The one thing you need in your business to drive success
The one thing you need within your business to make sure your business will be a success: a strategy.
A strategy isn't just for big corporate companies.
If you own a business, of any size, you need to have one in place to give you clarity, focus, direction and a plan. It will make sure you are looking at your business holistically and covering all of the main strategic areas within your business and ensuring they align to drive you and your business to achieve your vision.
You will gain a feeling of control as the CEO of your business and have clarity in your decision making. You will be able to provide a clear strategic focus for your business and team and ensure that your priorities and activity align with achieving your mission and vision whilst staying aligned with your values.
If you aren't clear on your business plan, how do you know that you are spending your energy on the right things? How can you stay on the right path towards your vision if there isn't a pathway to follow?
So, how do you put your strategy together?
It doesn't need to be complicated, but you need to dedicate time to focus on it.
You need a vision.
Where are you headed? Where do you want to be in the next five to ten years? Make your vision aspirational. Something that makes you feel a bit embarrassed to say it out loud but at the same time gives you butterflies at the thought of achieving it. If you have a lifestyle business, then create a business vision and also a lifestyle vision. This can include the hours you'd work, your personal growth, holidays you'd like to take or a house you'd like to buy.
You don't need to share this with anyone; this can be your personal vision that you would like to achieve.
You need a mission.
So, you now know where you want to get to, but how will you get there? Your mission is who you serve, how you serve them and what value you add to them.
Your mission should be unique to you and your business and encapsulate your business as a whole.
Once you have created it, you should share it with friends and other business owners and ask for their feedback. Do they think this describes your business? Is it unique to you?
This is one you can share and make a great bio to summarise your business and what you do.
Dream Big and get your ideas down
You need a plan that underpins your vision and your mission, and it needs to be holistic and realistic. Don't just focus on the product or on your revenue; it needs to be all-encompassing.
There are seven main strategic pillars within your business, and you need to be thinking about all of them.
Financials
Team
Visibility
Product and Services
Operations
Customer/ Client journey
Personal Growth
Take time to reflect on each and write down what you need to deliver within them over the next 3-12 months. Feel free to dream big and get all your ideas and projects down. Some may be smaller than others such as revising your lead magnet, recruiting a new team member or launching a new product. Whatever it is, write it down and make sure that it will take you towards achieving your vision.
Make your strategic plan
Then map in each of these ideas and projects for the quarter that you'd like to deliver it. If you can, you can even narrow it down to the month. Add who will be responsible for delivering it, you or a team member.
Put it into your project management tool or add it to your calendar or a spreadsheet. Whatever way you work, make sure you document what you need to deliver, when and by who.
Your 90-day plan
Then take the projects that need delivering in the next three months and work through them in more detail. What exactly do you need to do to achieve them? This will become your 90-day plan.
Your goals
Set your goals to be aligned to your 90-day plan.
What do you want to deliver, why and how will you measure whether it is successful.
Make sure you celebrate each time you achieve one!
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