Reinvent Your Business

In today’s economy, it is sometimes necessary to think of new ways to compete - and one of those ways may be to take a hard look at your business and ask yourself what’s working, what’s not working so well, and what you can do to improve your bottom line.

What if you had the chance to start over? What would you do differently this time knowing what you know now? Why not do just that and "reinvent your business" starting with dusting off your business plan and regaining that excitement that you once felt while you were in the beginning stages of planning and opening your business?

Here are some things to think about during the process:

1. Do you still love what you do? If yes, great! This is important because this is why you went into business in the first place! If no, what happened? What can you do to get the love back - how can you reinvent your business so that you love it again - or is it time to get out of this business and find something else that excites you? (This can also be applied to relationships, but that is for another article!!!)
2. Are you making money? Again, if yes, great! Another reason you went into business! If no, you have to figure out what is going wrong and how you can start making money or YOU HAVE TO GET OUT! That is the bottom line.
3. Are your customers happy? Yes? Good job! Not so happy? Uh-oh! What can you do to improve on this area? Customer service is an area that almost every business can improve upon - you can never do too much to make your clients happy - and happy clients will reward you with referrals and repeat business. Make this a priority in your plan.
4. Are your employees happy? This is important, because employees are often the first contact potential clients will have with your organization. Additionally, happy employees are generally more productive, less likely to call in sick and can be great assets to you if you let them - so, if yes, good. No? Why not? Are you doing something wrong? Believe it or not, unhappy employees are usually a by-product of a "bad boss" or a company where something has gone wrong, not a "bad employee". So take a hard look at yourself and your company first before you start finger pointing. Of course, sometimes you just have a bad apple in the bunch and you may want to get rid of him or her before the rest are poisoned. Do what is best for your company even if it isn’t the popular decision.

While you are going through your business plan and reivention process, be sure to conduct your SWOT analysis, look at your current and possible future competitors, look for niche markets and business opportunities, look at your current products and services and find ways to bundle them or find complementary products and services that you might want to offer, look for ways that you can eliminate or reduce products or services that are no longer profitable or that you do not enjoy, find ways to expand your services based on your clients’ business needs, and go green if possible! Environmentally-friendly products and services are not only good for the planet, people like to buy goods and services from companies they respect, so let them know that you are making a green difference!

Reinventing your business isn’t something that you should think of as "one and done" - if you want to remain competitive, this should be an on-going process.

I would love to hear your feedback on this article or from anyone who gives this a try! Email me at cdegraff@websketching.com.