Positive thoughts in this difficult economic environment can be a stretch.  Tackling your business from all angles can also be quite difficult.  Consider this question:  Is your business a copy of every other business in your market out there, or is your business better?

Good question.  To think about that can make you really want to hide under your desk.  What business am I really in?  Am I making a difference?  Do I just sell what everyone else in my market does?  Why is my business better?  I know I should easily be able to answer these questions – but sometimes I get stuck.

It’s time to take a broad look at my business and what I do today.  Businesses need to be competitive and aware of the competitive and market shifts around them.  Am I prepared to be the next one to shift the market or will my business simply ride the wave?  If my business is a wave-rider, why is that?  Will I be able to shift with the tide, and not get bowled over, to come up sputtering and looking for what is left of my business when the next wave comes in?

Take a moment to reflect on these 3 thoughts:

1. What is my business’s point of differentiation from my competition?

                                                               i.      If I can think of at least 3 differences, great – go to question #2

                                                             ii.      If I cannot think of at least 3 differences, why not?  How do I fix this?  Is there a better level of service, a better product, a better turnaround time, a better feature or two, a better benefit to my clients, a better location, a better anything??  Figure it out…peel away the layers of the product until you find the better things.  This may actually help you discover you need to come up with a better product.

1. What value-add does my business have?

                                                               i.      Service, speed

                                                             ii.      Location, convenience

                                                            iii.      Price, value for price

                                                           iv.      Ability to shift quickly with the marketplace, communication, leverage network

1. What is my business growth strategy?

                                                               i.      Do I have one?

                                                             ii.      Does my competition?  Can I see it in how they are marketing their products?

                                                            iii.      What is the future plan for my business – 1 year, 3 years, 5 years from now?

                                                           iv.      What trends am I anticipating in the future?  Am I prepared to go there?  Can I get there before my competitor?

                                                             v.      Am I going to keep my product/service simple and be the best at what I do? 

Looking back at when I started the business, I had all these items in mind.  This is what I used to build my business plan. My business cannot grow unless I review my plan at least semi-annually and make adjustments by asking myself these questions. 

My business is now ‘growing up’ and hard questions take time to answer.  I need to be flexible to the changes in the market, the economy and my life.  Having the ability to look at the whole picture will make my business better, not a copy!

Focusing on flexibility – working in the present and planning the future can help me build momentum with positive thinking, that is what we need to do to survive this economy.  A ‘poor-me’ attitude will get us nowhere.  We need to move to ‘what-else-can-we-do’ thinking to move forward and make a difference.  Resignation will only let us fester in the space we are today.  Possibility-thinking and solution-searching will propels out of this economic environment to a better future.