Strategy - Getting Started
Part 1/4
This past week I practiced what I preach and finally put pen to paper and got started with the strategy for Rodie Coaching. I immediately found greater clarity for where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do to get there.
Creating a strategy is something that’s easy to kick down the road, and it’s something that a lot of small business owners struggle with.
So with this four-part series I’ll share some guidance on building a simple and effective strategy for your business that will give you clarity and direction, and become something you’ll want to do over and over in your business.
Looking forward
Creating a strategy for your business isn’t something that should be done once and thrown into a folder or drawer a few weeks later to never be seen again.
Your strategy helps your business to look forward and should be a foundation for the work you’re planning, whilst guiding the work you’re doing, and should always be relevant.
The reason that a lot of people don’t get started on their strategy or why their strategy does get forgotten is because they look too far ahead. Trying to envision your business 20 years from now and make a plan to get there is overwhelming, and in a few years that plan won’t be relevant.
For a strategy to really work, it needs a timeframe.
The timeframe
When you’re thinking about your strategy, I recommend setting a timeframe of no less than 18 months, and no more than 4 years.
18 months is enough time to make meaningful change and progress in your business.
Keeping it to less than 4 years means you can reasonably make plans, foresee things that might impact your business, and won’t be overwhelmed by how far away your goals might be.
At the end of that timeframe you’re revisiting and resetting your strategy to keep it from being thrown in the folder or drawer. That gives it value, it means your business can be more dynamic, and it's far less likely to be a stale operation easily overtaken by its competitors (no one wants to be the next BlackBerry!)
Getting Started
Once you’ve got a timeframe you can get started on the strategy itself.
It can feel pretty daunting and is often filled with terms like vision, mission, SWOT, … that just give you a headache. I had that experience and kicked the can down the road on my strategy for 6 months before finally getting started.
So instead of using those terms, I recommend getting started on your strategy with a few easy questions:
Where do you want your business to go?
Why?
What will it look like when you get there?
For Rodie Coaching it looks a little like this:
I want Rodie Coaching to be the Sea-to-Sky’s go-to business coaching service for small business owners, primarily in the trades.
Small businesses are the backbone of our local economy and community and get some cool s#it done. I want Rodie Coaching to make a measurable positive difference to those businesses and their owners so they can deliver more of that cool s#it and be successful doing it.
Rodie Coaching will be a full-time operation with a client list of business owners dedicated to turning their businesses into effective operations. The company will have a local, professional referral network made up of specialists across critical services such as marketing, accounting, bookkeeping, SR+ED, … Rodie Coaching will put on relevant workshops that provide wider support and value to the business community, will contribute positively to community NPOs, initiatives and events.
Answering these three questions provides your business with purpose, and starts giving you clarity on what you’ll need to do within your timeframe so you and your business can get there.
The answers also lead to a few more questions that you’ll need to look at to build an effective strategy.
Come back next week for …
Part 2 - What might come up?
Until then, make a start on that strategy, feel the benefits, and let me know how it goes.
If you have any questions, or need a hand along the way... Reach out for a clarity call where we can hash it out together.
