No matter how small you may think your business is, I can assure you that many of the issues you face are the same ones faced by the bigger end of town.
We deal with a wide range of businesses varying in size, whether that be measured by turnover, staff numbers or number of sites. We find it is common for business owners to be surprised to know that even public companies, with all their resources, find themselves trying to answer a lot of the same questions.
Do any of these sound familiar…
Several studies seeking to identify what CEO’s of major corporates are focusing on in the year ahead have noted:
• Employment flexibility — trying to attract and keep the best people
• Innovation — the drive for new and improved products and services
• Moving fast enough — the world is moving faster and we need to keep up in all areas of the business
• Labor shortages — where to find appropriately skilled team members
• Digital transformation — the need to stay relevant
• Customer connection — the need for genuine connections to maintain loyalty
• The US election — well, we know what happened, and I guess we will find out what that means over the coming months…
So don’t feel alone…I’m sure you can see that many or most of these are your issues too.
What this drives home is the need to allow sufficient time to do your planning…and to implement your plan! (The best plans are no good if they gather dust on the shelf).
Many people talk about not being able to find enough time to ‘work on the business’ because they are too busy ‘working in the business’.
Don’t let this be you.
There is no time like the present (i.e. the Christmas — New Year holidays) to take some time to sit down and consider some key questions:
• What was good about last year?
• What was bad about last year?
• What really drives me to succeed?
• What do I really want from my business?
• What do I want in terms of personal life balance?
• What do I love doing (in my business)?
• What do I hate doing (in my business…… otherwise the list can get too long 🙂 )?
I feel very sure that if you spend the time to really consider these questions you will start to see some real clarity forming. As you start to see beyond the forest (day to day business activities) you will start to see (or remember) your vision for being in business.
From there, starting to set a concrete plan with goals, targets, actions and timelines will be much easier… and seem like a much more valuable experience.
And don’t forget…you are not alone…even the big boys are having to do this…and they don’t have your advantage of being able to react quickly and to innovate when necessary in the way only a small business can.
So what are you waiting for…
Hopefully you are addressing these areas well. If you would like help in planning for improvements in your business, please contact David or John on 07 3221 4465.
