How’s Your 2014 Business Plan?

You might be thinking that your business plan is all set and things are rolling along nicely, but how long is it since you reviewed it?  What opportunities are you missing?

When you review your business plan, you review every aspect of your business, not just your finances.

A business plan covers everything from your value proposition – what makes you different – to your ideal client profile, marketing methods and all your marketing and financial planning.

Everything moves so quickly these days that your client’s needs can change in an instant.

• How do you know you are still giving them what they need?  Is there a better way to do that?
• Are your current systems supporting you or holding you back?  Is there a new and better way to operate?
• Are there gaps in your market that you could be filling now that you couldn’t when your plan was first drawn up?
• Are there new avenues to find clients?
• Is your target market still where you think they are? Is your message being promoted in the right places?
• Does your social media plan work for you?  (You do have one, don’t you?)
• Is your cash still flowing as you anticipated or have the high and low seasons altered?
• Are your staff up to date on everything?  Do they need training?
• Do you have the right type of staff members?
• Have your competitors overtaken you?  What are they doing differently?
• Do you have new competitors that you hadn’t planned for?
• Are your clients still loyal to you?

As you can see, it’s important to review your business plan on a regular basis.  Perhaps it’s time you looked it over.

Read Full Post »

Your Personal and Professional Development.

Before I started out in business I did a lot of research so that I had some idea of what I was doing.  I remember reading a lot about why we need business plans and/or strategic plans.  It all made perfect sense.  We need to know where we are going so that we can plan a way to get there.  Good.  Let’s go…

It is only now that I have been in business for a while that I notice something missing in the planning process.  There was no real reference to a need for business owners to plan for their personal and professional development.  Does that seem odd to you?

If we take the time to plan where we are going and how we intend to get there, why are we not looking at ourselves and assessing whether or not we have the necessary skills and knowledge to allow us to succeed?   The trouble is that if we don’t do it at the beginning we may never do it.  Once your business has begun there will be a lot to keep you busy and keeping track of your skill level is not usually something you will think about.

The difference between success and failure might all come down to you as an individual.  If you don’t have the skills, knowledge and personal qualities needed by people in your area of business then you should go out and get them.  By building in some form of personal assessment into your business plan you will be reminded to stop and take a good look at yourself.  Remember that even though you may have been up-to-date when you started out, things change over time and you need to keep up.

Next time I will show you some of the differences between personal and professional development and how they impact on your business.

Here’s to treasurer software…

Read Full Post »