With some economic recovery, better economic times seem to be ahead. I advise you not to wait for that, but above all to take matters into your own hands and work inventively and proactively . To help you with that, this week I’m sharing the top 10 strategies that ensured that we not only survived in less economic times, but even managed to grow against the economic wind. Regardless of what kind of business you have or are about to start, take these tips to heart and put them into practice.
1. Focus on what works
Very likely you, like many other entrepreneurs, are involved in all kinds of things that do not belong to your core business.
Make a total overview of all your activities and make a distinction between what belongs to your core activities and what does not belong to it. By focusing on these core activities, you will be much more effective in running your business. This will not only ensure that turnover and profits will increase, but the quality will also be significantly improved. For more information you can also read the Made in America Roundtable.
2. Work on your business, not in your business
Most entrepreneurs, especially from smaller companies, largely work IN the business. They deal with all kinds of operational activities that need to be done on a daily basis. This is no problem at all and as long as there is not enough money to let others do this work, it is even necessary that you cooperate in your own company. Nevertheless, it is very important to have at least 2 hours a week free to work ON your company. By this I mean temporarily disconnecting yourself from daily work and obligations and working on improving productivity, market positioning, strategic planning, financial planning. You will find that these 2 hours quickly become the most valuable hours of your week.
3. Follow training and education
Standstill is regression. So keep developing yourself. Read books, attend seminars, follow training courses and regularly participate in workshops. Exchanging knowledge with your colleagues can also provide a lot of new knowledge and motivation.
4. Organize meetings
Whether you work alone or with a team of people, make sure you make time to consult with others. Know more always more than 1. In case you have a team, meet weekly on the same day and time and deviate as little as possible from this. Have a clear agenda and purpose for the meeting.
Don’t have a team? Then try to meet weekly with a colleague or several colleagues and share ideas with each other. If there is enough respect and trust, you will notice that it will benefit both of you.
5. Brainstorm sessions
Make sure you regularly organize a brainstorming session. In a brainstorming session you present an idea and you can then think about it freely. No idea is too crazy. Virtually all of our product improvements and innovations are the result of our brainstorming sessions.
6. Evaluate
One of the most common mistakes made in entrepreneurship is that many entrepreneurs work very hard and do a lot but rarely look back and evaluate what went well and what could be improved. Regularly evaluate the results achieved and ask yourself what these results are due to. By learning actions from the past, you will be much better able to respond to the challenges of the future.
7. Analyze
Make sure you perform analyzes regularly. You can think of throughput figures (which customers have stayed with you and which have not… and why), distances (how far is a customer willing to travel for your product), ages (how old is the average customer, how young is the youngest). and how old is the oldest).
8. Build a great team
Build a great team of people around you who all have qualities that you don’t have yourself. Salsaventura would never have become a market leader without a large team of super motivated people who all believe in our goal and vision (connecting as many people as possible with each other and themselves through music and dance).
9. Start collaborations
Have you ever seen a colleague do something that made you think: ‘Wow, that’s smart!’ I do. And instead of copying the idea, it forced me to think about what I could do to create the same kind of impact on our customers. In any case, there is always one person who really improves in this process and that is the customer. He will receive an increasingly advanced product, partly developed by the incentives that companies give each other, from which he can choose. By starting collaborations with colleagues / competitors, you can help each other and especially inspire each other, without necessarily having to share everything.
10. Stay up to date
Keep track of what is happening in the market, what market developments there are, what impact they can have on your company, keep up with new marketing methods, how fast social media is developing, the power of blogging etc. In short; watch the news daily, read a newspaper and subscribe to sites where important current information is shared. By keeping track of what is happening in the market, you can respond much better to the rapid changes in the market.
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