Do The Words Business Strategy Make You Glaze Over?
Your ‘Small Business Strategy’
When people ask me what I do I still pause for a second or two. To me what I do is summed up perfectly by the words ‘business strategy’. But most people – at least most people in business – glaze over at the mention of the word ‘strategy’.
It’s boring. It means analysis. There’s no action. It’s just not creative. Or fun. And entrepreneurs are usually creative, feisty and fun. That’s OK, I understand.
So I have a few different answers that I give depending on who I’m talking to: I work with you to grow your business, help you make increase profits, work more productively, spend more time doing what you love, helping you find focus, etc, etc. But today I wanted to set out the first step in creating your small business strategy. I want to see if I can convince you that it’s actually pretty easy, fun and maybe even relevant…
If You Think Your Small Business Doesn’t Have A Strategy, Think Again!
My definition for the strategy-shy entrepreneur is this – any small business strategy is just one simple concept: it’s a decision.
That’s it. No big shakes, no detailed analysis, no long documents, no complex spreadsheets unless you really want them.
Decision = Strategy
No Decision = No Strategy
Of course you can have all the analysis and detail you want, and I can help you with this. But at the end of the day if you don’t take a decision the analysis is worthless and you still don’t actually have a strategy. And if you don’t take a decision for your business, then you won’t take action. Without action you don’t get results. Or at least not the results you might hope for.
OK – you may think this is too simple.
Yup, it’s really easy to get a small business strategy in place. It really is. And simple works best if you ever feel yourself stuck in that fog of confusion or in that place where everything just feels far too complicated.
Take a deep breath and tell yourself that you are going to be strategic. Create a picture in your mind of what you want your business to look like and then take one simple decision that can move you forward towards that place. And then move with it. That’s all you need to do. If you don’t take a decision and don’t move forward then you’ll still be stuck. Growing more and more frustrated, not realising your big vision, and probably not making a whole lot of money.
But What If I Take The Wrong Decision?
I know this is the big one we’re all afraid of. What if we take the wrong decision and end up in a worse situation than we already are? Or what if we take the wrong decision and miss out on the big bucks that are just waiting for us around the corner if only we knew what direction we should move in?
But decisions are not usually like that. If we take one track and we don’t like what’s underfoot then we can do things about it. We can change track. Or we can change shoes. We can adjust and adapt along the way.
There is no wrong decision because all decisions can be changed. You just need to focus on the next step. The next step might be a big one or a small one depending on where you are in your business. Move at the pace that’s right for you. And remember, not to take any action is a sure way to a slow death.
The important thing is to maintain momentum, forward motion.
That’s why I’ve kept your first step to a strategy for your small business really simple. Simple is good if you’re stuck, or if you’re strategy shy. As you become more strategic, you’ll get used analysing and making decisions and you can bring more information into your analysis. And you can start to be strategic over a longer time span.
For today, as you are reading this, ask yourself:
“What’s the one decision I can take and act on right now that will move my business forward today?”
Be strategic. Take that decision, take that action and then give yourself a huge pat on the back for doing it.
And now you know how easy it can be, why not get your business on track for increased profits by signing up for my Get Momentum Programme?
So, what’s your strategy for your small business? And do you glaze over at the mention of the word strategy? I’d love to hear your comments.
 |
|
I have been thinking along the lines of simple but yet effective. It causes less complications for both you and your clients.
Hi Stuart
simple often says it best – even when we think we understand something it can be much harder to explain to clients than we think!
Nice post Cathy, there should be more people out there simplifying things like this.
Through my career I’ve had strategies in my head at times because there’s no officially documented strategy, there’s a general lack of direction, or because the management changes every couple of years.
I found that working in a disruptive environment is no excuse for getting disgruntled and working chaotically. It actually makes it even more important to focus on doing your part strategically and withstanding these factors – they exist everywhere to some extent anyway.
Paul Foster recently posted… The Reverse Blog Post
Great post and true to the KISS principle. Having come out of a large organisation where writing strategies that no one ever read was a full time activity for many of my colleagues ( no me I have an aversion to writing thing that no one is ever going to read) I really get why it’s not seen as sexy. Personally the short and more action focussed the better so the idea of it being a decision works well.
Tycoonwoman recently posted… Your wealth and abundance mindset