Tweet

Three Things to Help You Succeed in Business

Written by: Brian Moran

Article Overview: Random Thoughts on Life and Entrepreneurship

Three Things to Help You Succeed in Business

(1) A Strategic Goal; (2) An Operational Plan; (3) Focus

“All great battles are won before the first shot is fired.”

“People don’t plan to fail; they simply fail to plan.”

How many times have we heard quotes like those above? Probably the same number of times we failed at something. There is always someone, surveying the wreckage that used to be whatever it was we were doing, hitting us with one of those two by fours of wisdom. The funny thing is they’re usually right.

Most businesses failures are caused by a combination of three things: No strategic goal, no operational plan and/or no focus. I’m not saying that if we had these three items in our bag of tricks, we would never fail. But, our win-loss percentage would certainly move in the right direction.

In order to prevent our businesses from failing, the first step we need to take is to define the terms above. A strategic goal is simply the finish line. It’s where we want to be at the end of the race. A strategic goal is specific and measurable. An operational plan is the map we create for ourselves to get from start to finish. The more intricate and specific the map, the better our chances are of finishing the race in the allotted time. Focus is keeping both eyes on the road until we need to reference our map. Then we pull over to make sure we’re still headed in the right direction.

It sounds simple enough, doesn’t it? We want to go from New York to Chicago. We map out the best route, check our supplies, get in the car and hit the open road. So how come so many people get so lost so often? We forget where we’re going. We lose our maps. We don’t bring enough supplies. We don’t foresee potholes or detours in the road ahead. We get lost, get worried, give up and go home.

And we do the same thing in business. We create annual budgets that, once they are completed, get shoved into a filing cabinet until the following year when it’s budget time again. We can’t explain where the new business is coming from or where the old business went. At some point, when the stuff hits the fan, we panic and make decisions that could ultimately lead us to closing our doors for good.

If this sounds like your company, the good news is that you can fundamentally change the way you approach business…and you can do it starting today! Set strategic, measurable goals for your company (e.g. $5 million in revenue in 2007). Then put together your operational plan (how you plan to get from today’s sales to $5 million). Your operational plan should be as detailed as possible (by rep, office, new business vs. repeat business, specific accounts, etc.).

Once you have the plan in place, refer to it on a regular basis (e.g. weekly, monthly). Why? Because the plan will most likely change so much from start to finish that you won’t recognize it in December as the plan you started with in January. Stay focused on the plan but keep your eyes on the road. Accounts that you thought were sold suddenly go away. Other business comes in but not at the level you expected. These are the “potholes” and “detours” that you didn’t have on your original map. It might require finding new business. It might mean increasing revenue from existing clients. If you know you’ve hit a pothole, you can react to it.

Sometimes it’s not a pothole. It’s bigger. Much bigger and it dramatically changes your business. Natural disasters, death of a business partner or a major financial loss is something that no one can predict, but it is something we all need to consider. On our web site, we have a “must-read” article called Flirting with Disaster. Read it today and incorporate the suggestions into your business tomorrow. Then, you will be ready for all the unexpected twists and turns on your road to success!

Related Articles
  Make Time To Succeed!
  The CEO Who Needed to Hire Salespeople
  Success or Failure in Online Business
  It is your choice.
  The Determination to Succeed

Article Tags: best route, budget time, budgets, eyes on the road, filing cabinet, finish line, funny thing, great battles, loss percentage, map, maps, new business, operational plan, potholes, quotes, right direction, time focus, wisdom, wreckage



Related Forum Posts
My entry - 1. The Best Business Books Ever: The 100 Most Influential Business Books You'll Never Have Time to Read - this is a fascinating book about the history of Business theory, and I'd recommend it to anybody. 2. The Big Book of Small Business: You Don't Have to Run Your Business by the Seat of Your Pants, by Tom Gegax. Ditto. 3. PADI: The Business of Diving Book Okay, so this book won't be of use to anyone who doesn't want to start a scuba store, but I did, and this book was of course invaluable to me in reaching that goal.
Re: Books for Business Owners - Hi DougSchadle, Thanks for sharing your favorite business book with us! A good book I'm reading now is "Maximum Achievement: Strategies and Skills That Will Unlock Your Hidden Powers to Succeed" by Brian Tracy as it was a birthday gift from a friend. Tracy's book is helpful in identifying what's important in your life and then setting an action plan to achieve it.
Exclusive: Interview with Results - Hi Forum Members, I'm helping start up a Business Coaching and Consulting company here in Toronto, Ontario, Canada (a Subsidiary of RSC Business in Los Angeles). As a Research and Development Intern I am required to practice my listening and interview skills by surveying Small and Medium Businesses on thier Business. This Survey is designed by RSC Business to also assist the Business being interviewed more insight into their own business. I am looking to interview about 30 businesses across North America over the span of 3 months. At the end of these interviews I will be publishing a report of the results and they will be made available for free to the Interviewees. The Report data will include responses from a minimum of 100 interviews. I would like to extend this opportunity to members of the Forum. If you would like to have this short 20-30 minute interview conducted on your Business and you reside in North America please send me an email or PM. Please contact me at andy[at]jvprosperity[dot]com to arrange our interview and to get free access to the results when they are published.
Re: Seth Godin: Star Fish v Long Tail - Thanks for sharing, David. I always enjoy the interest it brings me when I read these types of things. Things that make you think to consider other possibilities, no matter how obvious they may seem. Cheers, Emma
Re: HOw to market a B2B consulting company - [quote="zohahunt77":428owzbi]Hi, I was wondering if anyone can tell me the difference between B2B and B2C. I don’t know about b2b marketing but I have done marketing so know things about it. I will suggest you to take online services which will spread your business all over web network. Online marketing is the best way to market any business.[/quote:428owzbi] B2B = Business to Business - You are marketing to other businesses. B2C = Business to Consumer - You are marketing to consumers.


Share this article with your friends. Fund someone's dream.

Leave a comment below or share on the left and you'll help support entrepreneurs in Africa through our partnership with Kiva. Over $50,000 raised and counting - Please keep sharing! Learn more.

Tweet

Newsletter

Get advice & tips from famous business
owners, new articles by entrepreneur
experts, my latest website updates, &
special sneak peaks at what's to come!

Name:
Email:

Popular Articles

Top Ten Home-Based Businesses

Halloween Howl Seven by Author Paige Agnew

Reverse Mentoring

Suggestions

Email us your ideas on how to make our
website more valuable! Thank you Sharon
from Toronto Salsa Lessons / Classes for
your suggestions to make the newsletter
look like the website and profile younger
entrepreneurs like Jennifer Lopez.