Dear great business minds, turn my co. around (Long)

[theclock]

I’ve written this expecting to receive negative posts of how I should’ve done this or shouldn’t have done this …………. It’s OK, if I even find a couple nuggets it’ll be worth it. I know this is a poker forum, sorry but my circle is very small and I’ve learned a lot from a few of the intelligent posters here. I’ve visited a few business forums but somehow I feel that great poker brains also have a great mind for business. (Selected few)

Sorry if this is an inappropriate place to ask for advice, but I need to really “do something” to get my company and career back on track.

I know there are a lot of details that I have left out. Please ask me for what other information that is needed.

Setup:

I now own a small business (school tutoring English) in a foreign country (Korea) I’m not Korean and barely speak the language. The city I now live in is very small with a population of about 100,000. The nearest big city is Pusan which is about 3hrs away.

How did I end up owning a business? I came to this school just working as a regular teacher. One day the manager asked me if I was interested in becoming partners. I obliged, and bought the school that we were working at. The owner of that school was never there and he had other bigger business to deal with. We agreed on a number and the contract was signed. It took us two years to fully pay for the school and now the school is debt free. My partner and I earned very little salary at that time. Now four years have past, last year my partner decided to leave because the company didn’t make enough money for him to live on. We both can see the future of the company wasn’t very bright. I on the other hand, was stubborn and hung on. It has been a year on my own now; I feel that I am going through a slow death.

I need to know how I can turn my company around; there are only a few competitors in this city. I know for a fact that two of them are profitable and prospering. It can be done; and right now I’m just not getting it done. Quite simple, I don’t want to make any excuses for myself. Most businesses fail due to poor management. I have a staff of 8. (From 12) There is no more room to cut. I need teachers to teach. Throughout the past six months, I have thought about almost every scenario on how to get my company back into the black. Embarrassing writing out to strangers but when the going gets tough a man has to try every desperate move. Yes, I am not willing to throw in the towel yet. I do not have many friends here and I know zero business minded savvy people here. There might be things I haven’t thought of. Advice, suggestions, anything that will help is positive.

There is not enough information to go on here, I’ll provide all details if need be. Thank you for reading.

I need intelligent advice; please don’t cram up the thread with junk. PLEASE! Just save the flames for another thread.