Always look at the big picture in the economy and in your industry. What may be coming down the pike that will affect your industry? What indicators in economy could trickle down into what you’re doing? Take note of these possibilities and plan and prepare ahead.
Make sure not get bogged down. It’s important to create efficiencies, processes, and systems to get and keep yourself out of the rut. Don’t ever be afraid to take a step back to do this. Things may pile up in the short term but if you find solutions and work on the problem by building efficiencies into your business you will have the time to dedicate to other, more critical initiatives. Entrepreneurs who get bogged down in the daily requirements of their business often believe that there isn’t a solution. There are always solutions ; the real problem is that you don’t want to take the time to fix the problem. Stop. Fix it. Execute the solution. There may be a little bit of pain at first but will provide for long term success.
Don’t work on the day-to-day, month-to-month, or even year-to-year. If you want to be viable you can’t afford to think only of the short term. Have a long-term strategy and vision and build contingencies for the “what ifs”. Dedicate money in your budget toward initiatives that will work toward long term strategies. Pay attention to the big picture; don’t get blindsided.
After any setback, always review the circumstances and look for lessons. Ask yourself, and your team, a series of questions to gain perspective. Learn from failures, fail your way into success. Ask questions like, What did we do right? What did we do wrong? How could we have done it differently? After you identify the critical components put the exercise away, learn from the experience, get over the challenge and move forward.
Take calculated risks. Evaluate your decisions by looking at the cost vs. benefit. Make sure that your assumptions are grounded in reality and fact. Look at rewards and benefits; surround yourself with the right people to get the job done. Plan ahead and keep your risks in check mitigating them along the way. Don't get paralyzed in the analysis; be decisive. Do this and the probability of success goes up dramatically.
Trust yourself and apply a strong work ethic. More than you realize is within your control when you believe in yourself and work hard. Trust is a big factor in the decision- making process, as is your willingness to take risk. It’s also important to surround yourself with people who are smarter than you; people you can trust.
Create multiple revenue streams to build a strong revenue model. Look at larger, more successful companies in your industry. Evaluate how those organizations would succeed if and when anything changes in the economic environment. What fuels their growth? Study their revenue models and, if you find a stable one, improve upon it and build your own.
Perform due diligence in hiring employees. Interview your candidates thoroughly, check references, spend time getting to know them on a personal level. Also ask your team for input. Before considering anyone for partnership, make sure they prove themselves and always have an out.
Be cautious about partnerships. People often bring in partners because they don’t trust themselves to do it on their own. Once you bring in a partner you’ve created a marriage in a sense. Be careful because this is hard to undo. Protect yourself legally and never give away too much when your bring people on board. Also, be very careful about creating partnerships with family and close friends - these often do not work very well. Only introduce a partner into the picture if you have to and never conduct business on a handshake; avoid ambiguity in these business relationships; ambiguity will cause conflict down the road.
From Inc.com
