Capacity capital and customers. You’ll see these referred to on our websites, social media and on other material developed and distributed by the Birmingham Business Resource Center. I began using that combination of words as I conceptualized the center as a one stop for small business financing and related technical assistance
I’ve often used the analogy of a three-legged stool. So, use your imagination, there is a stool with three legs, one representing capacity, one representing capital and the other representing customers. Now it should be easy to see that in order for a small business to succeed it needs all three. Honestly, in order for any business, large or small to succeed, all three are necessary.
But imagine that you’re looking at the stool and see that the legs representing capacity and capital are well developed but there are no customers. In that case it’s easy to see that the business has problems. The stool is unsafe. It cannot stand on its own. If capacity and customers are available but there’s no capital, then there are other sets of problems. And if all the capital and customers were available but the business lacked capacity then the likelihood for success is still going to be limited.
So, if you saw such a stool with imbalanced legs, you’d consider that it was improperly manufactured- poorly built. You certainly wouldn’t feel comfortable sitting on it. Well, I contend that the same is true for businesses. Imbalances in businesses’ capacity to deliver products and services, the lack of capital resources to fuel business operations, facilitate delivery of products and services, or diminished or poorly developed market opportunities that provide customers must be corrected if a business enterprise is to survive.
Our mission at the Birmingham Business Resource Center has always been to help businesses succeed. Our understanding the fact that these three necessities, capacity, capital and customers has been the driving force, our mantra, which has fueled our existence and given us the tools we need it throughout these years to help small businesses start, grow and succeed.