WE tend to talk about small businesses in numbers — sales, revenue, employees, growth. But while these numbers matter, they don’t tell you why someone started a business in the first place or what it took to keep it going.
Behind the figures is usually someone who took a risk. Maybe they put their savings into an idea. Maybe they left a secure job, borrowed money or started selling something on the side until it became a real business.
Working with small and medium enterprises (SMEs) has allowed me to meet many of these people. And one thing I’ve learned is that you don’t always understand a business by looking at a spreadsheet. Often, you appreciate it by talking to the people behind it.
They have different reasons for becoming entrepreneurs. Some want to give their families a better life. Some aspire to the independence of working for themselves. Others spot a problem they think they can solve or see an opportunity they don’t want to let pass.
But once the business is running, many of their concerns sound familiar. Will customers keep coming? Will they have enough to pay their employees and suppliers? Can they afford to take big orders? Should they expand now or wait?
To a large company, these may be routine business questions. But to a small entrepreneur, a single decision can affect the entire operation.
A customer who pays late can leave the owner scrambling to raise cash for a supplier. A broken piece of equipment can upset the month’s budget.
Even good news can bring problems. A large order is an opportunity, but filling it may require more inventory, more workers and more cash before the customer pays.
Not always the answer
I often speak with entrepreneurs at moments like these. Some are looking for funds to fill an order or cover day-to-day expenses. Others simply want to know what options they have as the business grows.
These conversations have taught me something important: financing isn’t always the answer.
Taking on financing should make sense for the business and for what the owner is trying to accomplish. Sometimes, the better decision is to wait. Other times, an opportunity is worth pursuing. The important thing is to understand the situation before deciding.
That’s why listening matters. Business owners don’t always need someone telling them what to do. Often, they already know their businesses better than anyone else. What they may need is someone who will hear them out, ask the right questions and help them think through the choices in front of them.
I’ve also learned not to assume that every entrepreneur has the same idea of success.
For one owner, success might mean opening a second branch. For another, it could be hiring the first employee after years of doing everything alone. And for someone who has spent years working seven days a week, success may simply mean reaching the point where they can go home earlier and have dinner with their family.
There is no single path. Businesses have good months and bad ones. Owners make decisions that pay off, and others they wish they could take back. Some opportunities come at exactly the right time. Others have to be turned down because the business simply isn’t ready.
Those are all part of running a business.
The longer I work with SMEs, the less I see them simply as accounts, applications or financial statements. I see the people behind them — their families, employees, ambitions and responsibilities.
This also shapes how I see our work at First Circle. Providing financing is part of what we do, but it shouldn’t begin and end there. Before talking about what a business can borrow, we need to understand what the owner is trying to do and why.
Sometimes that starts with a very ordinary conversation. How did you start? What’s giving you the most trouble right now? Where do you want the business to be a year from now?
The answers can tell you things that numbers alone cannot. Every small business has a balance sheet. But it also has a person behind it — someone who took a chance, has people depending on them, and is trying to build something that matters to them.
That story is worth hearing.
Racell Dela Cruz is a business consultant at First Circle helping Philippine SMEs access financing and financial solutions that support business growth.
