A Couple of days ago I wrote that I may need to replace about 30% of my business in 3.5 months. Since then, I’ve had my thinking cap on working on solving this problem. I want to share the process with all of you in hopes that you might gain something from it. Helping you make a living is one of the main reasons I started this blog, after all.
As Dale Favier wrote in the comments,
a slowdown can give you time to think and research new revenue ideas.
The first reaction to news that you may lose a big chunk of your revenues is Panic. And panic is ok in small amounts for a limited amount of time. I spent part of a day freaking out in my head a bit. The mistake many people make is acting on that panic.
Unless you are about to be hit by a train, acting on panic is a bad idea.
It always leads to decisions with no strategy or long-term analysis benefits. Business strategy is best done with a cool head and with the future in mind.
With that in mind, I decided the first order of business was to do a SWOT analysis.
- Strengths
- Weaknesses
- Opportunities
- Threats
As luck would have it, my RSS feed served up this gem of an article from the Netsetter: The Effective Marketing Plan: SWOT Analyze Your Market
I’ve done SWOT analyses before at different companies and it’s a valuable process to any business at any time. It seems best to do it in 3 phases.
- Strengths and Weaknesses
- Opportunities and Threats
- Combine all 4 lists and develop a strategy based on them.
Brainstorming your strengths and weaknesses
Grab a piece of paper and a pen (no pencil) and draw a line down the middle of the paper. On one side of the line, write “Strengths” and on the other “Weaknesses”. Underline them.
Get a cup of coffee or herbal tea, libation preferences have no impact on the results, and clear your mind. Take a deep breath, and relax. You’re about to get really honest with yourself.
Now, without censoring yourself, start writing down everything about yourself that you think is a strength on the side of the paper labeled “Strengths”. If a weakness comes to mind, write it down on the other side.
Do not stop to think about anything you’re writing. Brainstorming is best done as a stream of consciousness exercise.
You’ll know when to stop because you’ll have to start wracking your brain for new list items. You’ll have a lot of strengths listed and a few weaknesses. Stop and take a drink of your favorite beverage. Take another deep breath, because now you’re going to face your weaknesses.
Now, without censoring yourself, start writing down everything about yourself that you think is a weakness on the side of the paper labeled “Weaknesses”. If a strength comes to mind, write it down on the other side.
Either one of these can be hard for you. Some people have a hard time bragging about themselves and others have a hard time admitting their flaws. Either way, be honest with yourself here. It will really help you in the long run.
It helps if you can have someone you know and trust to give their list of your strengths and weaknesses. It’s rare, though, to find someone who will be really honest with you about your weaknesses. We’re all too polite.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and give you my list.
You can mock me in private. A lot of these come from my former career, but this is an uncensored, brainstormed list. So here goes:
Strengths
- Good project manager
- Public speaking experience
- Computer skills
- Advanced massage training
- Injury treatment training
- Business and engineering background
- Troubleshooting skills
- Teaching experience
- Like working solo
- Quick learner
- Management experience
- Rated highly as people manager
- Excellent massage skills
Weaknesses
- Procrastinate on paperwork
- Accounting
- Hate selling
- Disorganized
- Not great at follow through
- Dislike networking
- Don’t like asking for referrals
- Put off things I don’t like to do
- Require constant mental stimulation
Understand that just because you list some things as strengths or weaknesses, doesn’t mean they are good or bad. The goal of this exercise is to develop a business strategy that plays to your strengths and makes allowances for your weaknesses.
As you watch me go through this process, you’ll see how valuable it is. As I mentioned, I’ve done this before and the resulting business strategy can sometimes come as a surprise and yield some really amazing business ideas. I’m curious to see what I come up with.
Do this now
I think this is so important, I’m going to tell you to take 5 minutes, right now, and write down the first 3 strengths that come to your mind. List them in the comments section. Then write down the first 3 weaknesses that come to mind. If you want, you can add them to the comments, but I’ll let you keep them private if you like.
Later, we’ll add the Opportunities and Threats.
3 Weaknesses:
- Bad Organizer
- Procrastinator (Big on ideas, low on inertia)
- Poor money management via bookkeeping
3 Strengths:
- Have an Undying Passion for helping people
- Thirsty for knowledge, Hungry for CEU’s
- Have been told I have a “nurturing touch” – which confirms I’m right where I’m supposed to be.
It was so easy to write the weaknesss; had to think harder on the Strengths. There might be a scientific category for me because of that…
@Barb – thanks for sharing your lists. Many of the massage therapists I know have very similar lists and find the strengths to be the hardest to write. I think the scientific category is “helping professions”