Wednesday, August 23, 2006

Week 1 - What do you want for your business?

It is easy and hard at the same time. Build up the number of customers your business serves through innovative marketing and attention to detail. Then just put in place systems which ensure that your initial successes become lasting. Net result: Choices, through a business which serves you rather than the other way around.

Regardless of how you arrived in your corner of the world, I need you to stop and ask three questions:

1. What business am I really in? Your product or service is not your business and if you believe it is, we have to change that.

2. What do you I want for my business? Are you operating in a way which simply brings in enough cash to allow you to get up and do it again next week?

3. Depending on your answer above, do I even want to be in this business?

CHOICE is one thing many business owners lack. You have to turn up everyday; you have to fix mistakes your employees made; only you can serve customers because nobody else understands them like you do. Sound familiar? If you could break out of this pattern, what might you like to do with your business assuming for a moment that anything is possible?

Do you want to spend less time in your business and more with your family?

Do you want to expand your business to increase your income, but don’t have the energy or drive?

Do you want to just sell your business for a respectable sum of money?

Achieving any of these objectives is often over complicated. We think of business plans and finance and cash flow – all of which are obviously important. But far more important initially is willingness to pursue your objective and a broad understanding of how it is all going to unfold. Whatever your end goal, you need more customers through the door and you need to operate in a systematic way – in other words, you not only need to be good, you need to be consistently good. Whether you take more time out, expand or sell out completely, you need to get things humming without you even being present.

No comments: