The Big Plan
Which Airport are you going to?
A client recently described his business as a jumbo jet. It was in mid-air with an excellent cabin crew, providing a good service to its passengers and picking up speed. The only thing was he wasn't sure where it was going to land. For most businessmen this is a common problem. Very few sit back and think what their long term overall objectives are. Many hours of hard work can be spent on areas of the business that do not achieve the owner's goals.
The majority of small businesses are started because the proprietor needs an income. Once that target has been achieved longer term questions must be considered.
Building an Empire
Possible objectives and the strategies you will need to employ to achieve them are:
1. To sustain an income until retirement. If so, you will need to continually adapt to new challenges and not get stuck in a rut.
2. To keep your current level of income but work less hours. In this case you will either need to look for that elusive manager to take over much of
your role or develop systems so that the business is less dependant on you.
3. Continually grow your business. This will inevitably mean you need to focus on the quality that is likely to make your business a success and use
that as the focus of your business practices and marketing.
4. Maximise short-term profits. This may be appropriate if your business has a limited life, perhaps taking advantage of a recent change in government legislation or supplying luxury goods in an economic boom. Businesses like this must avoid long-term commitments but still focus on sales.
5. To sell your business. Most owners do not realise that their business is not the sort that other people would want to buy. They need to concentrate on making it less dependant upon themselves.
6. To pass the business on to the next generation. Remember that not everyone is born to manage but make sure your successor has worked their way through every aspect of the business and learnt the lessons that you learned while building the business originally.
Dealing with change is hard for everyone but if you don't address necessary changes your business will slowly die. A4G provide a range of solutions including an all-day strategic planning session.
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You may also like to look at the other modules in the business strategy section:
STIR (Saving Time Improving Results) »