This post is about the relationship between the economy and growing your business.
Mr. and Ms. Small Business Owner…
It’s not the economy!
With the recent downward volatility in the stock market, the threat of a double dip recession and a poor job outlook, you may wonder why you shouldn’t just liquidate your business and hide under a rock.
First let’s acknowledge that these events trigger real emotions and feelings that can affect your thoughts and actions. Second, after we acknowledge these feelings exist, we need to transition to rational business thinking and actions.
Consider – External Factors & Internal Factors
The External Factors are either opportunities and/or threats. The state of the economy is one of many external factors that affect your business. Other external factors may include shareholder circumstances, emerging technological changes and government regulations.
It is important to understand these external factors and how they affect your business. You must realize that reviving the economy is totally out of your control.
I break down the Internal Factors into ‘The Five Things’. These factors are either strengths or weaknesses. ‘The Five Things’ are aspects of your business that you have total control over.
Vision and Clarity – What message are you communicating?
Pricing and Differentiation – Being different from the customer’s perspective.
Employee Motivation – It’s less about the money than you think!
Systems – Thinking of your business like the first franchise.
Activities Management – Performance gauges to apply to your business.
Of the following three choices, which one would be the best actions for today?
1) Fret about the state of the market and the economy
2) Fix the world economy
3) Work on leveraging a strength or mitigating a weakness in one of ‘The Five Things’ inside your business and within your control
It’s a little bit cheeky, but I think you get my point.
Achknowledge how the economy affects your business
However, the real opportunities for growth are right there in your own business right now.
If you can’t find any opportunities for growth in your business on your own, give me a call and I will help you look for them. 1-866-776-PAUL
