Peer Group Conversations: Business Owner Anxiety

Over the last 2 months, I’ve noticed a bit of a tonal shift in our average business owner peer group conversation. It seems something is different than it was over the last 12 months.

(This is not true for most of our members, but I’ve just heard these conversations more than I previously have).

A Different Tone

Conversations have gone from general experience sharing, planning, growth, and team development to a different tone.

Now, the sentiment is more like, “We REALLY need to get sales in the door or we’re in trouble.”

Another common theme is, “our cash crunch is the worst it’s ever been, and the end of it always feels like it’s coming but never hits.”

The Core Reasons

This shift seems to be happening for a few key reasons.

• Some folks are growing very fast, 200%+ per year in one case. Growing fast usually requires cash to fund the growth, leading to a cash crunch.
• Some of it is because people have recently acquired one or two companies on top of their first acquisition. Many sellers ran lackadaisical AR processes that were worse than the buyer thought, and it took more effort to fix than planned.
• Some of it is because of the natural J-curve that happens after you buy a company. It’s bigger and longer than most ETA knowledge really suggests.
• Some of it is just because some industries are slowing down right now. Project based businesses in our peer groups specifically in the last one to two months are hurting.

Additionally, several of our members who were never interested in bringing on investor equity are more interested than ever. They are now considering selling a small portion of the company to fund growth.

FUD Manifesting

I spoke with another business owner today who is in a couple of other peer groups.

Without me prompting him, he also said that something has happened in the last couple of months that is different.

It seems like a lot of looming FUD (Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt) is finally starting to manifest.

Conclusion

In summary, the tone of conversations among business owners is changing. The focus has moved from general growth to urgent needs for sales and cash flow, driven by everything from rapid expansion and acquisition pains to a simple slowdown in certain sectors.

This is not an isolated observation. It appears to be a recent development, suggesting that a general feeling of uncertainty is now having a real impact on how business owners are operating and planning for the future.

I am curious if others have seen the same thing, or have different opinions.

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