to follow.

6. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
4. Come to an agreement with creditors
If you can make them understand that the adverse
circumstances simply do not let you pay as you wish, but, at
the same time, you ask them for a hardship plan in order to find
better payment terms, the worst possibility is that your creditor
does not offer you anything. In that case you can actually appeal
for a reduced settlement amount or a better payment plan; and if
you explain them that you will fulfill your end of the bargain as long
as they accept to reduce your debt or they agree to put your plan
into action (by the way, choose your words wisely here).

7. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
5. Create and keep an amazing team
You can start with something hard to do: removing one or two
main members who are not able to adapt to the significant positive
changes the company needs to dig out of debts. It may sound
cruel, but it’s the kind of executive and strategic decisions a
manager must take for sending a signal to his/her stakeholders:
there are changes going on and the company is the priority.

8. THE BEST 5 TIPS FOR DIGGING OUT OF
CRISIS
In second place, consider two kinds of members for creating
your team. In first place, that kind of people that have not been
sitting at the table from the beginning, but work in the lower levels
and dream with an opportunity to bring changes to the company. In
second place, that kind of people that have the institutional
knowledge and can tell you the uncomfortable truths about the ins
and outs of your business, and, of course about the possible
impact of the changes you want to apply.
Keep them happy, as an important active of your company. You will
get surprised of what can happen next.
Good luck!