Fail to Plan….or Plan to Fail

This is an decent article about running a business and how the subject of time management fits into all of the other aspects of a business. The author says that time management is the key to business planning. His illustration of how he uses time management techniques for business is interesting, yet so common that we wouldn’t ordinarily think of it as a time management issue.

Running a business, whether it be an offline multi-billion
dollar company or an online part time [tag]home business[/tag], they
share many similar traits.

One of the biggest obstacles I have endeavoured to
translate to many, many [tag]small business[/tag] / home business
people, is a very simple phrase……’ Treat It Like a REAL
business, Because It IS a REAL Business’.

The fundemental reasoning behind so many failures in small
business, is the clear lack of willingness to act like a
real business. Many people may ‘ have a go ‘, they could ‘
give it a try ‘, or ‘ let’s see what happens ‘ – all with
the.. ‘ what have I got to lose? ‘ attitude. THAT, my
friends, is one of the biggest secrets to FAILURE.

OK – s let’s assume that your small business / home
business / BizOp etc., is NOT you main source of income. It
is NOT responsible for putting food in you family’s
stomachs, it is NOT what keeps a roof over your head…..
it is NOT the sole form of income that you, your family and
your Bank Manager rely upon.

So look at it like this. If it WAS, would you put as much
effort into it as you do now? I can pretty much guarantee
that your efforts would be substantially more, because
everything relies on the success of your business,
via-a-vis the money your business generates.

Well, now we have ascertained that you should be running it
like a real business…….Are you?

  • Do you have a business plan?
  • Do you know each step that your business will take over the next week, month, year, three years….?
  • Have you prepared your agenda for acquiring new customers, products, joint venture partners?
  • Do you have a time-table of events?
  • How often do you research, analyse, read-up and check out your competitors?
  • When was the last time you contacted your client base?
  • Do you offer them special offers, free resources and reports? What about surverying them and asking for their opinions?
  • How often do you do all this?
  • Does your business have a ‘company objective’?
  • Has your ‘company’ it’s own ‘customer mission statement’?
  • Have you set yourself / your business targets….use my S.M.A.R.T. Principle…… …….targets which must be
    • Specific………….. each item / area of business must be targeted spcifically.
    • Measurable…….. be able to measure your targets, how much, how often etc.
    • Achievable……..don’t think that you can sell 2 million units if your competitors only sell 50 units.
    • Realisitc………….. behonest with yourself. Can it be done?
    • Time-bound…….give limitations and deadlines to whatever you are planning. Open-ended is no good.

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