The coming of the new year always seems to me to be a natural time to take a moment, step back and look at my business and what lies ahead for the next 12 months. It gives me a chance to look back at this most recent year and how I fared in my business compared to what I thought would happen 12 months ago, and lets me look ahead to what I can do differently to achieve my goals this year based on what may have changed in terms of my competition, new opportunities or challenges, or the marketplace or economy overall.
The new year always brings with it a sense of renewal, and for many, triggers a set of promises of things they'll do differently this year. The stereotype, of course, is that such "resolutions" never last very long, and so are normally pledged to with a large anticipation of falling short anyway.
So, I don't want any of you to set any "resolutions" for your business for this new year, lest they suffer the same fate as the personal resolutions many people make and soon break.
Instead, what you should use the new year for is a chance to revisit your strategy and plans for your business. Look around at what might be different this coming year from last. Will your position in your market still be the same? Will it be challenged by new competitors? Can you identify skill sets that, if you could hire them, would help launch your business to the next level? Will your customers change the way they buy?
As I have undertaken this exercise for Vista Enterprises, my financial-controller-for-hire and income tax prep business that is my "main" business, I have identified the need to grow and expand my clientele even further in 2009, and most importantly to do it more proactively than the traditional "wait for the phone to ring from client referrals" method that has been the driver of my still-fulfilling business growth for the previous 14 years.
I have had a look at "expansion" through a few different lenses, and have chosen a few strategies to pursue. One is through actively working on expanding one specific segment of my income tax business, and for the first time in my business, I will be placing ads in a few targeted places over the coming months, seeking to gain many new clients within this one market. To me, this is a bit of an "internal" expansion, where I am being active to tap further and more aggressively into a market I already have a little bit of a presence in, and within my existing geographic reach.
The other view of "expansion" that I have had is more "external", in looking to broaden the geographic reach of my financial controller/bookkeeping services, well beyond my city and hopefully across several provinces. Again, this will take far more proactive and aggressive actions on my part than what I have done in my business in the past in obtaining new/more clients. So, I am excited by the challenges of both of these different attempts at "expansion", and will be sure to keep you all posted as to their results.
In the meantime, I hope that you all take this time to revisit and review your own plans for your businesses for the next 12 months, and wish each of you a successful and fulfilling 2009!!
Showing posts with label business planning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label business planning. Show all posts
Be a good driver!
Yesterday I presented a workshop in Barrie Ontario on networking. Driving there and back (and getting lost in the middle) I was on the road for 8 hours. Not a lot of excitement along the way, but one road sign did stick out and made me think about our book. I didn't have my camera and even in today's world of technology I can't seem to track down an image of it to share, but it said "Be a good driver, check your truck daily."
That fits so perfectly with the analogy we use in the book. "Be a good business owner, check your business (inside and out) daily." When was the last time you did a circle check or looked down at your dashboard?
That fits so perfectly with the analogy we use in the book. "Be a good business owner, check your business (inside and out) daily." When was the last time you did a circle check or looked down at your dashboard?
How the dashboard came into play this week
Yesterday I submitted my letter of resignation as the Manager of the Small Business & Entrepreneurship Centre. A big step. In doing so, the Dashboard as we discuss in Trucker Management was in full action:
1. Roadmap - a plan to get to where you are headed (I had a business case and had several critics review and challenge it)
2. Logbook - record of where you've been (I looked over my accomplishments over the past 3 years to see if I had completed my original objectives)
3. Fuel Gauge - how long can you operate with the resources you have (I reviewed mine and my families to see if we had the energy and ambition to continue on the same path or move on)
4. Battery Power Gauge - what contingencies are available? (This was really important, what if this plan doesn't work, what will we do?)
5. Trip Meter - how long have you been on this particular journey (When I started the position I thought I would maybe be there 6 months, not 3 years. I enjoyed it for a long time, so I stayed, but when it became 'work' it was time to leave.)
6. Air Vents - rejuvenation and refreshment (A need for this was at the core of the decision.)
7. Most importantly CB / Dispatch - assistance. Running any type of business, and especially starting something new takes a team (even a proprietorship). So this decision includes friends and my family's support and encouragement.
I am excited to see where this new road will take me!
1. Roadmap - a plan to get to where you are headed (I had a business case and had several critics review and challenge it)
2. Logbook - record of where you've been (I looked over my accomplishments over the past 3 years to see if I had completed my original objectives)
3. Fuel Gauge - how long can you operate with the resources you have (I reviewed mine and my families to see if we had the energy and ambition to continue on the same path or move on)
4. Battery Power Gauge - what contingencies are available? (This was really important, what if this plan doesn't work, what will we do?)
5. Trip Meter - how long have you been on this particular journey (When I started the position I thought I would maybe be there 6 months, not 3 years. I enjoyed it for a long time, so I stayed, but when it became 'work' it was time to leave.)
6. Air Vents - rejuvenation and refreshment (A need for this was at the core of the decision.)
7. Most importantly CB / Dispatch - assistance. Running any type of business, and especially starting something new takes a team (even a proprietorship). So this decision includes friends and my family's support and encouragement.
I am excited to see where this new road will take me!
Over planning can be Overkill
We always talk about (and even write about in Trucker Management) that planning, from business planning to contingency planning, is key to small business success - and it is. At the same time however, there comes a time when enough is enough and it's time to stop planning and start doing.
A Junior Chamber chapter this year experienced how over planning can be overkill. JCI provides tools and templates for the individual chapter to complete a yearly business plan. The challenge is that the organization has a pretty diverse mission and a vague target market (only defined by age). In one city, the JC's may look like a business networking association, in another a community club and in another a social group. The other challenge is that the Board of Directors completely changes over every year, so the plan starts from scratch every year. Every chapter struggles with trying to be everything to everyone. So, this chapter we're talking about, spent many months planning who they were, who their target market was and what programming would occur. Then when the President had to leave half way through the year, the new board had to go back into planning mode before the first plan was complete. For 7 months the chapter was planning what it would be doing for the year, even though the year was almost over.
In September, the chapter realized enough is enough and that the planning phase had actually deterred members from attending and joining. So in September they DID something, not just talked about it. The talk on the town the last few weeks had much and improved.
A good quote to sum this up is:
Ready. Fire. Aim.
is better than
Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim...
A Junior Chamber chapter this year experienced how over planning can be overkill. JCI provides tools and templates for the individual chapter to complete a yearly business plan. The challenge is that the organization has a pretty diverse mission and a vague target market (only defined by age). In one city, the JC's may look like a business networking association, in another a community club and in another a social group. The other challenge is that the Board of Directors completely changes over every year, so the plan starts from scratch every year. Every chapter struggles with trying to be everything to everyone. So, this chapter we're talking about, spent many months planning who they were, who their target market was and what programming would occur. Then when the President had to leave half way through the year, the new board had to go back into planning mode before the first plan was complete. For 7 months the chapter was planning what it would be doing for the year, even though the year was almost over.
In September, the chapter realized enough is enough and that the planning phase had actually deterred members from attending and joining. So in September they DID something, not just talked about it. The talk on the town the last few weeks had much and improved.
A good quote to sum this up is:
Ready. Fire. Aim.
is better than
Ready. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim. Aim...
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