As a small business and start-up coach, one of the conversations I have with every single client starts with ‘I need a website’. And invariably, they want a website that is going to create customers magically and put them first on Google.
Rarely have they thought more than this.
It is a beautiful opportunity to explore the need for strategy within a new business.
Whenever you begin a major undertaking in your new business, like the development of a new website, it is important to understand how this new undertaking supports the growth and development of your business.
It’s also important to understand how the new undertaking fits within the existing structures and processes of your business and what new structures or processes need to be in place for the new undertaking to be successful.
We've talked about some of those structures and processes here.
If we continue with the example of the desire to have a new website, when you look at existing processes and structures, you might consider:
- what the purpose of the website is (what business goal(s) it supports)
- how the text and images of the new website support you in expressing the purpose of your work
- how the website will support your existing promotional efforts
When you look at new structures or processes, you might consider:
- how your existing promotional efforts will support driving traffic to the website
- what new online marketing strategies need to be in place to maximize and support your website
- what new processes need to be in place to keep the new website fresh and up to date
It's all about looking at the big picture, while also focusing on the details. This is the place of strategy in your business. Mapping out the big picture so you can see clearly what the details are that need to be attended, and how each of these details connects to the others while creating what you envision for the success of your work.
Strategy can seem unimportant when you are first starting and growing a business. Something you'll get to 'one day' when your business is 'big enough'. There are so many day-to-day activities that need to be attended to that feel like a much bigger priority right now. Your goal is to get through the urgent and important things that need doing so nothing falls apart.
But that's an approach that is rarely effective.
Taking the time to step back and develop strategy for your small business is what creates the map leading to your success. Understanding every day why you are doing what you are doing and how it contributes to the long-term success of your work can only happen when you have successful strategy in place.
That doesn't mean you need to have a whole big formal strategic plan with milestones, gantt charts, and complex org charts in place, like a large organization does. What it means is that you develop a strategic understanding of all of the parts of your business. This helps you to discern what work actually needs to be done and what is just busy work that you feel like you *should* do.
Do you have a simple strategic plan in place for your small business? If so, how does it help you? If not, can you see how taking the time to develop a simple strategic plan could be beneficial?
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