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Saturday, 19 May 2012

Category » Business Planning

Art of War in Business : Swift Victory

Waging Business Warfare means planning for Swift Victory. Companies that do not Marshall Adequate Resources will find themselves bogged down; something which good tactics cannot solve and good strategy should avoid.

Art of War in Business : Chapter Two from The Art of War : Waging War.

“Therefore, in war, swift victory is valued, prolongation is devalued.“as Translated by Victor H Mair*1.

In Chapter One from The Art of War : Initial Assessment (strategies) we learned that you must start with a strategy.  Now we say Swift Victory?!  Read more »

Art of War in Business : Victoriousness of Strategy

Research has shown that poor Strategy leads to greater failures than poor execution! Sun Tzu's lessons on Initial Assessments are very valuable Strategic Planning tips.

Art of War in Business : Chapter One from The Art of War : Initial Assessments (Strategy).

“Warfare is a great affair of the state.  The field of life and death, the way or preservation and extinction.  It cannot be left unexamined” as Translated by Victor H Mair*1. Read more »

Social Media Clutter and How to Cut Through It!

What makes for a good Social Media Strategy? Read this Blog for Hydra-headed approach to Social Media!

Social Media Clutter?  Really?  Well thanks to Forrester Research for stating the blindingly obvious.  Do you have a Social Media Strategy?  Do you feel like you’re getting results?  Can you measure those results?  Am I coming at you too fast?  Yes…

Whether you like it or not you need a Social Media Strategy.  First, Start with you Business Strategy.  Why?  Your Social Media Strategy needs to be congruent with your overall Business Plan and Marketing Plans.   Click the links to read more about Business Plans, Medieval Marketing, Google’s Guide to SEO, the Top 5 SEO Tips, and Twitter as your Corporate Bumper Sticker.  With your Business Strategy in mind and refreshed on you USP and Tag-line it’s time to go to work!

What makes for a good Social Media Strategy?

Read more »

SBA Loans might be worth it (now)

SBA Loans flow with new Legislation. Changes to the SBA programs might not benefit smaller business owners. Read on to navigate this new territory.

Have you been thinking about an SBA loan? Or has your bank been pushing you that way? Two weeks ago I would have told you not to bother. Why? The funding for the SBA guarantees was simply not in place. The whole system had ground to a halt.

Hot breaking news from the White House is that legislation passed one week ago is already making a difference. According to the White House about a billion dollars of loans have been released in the past week.  Read their blog release here.  Apparently California is the place to be as over 10% of the funding is targeted for that State, as reported by LA Times.

Should you jump on the SBA Loan bandwagon?  That depends.  Read more »

Decision Making Frameworks or why your gut is never good enough!

Using a Decision Making Framework instead of your gut makes great business sense. Simple,easy to master frameworks are available to help your business today!

You have this great idea blast in from left field and BOOM you’re off and running.  Sound like you or not?  If not, great!  If so let me tell you why following your gut alone is never a great idea…

True innovation is iterative and never a Eureka moment, it just feels that way.  Hunches or intuition are the cornerstone of every entrepreneur’s start or next great idea.  They are critical to success.  Just don’t trust them. Be honest with yourself for 30 seconds.  Aren’t hunches like penny stocks?  Sure, one might hit big, but 99 fall by the wayside.  Meanwhile your organization is suffering from whiplash.  They become big idea immune, trying to wait it out until the next big idea.  To read more about the value of hunches and why Steven Johnson asserts they are long-term forming click here.  To be successful in making quality Business Decisions you need to employ both Rocket Science and Decision Making Framework(s).  There are many type of Decision Making Frameworks.  Some are fairly specialized or task specific and should be used more or less for their expressed purposes, such as an Activity Based Cost tool.  Others, such as as SWOT Analysis are fairly commonly known if not applied.  We will quickly walk through some of the more popular tools and when and why to use them. Read more »

Business Strategy vs If you don’t know where your going any place will do!

Those who fail to plan, plan to fail. Get your Business planned now to avoid common business failures.

tired people by http://www.statictricity.com/The worst mistake you can make in a Small Family Business is not having a succession plan, see here for more.  The worst overall Business Mistake is to not have a Strategic Plan.

Stop! I know you busy types are already getting ready to pick up the Blackberry call or answer a txt.  But I can PROVE to you that you NEED to read this..  How many of you can honestly tell me that you’re working on your business not in it?   Are you strategically managing it or is the day managing you?

Are you lost in the crowd or setting your own course?

Are you using an old water logged compass or a Business-GPS™ to chart your course?

You need a business plan if:

  • You ever want to grow your business.
  • You ever want financing.
  • You ever want to sell it.
  • You ever want to be effective with goals, objectives, products, or even  hiring the right people.

Let me share my first secret.  Read more »

Medieval Marketing — why you must master the most basic marketing concepts.

Think Medieval Marketing and get back to the basics of Marketing. Sales is a failure of Marketing.

Forget guerrilla marketing you first need to think Medieval. Let’s call this Marketing 011.  Many people do not honestly know what Marketing is!  Let me assert that Sales is a failure of Marketing.  You heard me, if you ‘need’ to Sell then your Marketing has failed you.  Marketing is NOT Advertising and Promotion or Sunday Circulars.  Let’s go way back to understand… Take a walk with me into a Medieval Marketplace!

Read more »