What’s the next step for your business?

A contact of mine, Tim Calverley, this week published an article on LinkedIn titled ‘How to figure out your next step in your business; 7 practical tips’. I thought this was a great article and full of good advice so it’s content is summarised below, with a few comments and inputs from myself.

Tim starts the article by stating, ‘there are a lot of different factors to consider when deciding on the best course of action for your business, and it can be overwhelming. So many times, we take one path because it’s easy instead of the right one, which can cause us many problems down the road.‘ He’s absolutely right, and it’s something that I’ve written and spoken about a lot.

My FFS (‘Fraser Five Step’) strategy tool helps with this and my articles on the 80/20 rule and ‘Alice in Strategy-land’ also look into how we decide what we should do next.

Tim’s 7 points to answer the question ‘what’s the next step for your business? can be summarised as follows;

1. Prioritisation
2. Income Producing Activities
3. Planning
4. An External View
5. Cashflow
6. Gut Instinct
7. Business Values

So let’s have a look at Tim’s thoughts on each step;

“Prioritisation – Not everything can be a priority, or nothing ends up a priority! Google the Eisenhower Matrix and split your To-Do List into four boxes. Important/Urgent. Important/Not Urgent. Not Important/Urgent. Not Important/Not Urgent. Which Box are you going to focus your next steps on? That’s it, Important/Urgent.”

I totally agree with this first point. Work prioritisation is one of the key points that I often write about. The above-mentioned 80/20 rule article, as well as my own 7 step Work Prioritisation system, which itself is a bastardised version of Stephen Covey’s Matrix, both cover this topic.

Income Producing Activity – How much time are you spending on IRAs? Write down everything you do in your business and split them into two columns. Income Producing Activity (IPA) and Income Reducing Activity (IRA). How much time are you spending on IRAs?

Very like the above, this is a very simple, but clever, way of working on work prioritisation. There are only two ways to increase profit; increased sales revenue and reduced costs. This point focuses on the one that can more your profit dial the most.

Create a 13-week plan. What Income Producing Activities do you need to be completing daily to achieve that 13-week plan?

Once again I agree. It is far too easy for you and your team to slip into aimless daily and weekly activities that don’t push your business forward, and in the right direction. Try My FFS (‘Fraser Five Step’) strategy tool to put this plan in place. And then ensure that your team stick to it, with timely and accurate reporting.

An external perspective – Ever tried getting an outside perspective on your business? Attend a peer advisory board. Experienced business owners in this environment can help you identify what your next step should be and act as accountability partners for you.

Unsurprisingly, I strongly agree with this point. Tim suggests a peer advisory group, and I have no qualms about you doing that. There is huge benefit in an outside view, or what’s come to be known as a ‘helicopter view’. I’ve never used a peer advisory group but I know many people who swear by them. Ask business contacts for suggestions and referrals and give it a try. You could of course look for the services of a Business Sounding Board, who has been there and done it….. 😳

Cashflow – Know your numbers and create a cash flow forecast. Money in the bank is the oxygen to your business, and often companies don’t realise they’re in trouble until it’s too late. Speak to your accountant. Make sure there aren’t any unexpected Tax, VAT or accountancy bills coming your way.

As Tim states, all too often good businesses hit troubled waters, or even completely fail, due simply to cashflow problems. Always keep a close eye on what’s coming in and what’s going out. It’s too simple to do the work, but not get paid.

Gut Instinct – How’s your gut? Listen to it. How comfortable is it with the way the company is running? Is your team focusing on what matters? Are sales and marketing bringing in profitable contracts and customers? Do a stress test. If you lost one of your biggest customers tomorrow, how would the business fair? Does this exercise highlight an area of your business that needs your attention?

Tim’s point here could easily be split into two points. I’m a big believer in ‘go with your gut’ (with the caveat of doing the research first). I often discuss this when I appear in podcasts, as it’s one of things that I did often. It wasn’t always the right call, but if you don’t follow your gut, you’ll probably regret not doing so for a long time after with the ‘what if’ thought. Tim’s second point, regarding stress-testing the business is a great exercise to do. In my previous life I worked in an ad agency that lost it’s major client almost overnight. You can imagine the fallout from that… Don’t let it happen to you, but also stress test other areas of the business too.

Values & Vision – And Finally, but most importantly. How aligned is your business with your values and vision? Is it serving you right now? Make sure you review your personal vision at least every 90 days to keep you on track.

Only you, as the Business Owner, know what your true personal values are, and how they translate into the company vision. Don’t only review them regularly, but share them openly with your team.

Please let me know what you think about these 7 practical tips on how to figure out your next step in your business. Anything you’d add? And any feedback/comments etc about the above would be more than welcome. You can see the original article here.

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WHAT NEXT?

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