WHY ARE YOU IN BUSINESS?
It’s a good question, and one you should be continually asking yourself, and reviewing. Most people go into business for 1 of the following reasons;
- Money / financial success
- Lifestyle
- Self expression (showing who you want to be)
Is your business achieving this for you? If not, why don’t you fix it? Often businesses make decisions based on what has happened in the PAST rather than looking forward. Remember, looking backwards will NOT help you achieve your goals.
When you are making decisions about your business, remember the reasons why you went into business, and make your decisions based on these goals!
We can help you focus your business to achieve your goals. You need to do some planning, and set in place steps to reach those goals. Once you have this planning in place, it’s a matter then to keep your eye on the ball by monitoring your performance.
And with the way the economy is at present, with trading conditions arguably the most difficult they have been in the past 50 years, now is exactly the time that business owners’ thinking should be applied to this.
If you need assistance getting your business back on track, give Lindsay or Joy a call. Most often it’s better to share your goals (and get some support) in order to achieve them! |
DO YOU HAVE A BUSINESS PLAN?
The idea of a business plan is very comforting. It makes people feel safe and secure to know that there is a plan guiding business activities in the “right” way.
But why is it that business plans almost never come to life? Why do almost all of them, once written, sit on a shelf and gather dust, while the futures they describe never see the light of day, and the businesses they describe wobble their way into their uncertain futures?
In order for a business plan to work—to truly be useful—it must be based on your business vision.
Your vision is your dream for the future of the business and the path you will take to make it a reality. As the leader of the organisation, your vision should be absolutely clear, it should describe where you are going and what the destination will be like.
A business without a vision is directionless. It lacks purpose and heart. It lacks the essential idea from which commitment, growth and the sense of personal achievement arise and flourish.
Your business plan needs your vision to make it come alive, to make it a reality. And similarly, your vision needs the form, direction, and clarity of a business plan to give it relevance to the day-to-day operation of your business.
Writing a “traditional” business plan is usually precipitated by one of two thoughts, either: 1) we’d better write a business plan because “that’s what successful businesses do” or; 2) we need to write a business plan if we want to go out and borrow some money.
Most business plans, therefore, are developed from a head-centered place. In other words, they’re analytical and they’re dry. They’re full of charts and graphs and cerebral motivation which don’t appeal to emotions at all. A plan that starts in the head, based purely on logic and reason, lacks passion, excitement and purpose.
As we all know, humans make choices based on emotions. That’s why we always advise, when attracting and converting new customers, to appeal to their emotional mind rather than their rational mind. It’s the emotional part of the mind that makes the buying decisions. Doesn’t it then make sense that your business plan should inspire that same kind of emotional “buy in” with your employees, lenders, investors etc.?
In contrast, a business plan that’s based on your business vision is propelled forward because you want it to work. Your vision-based business plan is a statement of your vision and a current description of the main strategies and tactics you’ll use to make your vision come true.
Here are some “productive points of view” about planning that will make it a truly worthwhile endeavor:
- Start with what’s important to you. A one page document that you (and others) feel passionately about will serve you better than a technically superior 30 page booklet that you don’t feel strongly about.
- Approach planning as more of an art than a science. Use your best thinking when you plan, but don’t forget that even the best thinking involves educated guesswork.
- Create a planning framework that accommodates change. Don’t think of your plan as a rigid “final product” with every detail pinned down. Think of it more as a series of guideposts of key topics to focus attention on and targets to aim for.
- Treat the plan as a living, growing document. Review it, evaluate it, and revise it. Keep questioning your assumptions. Stay flexible and open to change.
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