Business owners often know the answers to overcoming the challenges they face, but taking action is vital to succeeding. Getty Images
Business owners often know the answers to overcoming the challenges they face, but taking action is vital to succeeding. Getty Images
Business owners often know the answers to overcoming the challenges they face, but taking action is vital to succeeding. Getty Images
Business owners often know the answers to overcoming the challenges they face, but taking action is vital to succeeding. Getty Images

How obvious insights can drive change and lead to a thriving business


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My friend runs a struggling digital advertising studio in Bahrain. She offers her creative solutions to a handful of clients, so she’s always working with freelance videographers and photographers to meet their different requests.

But because she works only with top freelancers to ensure the quality of the work produced, her costs have been high and she hasn’t been able to meet her targeted revenue, especially during the pandemic with many businesses cutting down on their advertisement expenses.

The only way for her to save her business is to increase her revenue, and that means working with more clients.

While my friend is a genius when it comes to advertisements, she doesn’t like to market her business, which would ultimately increase sales.

“I just feel too embarrassed when it comes to me,” she told me. Having said that, she also knows that increasing sales will help her business thrive.

So, what did she do next? She ignored the obvious solution and focused on what she does best, enhancing her creative skills and hoping her clients would approach her instead of pitching work to them.

Her situation reminded me of another friend who always dreamed of becoming a writer. At almost every friends’ gathering, she would talk about her dream and the subjects she would cover and discuss.

But she hasn’t done anything about it. She never approached any media or publishing houses. She sporadically shares snippets of her work on her social media platform and believes this is enough as she waits for the day when an editor stumbles on her page and invites her to write for their publication.

Though this can happen sometimes – and I personally know writers who were approached by editors through their social media pages and have launched their writing careers as a result – more often than not, we need to be proactive.

Just like my friend and her sales dilemma, most of the time we already have the answers to our challenges. We know exactly what needs to be done and how to fix our situation, but we choose to ignore the truth and get caught up in other things that may not necessarily help us overcome our challenges.

Just like my friend and her sales dilemma, most of the time we already have the answers to our challenges

This applies to managing teams and how a manager can impact their team’s productivity. A colleague of mine was extremely overwhelmed with running her family’s real estate business, but she knew that hiring staff would help to take the load off her shoulders.

She hired four employees, all top students with impressive resumes. Two months later, she told me how she regrets hiring them and nothing has changed. The truth is that she was too caught up with her work and didn’t have time to personally walk them through their job roles. They didn’t have a proper road map or targets to achieve.

When I addressed that and told her that is where her problem lies, she told me that deep down she knew, but she was too busy and hoped that the issue would untie itself.

My father, a business expert, taught me an important lesson in business and that is to view matters objectively. When I ask him for advice on any business challenge, he said he’d always ask two questions: What is the exact problem? What do you think is the solution? That’s it. He doesn’t like going in circles and always cuts a story short.

If you’re struggling with revenue, focus on sales. If you want more people to discover your brand, invest in marketing. If your team isn’t motivated, spend more time with them. Provide a proper onboarding orientation, where the owner or manager walks them through everything they need to know.

The solutions are often simple. We know the answers to most business challenges, but we often have so much going on in our mind that it is clouding our thought process. With summer approaching, and many of us spending time at home, reflect on your goals. What’s standing in the way of achieving them?

Manar Al Hinai is an award-winning Emirati journalist and entrepreneur, who manages her marketing and communications company in Abu Dhabi.

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Dust and sand storms compared

Sand storm

  • Particle size: Larger, heavier sand grains
  • Visibility: Often dramatic with thick "walls" of sand
  • Duration: Short-lived, typically localised
  • Travel distance: Limited 
  • Source: Open desert areas with strong winds

Dust storm

  • Particle size: Much finer, lightweight particles
  • Visibility: Hazy skies but less intense
  • Duration: Can linger for days
  • Travel distance: Long-range, up to thousands of kilometres
  • Source: Can be carried from distant regions
INDIA V SOUTH AFRICA

First Test: October 2-6, at Visakhapatnam

Second Test: October 10-14, at Maharashtra

Third Test: October 19-23, at Ranchi

Key figures in the life of the fort

Sheikh Dhiyab bin Isa (ruled 1761-1793) Built Qasr Al Hosn as a watchtower to guard over the only freshwater well on Abu Dhabi island.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Dhiyab (ruled 1793-1816) Expanded the tower into a small fort and transferred his ruling place of residence from Liwa Oasis to the fort on the island.

Sheikh Tahnoon bin Shakhbut (ruled 1818-1833) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further as Abu Dhabi grew from a small village of palm huts to a town of more than 5,000 inhabitants.

Sheikh Khalifa bin Shakhbut (ruled 1833-1845) Repaired and fortified the fort.

Sheikh Saeed bin Tahnoon (ruled 1845-1855) Turned Qasr Al Hosn into a strong two-storied structure.

Sheikh Zayed bin Khalifa (ruled 1855-1909) Expanded Qasr Al Hosn further to reflect the emirate's increasing prominence.

Sheikh Shakhbut bin Sultan (ruled 1928-1966) Renovated and enlarged Qasr Al Hosn, adding a decorative arch and two new villas.

Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan (ruled 1966-2004) Moved the royal residence to Al Manhal palace and kept his diwan at Qasr Al Hosn.

Sources: Jayanti Maitra, www.adach.ae

Our family matters legal consultant

Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais

Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.

The more serious side of specialty coffee

While the taste of beans and freshness of roast is paramount to the specialty coffee scene, so is sustainability and workers’ rights.

The bulk of genuine specialty coffee companies aim to improve on these elements in every stage of production via direct relationships with farmers. For instance, Mokha 1450 on Al Wasl Road strives to work predominantly with women-owned and -operated coffee organisations, including female farmers in the Sabree mountains of Yemen.

Because, as the boutique’s owner, Garfield Kerr, points out: “women represent over 90 per cent of the coffee value chain, but are woefully underrepresented in less than 10 per cent of ownership and management throughout the global coffee industry.”

One of the UAE’s largest suppliers of green (meaning not-yet-roasted) beans, Raw Coffee, is a founding member of the Partnership of Gender Equity, which aims to empower female coffee farmers and harvesters.

Also, globally, many companies have found the perfect way to recycle old coffee grounds: they create the perfect fertile soil in which to grow mushrooms. 

At a glance

Global events: Much of the UK’s economic woes were blamed on “increased global uncertainty”, which can be interpreted as the economic impact of the Ukraine war and the uncertainty over Donald Trump’s tariffs.

 

Growth forecasts: Cut for 2025 from 2 per cent to 1 per cent. The OBR watchdog also estimated inflation will average 3.2 per cent this year

 

Welfare: Universal credit health element cut by 50 per cent and frozen for new claimants, building on cuts to the disability and incapacity bill set out earlier this month

 

Spending cuts: Overall day-to day-spending across government cut by £6.1bn in 2029-30 

 

Tax evasion: Steps to crack down on tax evasion to raise “£6.5bn per year” for the public purse

 

Defence: New high-tech weaponry, upgrading HM Naval Base in Portsmouth

 

Housing: Housebuilding to reach its highest in 40 years, with planning reforms helping generate an extra £3.4bn for public finances

SRI LANKA SQUAD

Upul Tharanga (captain), Dinesh Chandimal, Niroshan Dickwella
Lahiru Thirimanne, Kusal Mendis, Milinda Siriwardana
Chamara Kapugedara, Thisara Perera, Seekuge Prasanna
Nuwan Pradeep, Suranga Lakmal, Dushmantha Chameera
Vishwa Fernando, Akila Dananjaya, Jeffrey Vandersay