small business gurus - the blog of Cat & Keith Matson

by Cat Matson

When I talk about the importance of businesses to have a clear strategy in order to survive (let alone succeed), I’m often confronted with

To me, this represents a misunderstanding of what a strategy is. Strategy is simply

    The plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.

In business, your strategy is the collection of tactics that work together to achieve a particular goal. So it doesn’t matter how small your business is, even if it’s a micro-business with just one person, you still need a clear strategy if you want to achieve your goals.

Designing your strategy doesn’t have to be complicated ... and the belief that it is complicated is what often gets in the way for small business owners. Really, your strategy is as straight-forward as

•    Where are you now? (often referred to as a Situation Analysis)
•    Where do you want to be? (Vision, Goals & Strategic Objectives)
•    How will we get there? (Marketing strategies, pricing & sales process, operations & financial management)

The key element of a good strategy is that it’s congruent – all the parts ‘line-up’ to effectively and efficiently move your business forward. It’s no good for example to pursue a ‘low-cost’ strategy when it comes to your product/service pricing, but then employ high-cost production and staffing methods at the ‘back-end’. But yet it is often this very kind of ‘disconnect’ that trips small business owners up ... the lack of clear strategy about who they are and what they’re striving to achieve leaves them struggling to find their unique path to success.

An objective perspective is priceless in creating your strategy – using a ‘strategic planning template’ that you’ve downloaded from the web won’t check your thinking or ensure the congruency of your tactics. And likewise, what works for one business won’t necessarily work for another.  So find a professional who can help you ... and straighten out your strategy for success.

Igniting your business performance

Alito - business catalysts

by Cat Matson

I was at the gym this morning, doing the first 'serious' workout for a few weeks. I 'resist' exercise well - I know it's good for me, I know I 'need' to do it ... but the anticipation of doing it, the thought of all the 'work' things I'm not doing if I exercise ... all provide great reasons to not do it as much as I should.

However as I was running this morning I immediately started to feel good - thoughts clarified, my body felt good and I realised just how good for me exercise really is for me. And I also realised just how easy it is to do once I get started.

A bit like business really.

I resist a lot of things in business too (measuring metrics, implementing systems, following-up on opportunities) ... preferring to stick to the things I know I'm good at ... or comfortable with. And I procrastinate (resist) on things that I know are good for the business ...

So as I ran this morning and pushed through the discomfort of the run (running is one of my least favoured forms of exercise) I realised I likewise can push through the discomfort of various aspects of my business. Just as my running has improved with persistent effort ... so too will my business. And honestly, the anticipation of the activity is, I'm sure, far worse than the activity itself.

So this week I'm going to push through the discomfort of 'systems' and finalise a long-standing systems project in our business.

I'm also interested to know ... is there anything you've been 'resisting' in your business ... that you'd now like some encouragement or support to push through? Let me know in the comments section below.

Cat

Business CATalyst

sparking your peak business performance

by Cat Matson
Business CATalyst


In the marketing game, we've often thought we need to sell the sizzle ... not the sausage. If we make it (whatever the it is we're marketing) all sparkly and bright then we'll catch the eye of our buyers and Bob's our uncle.

I'm not so sure.

We operate largely in a commodity market. We like to think we're unique, different, doing something that no-one else is doing ... or no-one else is selling ... but really, for most of us, we're just another product, another service-provider sitting on a very crowded shelf of similar 'solutions' to the customers' problems.

So what do we do in a commodity market? Try to stand out ... and stand out as much as we can. We use glitzy packaging or clever words to demonstrate how much better we are than the competitor sitting next to us on the shelf.

Better still ... we try to make ourselves stand out sooo much that we create a new category