But How do I Get There?

photo by Erica Marshall www.muddyboots.org

For business owners who are about to hire me, this is generally where they are. Let me give you a look inside our process...

Step 1 Where are you now?

• Take a full inventory of where exactly are you in your process.
• Pull out your original business plan (hoping you have one)
• Pull out your financial statements

Step 2 Clearly define where you think you want to go.

• Make a list of changes to your current offerings
• Define what elements have not worked for you as well of those that have
  
• What are the new services or products you want to offer.

That should keep you busy for a while! Yes, those who do not learn from the past, will be doomed to repeat it. Starting with NOW before moving to TOMORROW may seem like a "no-brainer" but in our excitement to move to the next level it can be quite easy to gloss over some essential points like:

• Did I ever reach my target audience?
• Why not? Was it not the right audience?
• Was my product not priced correctly?
• Did the market change?
• Was my cost structure flawed in some way?

Sometimes I see a product or service out there that is just slightly missing its mark. Is that you? Yes, even when someone is not my client, I do find myself asking some of these questions. I can think of clients from 15 years ago that I worked with at different times in their process. I would get them up and running and then 3 years down the line I'd step in again to help get them to that next place. That "middle place" of getting to where you want to go need not look like confusion to the outside world.

Every company goes through changes and needs to re evaluate. Do it fully informed, without assumptions. This will prove to be the most essential tool in getting you to that next level.