Business innovation and success in the current “Great Recession” requires more than just hoping for the “best” and waiting for the government to come and save us all.
I’ve been in business for 30+ years and this is my 7th recession.
What have I learned in seven recessions?
One thing:
You have to take control of you company’s destiny if you want to not only survive but also thrive.
Business innovation is essential if you want to accomplish this.
Business strategies are things rarely considered by s
mall to mid size business owners. Without sound business strategies you’re driving down a road in the dark.
The new “constant crisis” economy of today’s world requires clear understanding of what you want your business accomplish.
Here are 7 business strategies to get your company growing again:
Let’s be honest…you’re distracted right?
If you weren’t you wouldn’t be reading this blog post instead of working on the “big money bonanza” project that you just can’t seem to get done.
You’re not alone!
Here are 7 steps that by themselves are not very revolutionary…but when added together are like time management on “steroids.”
The best business lead
ers focus on business strategy.
The worst business leaders focus on business tactics.
One thing most entrepreneurs never seem to fully grasp is the difference between business strategy and business tactics.
Here is the stunningly simple definition of business strategy put forth by Gary Hamel (whom the Wall Street Journal recently ranked as the world’s most influential business thinker, and Fortune magazine has called “the world’s leading expert on business strategy“).
Real business strategy must pass two tests:
1. What you are planning to do must really matter to your clients and potential clients (note the heavy, heavy emphasis on really matters!)
2. That what you are planning in number 1 – really differentiates you from your competitors.
When you have figured out numbers 1 and 2…and then develop (or already have) the ability to actually implement and deliver on the ideas from 1 and 2 – you have a winning business strategy.
Business tactics are best thought of as the rest of the “stuff” you fill your day with.
“Stuff” isn’t important.
Great business strategy is.
Simple isn’t it?
What Every Busin
ess Person Wants – And How To Get It!
It doesn’t matter what kind of business you run. You share something in common with every other entrepreneur out there. There’s something you really want and you’re probably struggling to get it!
Recognition? Respect? Money? Growth? Power?
No.
It’s something even more fundamental and universal.
You want time.
Time.
You want to slow down the clock. You want to accomplish more. You want to find a way to do things, to explore new ideas, to enjoy the fruits of your labor, to catch up with that constantly growing workload and (probably) to get several good nights’ sleep in a row! You want time.
And you just can’t get it, can you?
You’re not alone. Everyone wants more time but very few people actually have as much of it as they’d like. So, they rush from Point A to Point B to Point C every day. Their phones are glued to their ears. They eat in the car. They kiss the kids on the forehead in the morning and run to the office. They trade Sundays at home for hours in front of the computer. They don’t just burn the candle at both ends, they incinerate it completely, becoming one-dimensional, sleep-deprived business automatons.