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January 10, 2008
Volume 4, Issue 1
"How-to" tips and advice on increasing
business prosperity, published every other
Thursday.
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New Year Greetings!
-- Feature Article: Does Your Business Plan Reflect Your Most Strategic Thinking?
-- Note from the Author: What Would You Do with a Cool $10 Million?
-- Special Message: What's Your "Hedgehog Concept"?
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What Would You Do with a Cool $10 Million?
 If asked what their greatest obstacle to starting a business might be, many people would probably say "funding." Are you one of them?
Many folks refrain from contemplating business possibilities because they can't overcome their initial hurdle. The hurdle is giving themselves permission to create a business vision when they perceive financial challenges in their path.
Well, then, what if I could give you several million dollars to start or expand your own enterprise? What would you do with it?
For a powerful New Year's exercise, take a few moments, hours, days, or weeks to consider what you could do if "money were no object." Picture all of your potential hindrances removed, and let your imagination soar! What do you experience?
Inspirational, isn't it? I suspect that funding isn't our greatest obstacle, but perhaps imagination is. We often restrict ourselves to something much less than our highest potential until someone removes our limitations -- at least in hypothetical terms. And once our vision ignites, it pulls us forward in ways we didn't imagine were possible!
For these reasons, I hope you enjoy today's features, in which I repeat some of my very favorite themes on business planning. In the article, "Does Your Business Plan Reflect Your Most Strategic Thinking?" I highlight one set of in-depth exercises that I use in my private business coaching sessions. They are a reminder to focus on the strategic aspects of your business planning in 2008 as you launch into the new year. I look forward to hearing your comments, your aspirations, and your dreams!
Here's to your business prosperity,
Adele Sommers, author of the "Straight
Talk on Boosting Business Performance" success
program
P.S. If you missed any previous issue, visit
the newsletter index!
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What's Your "Hedgehog Concept"?
What can you be the best in the world (or at least in your community) at doing? This thought-provoking reflection is one of many from Jim Collins' "Good to Great: Why Some Companies Make the Leap...and Others Don't."
 Collins and his team examined 1,435 companies to see which ones made substantial gains in profitability and sustained those improvements over 15 years or more. They found only a total of eleven companies that, since the 1970s, rose from mediocrity to greatness and stayed there -- and topped many other prosperous firms that lacked the same staying power.
One of the eight characteristics all had in common was an unshakable adherence to becoming the best in the world at whatever they did. They each committed to doing only those things and nothing else.
That sometimes meant dissolving their core businesses to pursue other things at which they could become the best in the world. Collins and his team coined the term "Hedgehog Concept" to reflect a single-minded determination and focus that, similar to that of the hedgehog animal, attempts to do only one thing really well, such as curl up and roll.
A Hedgehog Concept actually represents the intersection of three areas: 1) what you’re most passionate about, 2) an understanding of what you could be the best at doing, and 3) a metric that drives your economic engine. Until you develop your Hedgehog Concept, you won’t know your vision, mission, or purpose. Keep in mind that this concept is not a goal, strategy, or plan, but an understanding of what you can and can’t be the best at doing -- which is an ideal starting place for business startup planning.
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Does Your Business Plan Reflect Your Most Strategic Thinking?
by Adele Sommers
If you currently have a business plan, how much of it taps your highest strategic thinking processes? Many plans are static, formal documents designed to impress potential backers, but do not necessarily serve as dynamic, living "vision-scapes."
And, what if you already have sufficient funding? Should you skip the business plan altogether?
For either situation, this article describes seven essential exercises to contemplate. You can incorporate the answers into a traditional business plan, or create a flexible slide presentation that powerfully communicates your vision to potential partners, affiliates, clients, and employees.
1. What are your "business success criteria"?
 Do you have a crystal clear idea of the types of business undertakings that align with your gifts, talents, passions, and strengths?
Have you thought about what your business can be the very best in the world at doing?
If the answers are "yes," you are in an excellent position to choose the ventures that can give you the greatest satisfaction and results.
If you're not yet totally clear, developing a set of "business success criteria" can enable you to select worthwhile endeavors with much deeper insight, and thus set the conditions for successfully pursuing them.
Why is this so important? Many people wander into businesses, projects, and professions opportunistically, meaning that they grab something that comes along because it's available and convenient. At times, this may be necessary for financial reasons. But unless we understand our underlying success criteria, we might not recognize the options that truly fuel and inspire us -- those that are best suited to our passions and strengths.
Some of your criteria could be practical considerations, and others more lofty. But all of your criteria will be essential to achieving balance, fulfillment, prosperity, and higher contribution in your life. |
2. Do you know who your target audience is?
 Do you know which audiences are best suited to, or already seeking, what you plan to offer?
Identifying your market niche involves brainstorming a set of potential target markets, and then combining and narrowing down the lists by comparing them against various criteria.
After selecting a niche that clearly portrays your perfect client or customer, you'll want to research it further to gain a more comprehensive understanding of it.
The more you learn about the needs, wants, frustrations, pain, and challenges of your audience, the more precise your marketing and product development efforts can be.
You can conduct market research by surveying your prospects or your existing customer base, or by enlisting assistance from professional researchers, such as those at HillResearch.org. |
3. Who are your competitors, comparables, and potential collaborators?
Competitors consist of other companies currently offering the same or similar products or services, companies that could offer the same or similar products or services in the future, and also companies that could remove the need for your products or services.
If you have no close competitors, look for comparable businesses offering similar products or services in related industries. If they produce complementary wares, they might become valuable affiliates or collaborators.
 To ensure that you can compete or collaborate successfully
with the very best providers in your market, you first want to identify the key
features of your own offerings.
You'll also
identify the value elements (the special,
intangible qualities, such as top-notch expertise, satisfaction
warranties, or stellar customer service) that your business
offers or will offer.
You then perform a competitive
analysis to see how your value elements
compare with those of other companies. |
4. Do you know your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats?
 Have you thought about how well positioned you are to take advantage of all of the positive internal and external forces in your business?
In contrast, how well can you minimize or manage the risks associated with the negative forces?
You can determine the internal factors under your control (your business strengths and weaknesses) and external factors (opportunities and threats) via a "SWOT analysis."
You then devise strategies to harness your "strengths and opportunities" while reducing or working around your "weaknesses and threats." |
5. Is your business navigating in a highly competitive ocean?
 Are you planning to do business in a domain already filled with competitors, where there's only a small chance of thriving? "Blue ocean strategizing" can help you rechart the waters.
Derived from Harvard Business School's "Blue Ocean Strategy," this process repositions your business if it's in a highly competitive niche.
You can rework your offerings to include new features and eliminate, increase, or decrease others. You can also target new audiences. In so doing -- much like the wildly successful CNN, Cirque du Soleil, Curves fitness for women, Southwest Airlines, and many other businesses -- you can map new directions and ultimately sail away from your competition. |
6. What are your vision, mission, values, and core beliefs?
Have you identified a purpose, visionary goals, and a set of guiding values to aim your business endeavors toward the right targets? After developing your core philosophy, you can make periodic course corrections in relation to it.
 Thomas J. Watson, Jr., former IBM chairman, explained it like this: "If an organization is to meet the challenges of a changing world, it must be prepared to change everything about itself except its basic beliefs as it moves through corporate life. . . . The only sacred cow in an organization should be its basic philosophy of doing business."
Importantly, your business values, once defined, can become screening tools to first attract, and then later evaluate, your personnel, partners, clients, and customers. |
7. Have you crafted a unique selling proposition (USP)?
 Do you know how to convey the benefits of your products and services?
Based on the results of all preceding activities, this process entails creating and polishing a concise description of your offerings that differentiates you from your competition and positions you as the market leader.
Known as either a unique selling position or proposition, a USP is the unforgettable business promise you share with the world. For example: FedEx's classic, "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight." |
In conclusion, when you've completed this process, you'll have a powerful business manifesto. It will contain a set of guiding principles to inspire any financial backers and prospective employees, partners, or clients.
Copyright 2008 Adele Sommers
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Two Interesting Funding Sources
Are you looking for startup or expansion capital? Below are two relatively obscure sources that might help you get started without making a trip to the bank:
1) TheSnapLoan.com - Unsecured business loans from $100,000 - $500,000. A minimum credit score of 675 applies.
2) Prosper.com - Person-to-person loans handled "auction style," where individuals list their financial needs at an interest rate they're willing to pay, and other people bid on lending them the funding.
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Adele Sommers, Ph.D. is the author of "Straight
Talk on Boosting Business Performance" -- an award-winning
Special Report and Workbook program.
If you liked today's issue, you'll love this down-to-earth
overview of how 12 potent business-boosting strategies
can reenergize the morale and productivity of your enterprise,
tame unruly projects, and attract loyal, satisfied customers.
It's accompanied by a step-by-step workbook designed
to help you easily create your own success action plan.
Browse the table of contents and reader reviews on the
description page.
Adele also offers no-cost articles and resources to
help small businesses and large organizations accelerate
productivity and increase profitability. Learn more
at LearnShareProsper.com.
LearnShareProsper.com/Business Performance_Inc.,
7343 El Camino Real, Suite 125, Atascadero, CA 93422,
USA. For information and Customer Service, call +1-805-462-2187,
or e-mail Info@LearnShareProsper.com. |
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Business Performance_Inc., Adele Sommers, All rights
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