Not for Profit is not a Business Plan, it is an Accounting Term

I learned many lessons at Ocean Park. One of the biggest lessons was changing the mindset and transforming beliefs in the minds of stakeholders, externally and internally. In the beginning, as we embarked on stopping the bleeding and turning red ink into black ink, it was easily determined that while it was vital to change the customer’s perception of the Park, it was equally as important to change the mindset and perception of the staff working in the park.

Externally with our prospects, business partners, corporate prospects, travel operators, etc., my sales calls revealed some startling insights. It was difficult to accept but realistic. Some of their comments included:

a. Why are you here?

b. Thought the park was closing?

c. Can’t wait for Disneyland to open

d. Why did you take this job?

e. There is no future for you or the Park

There were many more but this was an awakening and should foreshadow what was ahead. The public had lost interest in the Park and it supported the situation analysis that I spoke about in an earlier blog. So, the gauntlet was thrown down and the challenge extended. Future business would depend on changing the perception within the entire marketplace, locally and globally. Nobody wanted our product. Unless we changed this perception with these stakeholders, there was no future ahead.

Internally, it seemed that the staff had also lost interest as well while watching the park spiral downwards over the years. It was just a job. While the job was necessary, there was little motivation there. Being a not-for-profit business, they actually believed this classification, that there was no need to make a profit. Not-for-profit is not a business plan, it is only an accounting term. Every business needs to be profitable in order to survive, there is no alternative. While non-profit means there is no tax to pay, no one or entity is funding the Park. It relied only on itself to be sustainable. Being profitable beats the alternative.

At the time, many staff remarked “The park does not need to make money, being government owned, the government would never let it fail. We will always have our jobs and never be fired.” Throughout my career, this was a new experience for me. It was clear that the challenge to change mindsets included both customers and staff.