Spotting the Sharks in Your Business

Sometimes, the biggest challenges aren’t the ones you can immediately see. A recent article in a local publication I read, titled “Drones are spotting more sharks at NYC beaches. But are the sharks new in town?“, brought this idea to startling life.

The article boiled down to a question of whether there are more sharks in the waters around New York City than ever, or if there are simply more ways of sighting the sharks as the FDNY employs more drones to spot sharks along the city’s shores.

In 2022, when the city had no drones monitoring the beaches, there were only two shark sightings. Then, after a shark attack in Rockaway in the summer of 2023, the city started to add drones to monitor the waters around the city, the popular swimming spots in particular. Last summer alone, drone operators from the fire department spotted 11 sharks.

It’s unlikely that the number of sharks coming to NYC beaches increased fivefold over the course of two years. Instead, it’s more logical to think that monitoring the beaches better uncovered exactly what was out there. The beaches weren’t more dangerous; despite the statistics changing, the city is now just aware of more of the dangers.

I had a conversation with Brownell’s Kerry Dyer earlier this year as part of TMR’s MasterAdvisor series, and there was one piece of advice she gave to the audience that stuck with me. We’re constantly working in our businesses, and unless you take the time, deliberately, to work on your business, you’ll never be able to significantly move things forward. You’ll also never be able to see the sharks swimming in the waters around your business.

Imagine if those people on Amity Island in “Jaws” were warned (and heeded those warnings) about the shark well ahead of its attacks on the beach around the island. It would make for a fairly less compelling and entertaining movie, but all those fictional people who died would be safe.

As we hit the dog days of summer, I don’t think there’s a better time to do a business check, to take a couple of days to work on your business instead of in it. Kerry’s suggestion was to block time off on the calendar as you would for time off, and, despite how easy it may seem, don’t fall back into emails or client calls. Instead, focus on taking a look at the numbers that represent your business, your margins, your revenue, and figure out where your weaknesses are.

Only when you spot those sharks can you figure out where the danger — and opportunity — is. And just like the drones, today’s smart travel agency owners have a wealth of tools — from sophisticated CRM to financial and business intelligence platforms — at their disposal to monitor their numbers, identify weaknesses, and truly spot those “sharks” before they strike.