As a business mentor and strategist, I’m thrilled to be writing my first piece for the Bribie Islander Magazine – our local publication that connects the community. Sharing knowledge, ideas, and tips is something I love to do, as I truly believe that collaboration over competition is the key to creating and maximising opportunities for business growth.
If you are working for yourself, it’s easy to become swamped working ‘in’ your business. There is often little time to look at things from a more strategic perspective. So you do what you have to do each day to stay afloat, meet deadlines and provide services.
Working ‘on’ your business is often something that gets pushed to the bottom of the pile. A luxury you may feel you do not have time for. Yet, it is essential to be able to raise your head and look at the bigger picture. To be strategic.
I am currently co-authoring a book on the global perspective of 25 years of breast cancer survivors paddling in dragon boats. The approach has needed to be highly strategic to ensure the true essence and critical points are captured. Without a strategic plan for this book that includes content, reviewers, launch, and a promotional campaign, our words would not reach the target audience.
It also requires sensitivity as we write the remembrance section. Death is something that not everyone is comfortable with, yet there is always the inevitable loss when you are around cancer. Writing the book, combined with my father passing away in January this year, at the ripe old age of 92 – he had a good inning and lived a full life – has made me look more closely at the aspects involving death and dying.
The start of our lives is celebrated with birth milestones parents usually organise the first few birthdays, and as we grow older, we become more involved in planning. We decide if we want a party. What kind? Themed? And so, on the questions go.
When it comes to the end of life, not as many of us are proactively involved in the decision making. Taking steps to gather the knowledge we need is to be empowered. When we are informed, we are confident that we are making the right decisions for ourselves.
A few years back, I had the honour of being a guest speaker at a conference in Winnipeg, Canada, where I heard this poem for the first time.
Putting time and thought into how we go about achieving both business and personal desires is equally vital because these relate to how we choose to spend our ‘dash’. Life is a pathway of steppingstones. Looking from a helicopter, strategic perspective, the path is more evident than from on the ground. We can choose to wander along without clarity or take the time to look from on high. Plan out, plant and nurture the seeds that we are consciously choosing to line our path.
Strategic planning means identifying what is suitable for YOU. The gardens we plant and the paths we choose to follow will each be different, yet there are commonalities. Our success and growth will depend on the amount of nurturing we give them. The correct fertilisers applied at the right time.
Lack of a plan is the number one reason many businesses struggle. Without a clear map of where you are going and how to get there, it can be an enormous struggle. The problem is usually not a lack of ideas but a lack of focus. When you are too busy working in the day-today, there is no time to concentrate. Working on your businesses is as important, if not more so, than working in your business.
Want to create and maximise opportunities but feel confused and overwhelmed? Reach out, and let’s chat. [email protected] 0418 898 082