
Step?1 – What is happening in your business right now?
Start?where you are. What are you still able and willing to do? Take five minutes to think about all the elements of your business and write down what’s still functioning and what has to be put on hold right now.?Even?if you are still able to operate, think forward a few weeks and try and identify any bottle necks or issues that might be coming up.For example, you may still be able to dispatch products, but are your packaging suppliers still operating?Be?realistic – how much can you currently achieve given the time and resources that are now available to you? Many of us are now juggling extra responsibilities with children home from school, so even if you technically can keep trading, do you actually have?the capacity?
Step?two – What do you need to work on?
A?SWOT analysis (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) is a powerful and simple way for you to run through your business. Identify what has been working well, then list out areas for improvement.?To?create a SWOT, fold a piece of paper in half and then in half again to give yourself four quadrants. Start writing down whatever comes up in your mind, don?t try and edit your thoughts as they go down on paper. Just let them flow out and put each one intothe appropriate section as you go along. It?s?important to take the time to reflect back on what has gone well and look at your strengths. Starting with the positive will help you remember how far you have come. With?weaknesses, this is not an opportunity to beat yourself up, instead it?s about putting your finger on the areas of the business that need fine tuning. Separate out the weaknesses in to the things that you have known for a while needed more work, and the issues
that have come up as a result of the coronavirus. Opportunities?- these are often the opposite of your weaknesses. So if you know that your website needs more work (a weakness), improving your website is an opportunity. Threats?- this section is a great place to capture all of those niggling fears that have been bothering you. Writing down any concerns that you have about your business is a great way to put them in to perspective.
Step?three – Where do you want your business to go?
with that mission. As?business owners, it is our blessing and our curse that we can choose almost any path that we like. Visualisation helps us see clearly where we want to take our business and keeps us connected to our ultimate goal.
Wrapping?it all up – creating your plan of action
Use?your areas of improvement that you identified in your SWOT analysis to put together a plan of action. Try splitting your plan into short term objectives, medium term and longer term; short?term (in the next month) actions cover quick and easy wins, or areas that need urgent attention.?Medium?term covers the next 2-3 months and your longer term goals will be anything you?re going to tackle from the autumn onwards. Mapping?out your goals like this can help reduce overwhelm – many of us get overwhelmed as we think we have to achieve everything all at the same time when that is rarely necessary.?Don’t?forget to be realistic about what you can actually achieve right now. There?s a great saying – we overestimate what we can do in a day but underestimate what we can do in a year. Taking?the time to consider your next moves will avoid any knee-jerk reactions and give you more clarity and confidence as you move forward during these turbulent times.Sign up to our newsletter to get the latest from Business Advice.