In every project, there are positive and negative elements, ‘’pros‘’ and ‘’cons‘’ that are often difficult to identify clearly. We sense that some things are ‘ok’ but that others are holding back progress, weighing on our morale or upsetting our well-being. It's a matter of identifying them to boost the situation!
Entrepreneurship is about much more than just numbers, and paradoxically there are few (if any) structured documents that reflect this. The tools used to measure a company's activity are often limited to financial data. For many entrepreneurs, the balance sheet is the only measure of their business activity.
However, an activity can also be appreciated through the efforts and sacrifices made, the time invested, the risks taken and the returns recorded, the energy devoted and released, the new relationships formed, the comfort created in life, the happiness generated, etc.
Beci is taking part in the launch of a new measurement tool: a ‘non figures’ balance sheet designed to assess the efficiency of a project or activity. To do this, it is integrating the approach put in place by Revival Business, a network of SME experts.
What's the concept?
In addition to a balance sheet, the activity balance sheet enables us to assess the balance or imbalance between the resources contributed to the company and the project, and the assets acquired thanks to the entrepreneurial activity.
In a way that is both spontaneous and structured, all entrepreneurs can now measure the value of their business, apart from the accounting aspects, and draw out the thoughts, lessons and new actions they need to take to optimise their situation and, indirectly, their ‘well-being’.
What have we learned?
Each case is different, that's a fact. But surprisingly, despite everything, surveys and focus groups of entrepreneurs are quite clear: the majority are experiencing the same things. And many entrepreneurs share the same frustrations or joys.
The challenge for the entrepreneur in a changing environment is to rethink the business to get the best out of it, given limited resources. It's not always about investing more, taking more risks, sacrificing more to get more out of the business. It's about finding the right balance between what you invest and what you get out of it. And finding a new serenity, a new happiness thanks to a ‘balanced’ professional life.
Olivier Kahn
Partner of Revival Business, certified chartered accountant specialising in entrepreneurship, author of several management books, lecturer.
To talk directly to Olivier Kahn and find out all about this report, come along to our event on 22 October: LINK: Let's take a closer look at your business!