- Image by K’s GLIMPSES via Flickr
One of the hardest parts of running any business is simply keeping it alive. With the grim statistic that over half of all new businesses fail in their first year coupled with today’s precarious economic climate, it’s a tough time to be a business owner.
Yet many businesses fail not through a downturn in the economy but because they ignore even the most basic rules of business. This is more than just bad management – it’s almost akin to criminal negligence and is as good as killing your business. If you don’t want your business to join the names of the failures, you need to make sure you make any changes needed before it’s too late.
1. Revisit Your Business Plan
When was the last time you looked at your business plan? If it’s the same one as when you first started your business you’re already behind. Any successful business owner will tell you they are continuously revising their original business plan. The business world is constantly changing and evolving – make sure your plan evolves with it.
2. Be Pro-active, Not Reactive
Think of all the great sporting events and results. Can you recall who picked up the silver medal or runner-up prize? Probably not – and the same is true for business. Second-place won’t win you new customers or sales. Make sure you’re first out the gate each time and make the market happen around you as opposed to you reacting to the market.
3. Grasp Opportunities When They Happen
One of the biggest mistakes any business owner can make is assuming they’ll get a second chance. Missed the holiday sales season? Never mind, there’s always the next time, right? Wrong. In business you very rarely get a second bite at the cherry, so if you see an opportunity go for it there and then. It could mean the difference between keeping your company alive and watching it collapse around you.
4. Think Locally, Grow Globally
One of the reasons that so many shoppers complain when a new megastore opens is that it can mean the end of the local corner shop and the personal touch that comes with it. People like dealing with people, not just a faceless number. Make sure you keep in touch with your local audience as well – there’s a whole world of untapped potential right on your doorstep. Having a strong local presence will give you the backing to expand your business to a much wider audience further down the line.
5. Take a Virtual Business Trip
If you really want to keep your business alive and ahead of the game, you need to know what’s happening in your field and what customers want. With the abundance of resources online, you have a world of information at your fingertips.
- Visit business forums to find out what’s being talked about (better still, start one of your own for your customers to participate in).
- Sign up for business alerts from business news sites.
- Instigate business referral partnerships with relevant suppliers or providers.
- Use social networks to connect with your audience and show your human side.
While there will always be tough times for any business owner, making your business fail by committing basic schoolboy errors isn’t acceptable. If you recognize any of these areas as ones that you haven’t already taken care of, you need to make the change now. Otherwise you could be sounding the death knell on your business.
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Your first point is a good one and perhaps the most important but you need to do more than just “revisit” your business plan. If you really want to stay ahead of the game you MUST continually tweak your business plan. To some degree even on a daily basis.
Just ten minutes a day looking at your plan and tweaking it will enable you to implement a continuous improvement programme that can make a big difference to the way your business works and people within your business communicate.
Innovation actually becomes pretty easy when you get into a habit of doing it every day.
Simple things like process mapping and reprioritising can make a huge difference when visited daily.
Get the post-it notes out and throw those ideas up on the wall. Remember that every idea is a good idea, no matter how silly it sounds. Even the silliest ideas can be the seed that makes a really good idea grow.
Lee Stacey´s last blog post..I Don’t Do Piracy
That must be my UK version of terminology coming through – when I said “revisit” I did actually mean tweak it if needed. I’ll have to stop and think in future of the different meanings…
Great point about being innovative every day, particularly when there are companies that aren’t being innovative anywhere near as much as they should be. Then they wonder why they’re struggling…
Twitter: jonbuscall
Excellent point about targeting local business. It’s easy to forget to talk to the locals with social media.
As someone working in Sweden and using Twitter, I’ve found the hashtag #svpt a useful way of making sure some of the things I say are directly aimed at Swedes —even though nearly everyone is writing in (global) English.
On Twitter it’s important not to alientate non-English followers. Hashtags are a great way of targeting local followers.
jon buscall´s last blog post..2008 – That Was the Year That Was
I consider my blog to be my business and I constantly find myself going off track and having to go back to my goals and initial plan.
Tom – StandOutBlogger.com´s last blog post..10 Things Climbing A Mountain Taught Me About Goals
@ Jon. It’s interesting to see you use the international “local market’, with your own country as your local audience (particularly on Twitter). I feel this is where many users whose first language is English are probably missing out – it never fails to amaze me how other countries are able to drop into English easily (or so it would appear). Can only help in the long run, and always impressive to see.
I see all these steps as opportunities, especially when companies fail to consider any or all of them.
#2 Proactive vs. Reactive- (Is a post topic I’ve had a working draft on for a few days now.) This is one I have the biggest issue with. I’ve seen some very prominent firms sit back and watch what their competitors do first and always follow suit. Never the innovator, even though they have the power to. Sometimes it’s due to a lack of creativity, but often it’s been a result of trying to maintain a minimalistic “Do only what we have to” approach. If you’re going to be #1, then be #1 by leading the pack with innovative services, products and customer relationships.
Paul J Roberts´s last blog post..Set Your Goals for 2009
Being proactive can be at times risky. But with any business, risk is the norm. It is a “dog eat dog” world. Outshine your competition. Never settle for less.
Thanks for the article.
Willie