Is it time for a business tune-up?
Is it time for a business tune-up?
Like most smart entrepreneurs, you probably had a business plan to start. You did everything by the book: You put together a thorough business plan, you followed it, and whatever success you’re now enjoying proves it was a solid plan. That doesn’t mean the business plan that served you well as a startup business is what it should be now that it’s helped you realize the first part of your dream. To get to the heart of that passionate vision, your now operational business plan might need some fine tuning.
Maybe you used it to help raise money. But now you operate in the real world, and everything seems a little different. No matter how much research you did in advance, and how neatly you set up your company, the everyday business playing field tends to be a disorderly place where things rarely go according to design.
What you may need now is a plan of a different sort — a plan for strategic growth that acts more like an internal compass to guide you toward success. This plan starts with a specific mindset. Gather some intelligence about what’s happening internally. Both inside you as the owner and inside the company in terms of operations, then explore what is happening around you, your market, your customers, your alliances, then write down your plan. You don’t need something extensive — even a list of bullet point will help.
As with much else in your original business plan, your product and marketing ideas can probably benefit from a revision. Take time quarterly to research and review today’s market, and adjust accordingly. What are the trends in your industry? What are the new and emerging customer buying patterns? What do your customers or clients have to say about how you might serve them even better?
And don’t be shy about asking for objective, professional advice. With all of the social media connections that exist today, you can reach out to some of the professionals that you have in your connection and ask them for their opinion. This allows for connections to become more meaningful.
If you don’t feel comfortable with inquiring with connections, experiment with new ideas on your family or friends before putting them out on the big stage. Learning from a few controlled trials is safer and cheaper than going right out and putting an untested experiment on the betting line.
As your business expands, you, as the visionary, must find a way to effectively hand over some of the daily tasks in order to keep your passion hot and your focus on bigger things to come.
Continued success requires flexibility, you, as the visionary can’t afford to be too closely wed to your original business plan if you want it to serve new growth. Take a fresh, open-minded look at how it got you here, and tweak it as necessary to serve your current needs and market conditions.
