So, it's Adieu 2022 and welcome 2023, another year gone by. It has been a year of great learning for me personally and for many others in the experiential industry at large. After a long gap our businesses have started looking up again, we are currently in the happy problem zone of too much work and too little time once again!
As we are once again gearing up for an action-packed 2023 – hiring more, taking larger office spaces and ramping up on all our expenses, there are a few learnings that the past 2 years have given us that we need to carry forward.
My 7 Mantras for 2023
- Keep it Frugal: We saw that the companies that had very high expenses in terms of salaries and overheads were the worst affected during the pandemic. Today a lot of functions are easily available through the gig economy and one long-term change we all need to make in our way of thinking is frugality. Keep your fixed costs minimum and increase variable costs depending upon work/requirement
- Keep your clients close but your employees closer: We all invest years in training and grooming our people and then lose them due to avoidable reasons. Identify your core team members and do whatever it takes to retain them over long periods. Introduce measures which will incentivize them enough to stick to you
- Create Assets, not Liabilities: Whenever investing in anything – new business ideas, people, office space, studio etc always see whether it will be an asset or a liability. Make decisions based only on numbers and not emotions – evaluate its financial return over a 5 – 7 year period and only invest if you strongly believe it will be an ‘asset’
- Learn to say NO: very often we are pressurized into doing projects which are not profitable considering the investment of time, energy, resources or capital involved. Do not undersell yourself at any cost – ensure that you have taken all these factors into account when picking up business and it's Ok to refuse some lesser profitable business in order to make space for better projects.
- Do bulk buying deals: Identify your biggest suppliers on an annual basis and do long-term deals with them, taking volume discounts and increasing their exposure to your business thus making them more accountable and economical. This will reduce leakage in the system and make your operation more profitable.
- Hire Gen Z bright sparks: It is always a good idea to hire smart freshers and mould them rather than picking from the usual talent pool that is rotating between agencies. The thumb rule is that about half of them will go within the first 6 months and the rest would stick around and become potential long-term players in your company.
- Tight control over Finances: Ensure that all unused capital is immediately stashed away to a safe investment (debt fund / FD etc) and taken out only if and when necessary. Never keep idle funds in your company account – there will be some or the other reason of spending them if they are there. If they aren’t you will figure out a way to work around the liquidity available. Over a period of time the invested fund will become your biggest asset to grow.
Wishing each and every one of you a very happy and prosperous 2023!
Ankur Kalra is the Founder & CEO of Vibgyor Group
