Home
>
Strategic Planning
>
Fail to plan... or Plan to FAIL??

Fail to plan... or Plan to FAIL??

Running a business, whether it be an offline multi-billion dollar company or an online part time home business, they share many similar traits.

One of the biggest obstacles I have endeavored to translate to many, many small business / home business people, is a very simple phrase......' Treat It Like a REAL business, Because It IS a REAL Business'.

The fundamental reasoning behind so many failures in small business, is the clear lack of willingness to act like a real business. Many people may ' have a go ', they could ' give it a try ', or ' let's see what happens ' - all with the.. ' what have I got to lose? ' attitude. THAT, my friends, is one of the biggest secrets to FAILURE.

OK - so let's assume that your small business / home business / BizOp etc., is NOT you main source of income. It is NOT responsible for putting food in you family's stomachs, it is NOT what keeps a roof over your head..... it is NOT the sole form of income that you, your family and your Bank Manager rely upon.

So look at it like this. If it WAS, would you put as much effort into it as you do now? I can pretty much guarantee that your efforts would be substantially more, because everything relies on the success of your business, vis-?-vis the money your business generates.

Well, now we have ascertained that you should be running it like a real business.......Are you?

> Do you have a business plan?

> Do you know each step that your business will take over the next week, month, year, three years....?

> Have you prepared your agenda for acquiring new customers, products, joint venture partners?

> Do you have a timetable of events?

> How often do you research, analyse, read-up and check out your competitors?

> When was the last time you contacted your client base?

> Do you offer them special offers, free resources and reports? What about surveying them and asking for their opinions?

> How often do you do all this?

> Does your business have a 'company objective'?

> Has your 'company' it's own 'customer mission statement'?

> Have you set yourself / your business targets....use my S.M.A.R.T. Principle...... .......targets which must be

= Specific.............. each item / area of business must be targeted specifically.

= Measurable........ be able to measure your targets, how much, how often etc.

= Achievable........don't think that you can sell 2 million units if your competitors only sell 50 units.

= Realistic.............. be honest with yourself. Can it be done?

= Time-bound.......give limitations and deadlines to whatever you are planning. Open-ended is no good.

If you want to run your BUSINESS 'willy-nilly', or 'Gun Ho' - then expect eventual failure. However, with some applied thought, planning and foresight, you can develop your little, part-time home business into something which definitely has increased chances for success.

Apply time-management techniques, stick to time-tables and deadlines. Look out for 'Time Thieves'........ These are people or events which steal time from you, time which could be more effectively used elsewhere.

Example: Someone calls and asks when you can deliver a certain item, you reply "within two days", they are happy with your response BUT instead of the conversation finishing, they go on to talk about weather, sports, families etc...

.....before you know it, a one-minute call has turned into a 30 minute episode of everything except business. Not Good. This is time you could have efficiently used elsewhere.........they have stolen your time from you. Look out for the 'Time Thieves' - they are everywhere. Spot them - deal with them.

Time Management is KEY to business planning. If your plan has a tight schedule to work to, then your management of ever-so valuable time will be very important. Plan your time carefully, effectively and efficiently......but do allow for some overspill and overlap.......it happens in any business!

One KEY fundamental of business planning is the ability to be flexible and adaptable. Never assume that once you create your plan, that you must stick to it rigidly, but flexible when necessary, but not to the detriment of the your success. Remember, overspill and overlap work both sides of the same coin.

PLAN. Plan carefully, plan honestly, plan realistically. But you must plan.

Final thought. Think long and hard about the 'company / business objective' and the 'Customer Mission Statement'.

Put together a short (two - three sentences) paragraph for each, which clearly defines..... A). What your business is all about. B). What your customers can expect from your business.

Chose the words carefully, put into 2-3 sentences everything that encapsulates both statements totally and work to these statements closely.

Plan for success, because without planning, you will fail.

Gary Durkin is the owner / CEO of
http://www.doubleedgemarketing.com http://www.doubleedgemarketing.com http://www.doubleedgemarketing.com http://www.doubleedgemarketing.com http://www.doubleedgemarketing.com ...and the creator of the Serling Combination? package.

Gary has enjoyed more than a decade of international business success, and has been doing business online for 5 years.

Offline, Gary controls millions of dollars worth of global investments each day... online he applies to skills he has developed over the years by working with some of the World's leading internet marketers and specialists.

recurring cleaning service Mundelein ..

In The News:

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Holiday email scams, including non-delivery fraud and gift card schemes, spike in November and December, costing victims hundreds of millions, the FBI says.

Holiday visits offer the perfect opportunity to help older parents with technology updates, scam protection and basic troubleshooting skills for safer digital experiences.

Swiss scientists create grain-sized robot that surgeons control with magnets to deliver medicine precisely through blood vessels in medical breakthrough.

Researchers exploited WhatsApp's API vulnerability to scrape 3.5 billion phone numbers. Learn how this massive data breach happened and protect yourself.

Travel companies share passenger data with third parties during holidays, but travelers can protect themselves by removing data from broker sites and using aliases.

Xpeng's humanoid robot moves so realistically that crowds believed it was fake, marking a major advancement in robotics technology ahead of 2026 commercial launch.

Researchers discover phishing scam using invisible characters to evade email security, with protection tips including password managers and two-factor authentication.

iPhone and Android users can reduce battery drain and data usage by restricting Background App Refresh to Wi-Fi connections instead of mobile networks.

Scammers nearly stole an Apple account by exploiting the support system with authentic-looking tickets and phone calls, users can protect themselves with safety steps.

FoloToy restored sales of its AI teddy bear Kumma after a weeklong suspension following safety group findings of risky and inappropriate responses to children.

Threat intelligence firm Synthient uncovers one of the largest password exposures ever, prompting immediate security recommendations.

Viral video shared by Elon Musk shows Tesla's Optimus humanoid robots performing tasks from cooking to construction, garnering over 58.5 million views on social media.

Chinese hackers used Anthropic's Claude AI to launch autonomous cyberattacks on 30 organizations worldwide, marking a major shift in cybersecurity threats.

Apple's new Sleep Score feature gives you a rating for your nightly rest quality. Learn how to set it up on your Apple Watch and iPhone today.

Essential phone settings to enable before losing your device, including Find My network, location services and security features for iPhone and Android.

The Fox News AI Newsletter gives readers the latest AI technology advancements, covering the challenges and opportunities AI presents.

Cybersecurity research shows weak passwords remain a major threat, with simple patterns and number sequences putting millions of accounts at risk.

New Android malware BankBot YNRK silences phones, steals banking data and drains crypto wallets automatically. Learn how this advanced threat works.

FDA approves first human trial for Paradromics' brain-computer interface that could restore speech for paralyzed patients through neural technology.

New phishing platform QRR targets Microsoft 365 users across 1,000 domains in 90 countries. Learn how to spot fake login pages and protect your accounts.

OpenTable now uses AI to track your dining habits and share insights with restaurants. Learn what data they collect and how to protect your privacy.

Google's discontinued Nest thermostats still secretly upload home data to company servers despite losing smart features, raising serious privacy concerns.

New Android malware NGate steals NFC payment codes in real-time, allowing criminals to withdraw cash from ATMs without your card. Learn protection tips.

DoorDash confirms data breach exposing customer names, emails, addresses after social engineering attack. Learn how to protect yourself from scams.

Fail to plan... or Plan to FAIL??

Strategic Planning