Planning for Success!

Having consulted to and coached hundreds of business leaders over the past 18 years I am constantly amazed at how many businesses don’t have a business plan or any plan for that matter. If they do have a plan it is held in the vault of the brain of the business owner. There is some loose map that the business owner is following, but in most cases businesses just bump along with the turbulence of the environment hoping to reach a destination that is desirable. If we are not clear about our destination then surely it will be hard to meet that destination.

We would not build a house without a plan? We go to the building site, meet the builder and suggest that we build a wall here, have a bathroom there and maybe we can put the kitchen over there. Can you imagine how the building would come out let alone the extra cost to build it, and this is the crux of the matter. When we don’t know where we are going it often costs us twice as much to find out. This is where a business plan comes in!

A business plan allows you to identify where it is that you want to end up and how you are going to end up there. Starting with your vision and mission and ending with a clear picture of the market, how to find them and encourage them to buy your product or service. There are many steps along this journey but all of them are aimed at providing you with more clarity and sense of purpose the most cost effective way possible. It is amazing to watch clients get into action once they have found a clear purpose for doing what they are doing.

So do you have a clear purpose? Are you excited to execute it every day? A business plan will allow you to identify a clear purpose, help you to ignite your passion for what you started to do and provide you with hope. These things will inevitably lead to a desire to take positive action to have your plan come true.

So start with a clear vision, set an inspiring mission, be clear about who your customers are, what they buy and off whom, why they buy and how you are going to differentiate yourself. Identify how you are going to position yourself in your market. Look at how you are going to inform these people of your product or service, what will inspire them to come and see you and how you are going to deliver it to them. Then make clear plans on direction, marketing, your finances, and inevitably your exit strategy. Yes, your exit strategy!

Most business owners don’t have a clear exit strategy. There is one thing we can be sure of in life and that is that everything is going to end. At some point in the future you are going to finish your business, whether that is selling it, closing it down or gifting it away to the next generation. How you design your business today can be influenced by the exit strategy that you have.

A business plan, regardless of how big it is and some of the best plans are the shortest most concise ones, will help you to find your way allowing you to make cost effective decisions. Clarity of purpose and identification of direction leads to a saving in time, money and nervous energy.

So create your dream, have a clear vision and give your business the best chance of success by developing a clear and concise business plan. Oh and if you need help give me a call!

Marcus is the winner of the Australian Moot Corp Business Planning awards and runner up in the international Moot Corp Business Planning Awards. He is the developer of the One Page Business Plan a dynamic and easy business planning tool kit for small businesses.

Engagement Part 1: What has WELLBEING got to do with business?

It would seem like everything according to the Gallup organization, who have been tracking wellbeing from around the world since the mid 20^th century. In fact they track the wellbeing of the US on a daily basis. So what’s all the fuss about and how can it help us in business and career?

Wellbeing is not just about being happy but rather having a full life: according to Gallup ‘wellbeing is a combination of our love for what we do each day, the quality of our relationships, the security of our finances, the vibrancy of our physical health, and the pride we take in what we have contributed to our communities’. According to dictionary.com wellbeing is: a good condition of existence; a state characterized by health, happiness and prosperity.

So how is your health, happiness and prosperity?

Gallup found that the number one contributing factor to overall wellbeing is career wellbeing. Whether you are an employee or you own your own business the amount of enjoyment we get from our work has an enormous effect on the wellbeing of all other areas of our life. In fact people with high career wellbeing are twice as likely to be thriving in their lives overall. Not only does high career wellbeing help us to have ‘thriving lives’ it may also help us to live longer. The Gallup study also shows that high career wellbeing reduces blood pressure and the potential of head disease and also reduces anxiety and the likely hood of depression.

Now this is all well and good but how is this going to help us in business? Besides the obvious health and overall life enjoyment benefits it may also be good for our businesses health. There is a direct correlation between wellbeing and engagement. If you have employees you, as the business owner, can have an impact not only on their health but also the way that they engage with the business. I have a saying and that is ‘the more engaged we are with anything the more likely we are to be successful at that thing’. We tend to put more effort in into that thing and want to spend time and energy on that thing. We have a desire to become better at that thing and therefore are more conscientious. The more engaged we are with our career the more successful we are likely to be. This is why the most successful business people seem also to be the most passionate and engaged in what they are doing. In turn the more that you are engaged with your work the greater your wellbeing will be.

It is also true that those with careers where they get to use their strengths and do what they love are six times more likely to be engaged in their jobs and three times more likely to have a great quality of life. Therefore what you do, and the love you have for what you do, will help you to be more successful and could help you to live longer. Gallup conducted an ‘old age study’ and found that those who enjoyed what they did so much and did not retire until they where eighty lived until at least 95 years of age.

So loving what you do has a great impact on your health and overall wellbeing. It also has a direct correlation to your level of engagement with what you do. Therefore the more we can help ourselves and employees to engage with our business the more successful we are likely to be.

Maybe we need to have some focus on our wellbeing? Our life might just depend on it!

In part two, next week, I will discuss how we can assist the engagement process both providing practical steps to increase the wellbeing of ourselves and our organisation.

If you would like to increase the success of you or your organisation call me to discuss engagement and wellbeing in business.