Spaghetti is a food, not a business strategy
By Nina Kaufman, Esq.Do you have an actual plan to grow your business?
Or do you scramble to get numbers—any numbers—on paper?
You wouldn’t be alone. Many business owners get so caught up in day-to-day activity, they leave themselves no time for thoughtful planning.
No time for clarity.
No time for evaluating what’s working and deciding to say “no” to what isn’t.
Which is like throwing spaghetti to the wall to see what sticks.
I get that planning can seem overwhelming.
So if you’re behind the 8-ball as the year tick-tocks to a close, here’s what I’ve done with clients, with great results:
Focus on the #1 thing you really want to change in your business.
Greg McKeown talks about this in his book, Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less. When you’re too scattered, you divert your energies and nothing gets done well.
When I tell clients to choose one thing, they’re pissed.
How can I choose one? Everything’s on fire!!
This is how you whittle it down:
- Write down everything on fire. Everything that didn’t go well this year. All the situations that sucked. The disappointments. The frustrations. The chaos.
- Step away from the list. Go pour a glass of wine. Or take a walk around the block.
- Come back to the list and look for patterns or related subjects. You’ll see them. And you’ll know from that *ugh* feeling in your stomach which ones bring up worse memories. Which problems cost you the most.
- Pick the ugliest monster.
Annette, who runs a personal training business, had a very rough year financially. She really-really-really needs and wants to make more money. That was her overriding issue. She could do that in several ways. For example, charge more for the trainers she sent to clients. Reduce time spent in admin. Find more leveraged ways to get more clients in the door. She deciding to refocus her ideal client profile and what’s she’s doing to reach those people so that more of the right clients show up.
What’s one thing you can do that will have the most impact?
Pick one. Work it ‘til it hums.
And when that’s in place, move on to the next thing.
Choosing can be tough. That’s why you need trained eyes like mine to help.
If you’re ready to stop throwing spaghetti to the wall hoping something miraculous will result, then we need to talk.
If you liked what you read, watch our video to see if Kaufman Business Law is a good fit for you.
