Business Strategic Thinking: How to Prevent the Three Most Common Mistakes or Drop Your Scag

There we were, 2 twelve year olds blowing sideways in an 18-foot sailboat towards the  concrete wall of the Marina del Rey, CA channel.  We tried everything, pulling on the main, the jib, and even the rudder.  The wind blew our boat without heeding our commands into the wall, sails    flailing.  Luckily, it was high tide and my cousin climbed onto the wall to get        his dad.

Upon arriving, his dad jumped into the boat and pulled a lever which lowered the keel underneath the hull.  His disgusted look emptied our pride.  We didn’t go through the proper thinking before setting off on our little journey.  We planned poorly.

I came across this article by Dylan Love, What to do when your business starts to fail.  It reminded me of that sailboat ride.  Dylan’s article tries to help those who run into business trouble.  I find the attempt admirable, but the real advice is in the business strategic thinking before you set sail.

I will take Dylan’s three points and apply some business strategic thinking to the mix.

1. You started your business for the wrong reasons:  Dylan’s article states that you can do an immediate fix or adjust your attitude.  From a business strategic thinking point of view, I wrote an article that dealt with the mental framework before the business is started. My article,  Making a Living as a Musician: Do You Have the Right Frame of Mind to Break New Ground?  spoke directly to the business owner’s strategic thinking.  I tried to use two excellent strategic planning books in dealing with the midset of the soon-to-be owner.
2. You’re running out of capital: Dylan proposes the obvious, increase revenue, decrease expenses, or ask for more money from investors.  The later, which I have seen too many times, is the most troubling.  My article, Venture Capital Risks: As a Business Owner, Don’t Give Them Your First Born discussed how to set the role of your investor, and expectations in your business strategic thinking to minimize the chance of getting in trouble.
3. You didn’t plan properly:  This is everything.  Please don’t paint a rosey picture to your investors, only to scramble to stay in business for the first twelve months.  There are many aspects to business strategic thinking.  For example, my article, Small Business People Need is a Strategist, Not a Marketer and That Person is You details the small business owner’s role in strategic planning and tactics.  When I look at a new business plan, I instinctively say, “You need 2-3 times more money than what you are asking, and you must streamline your expenses to their bare minimum.”  Clients pay me to play the bad guy, the pessimest, and the “rain on your parade guy.”  That is not to say that I  don’t design a business strategy to help them, but I have to get them out of that fairytale thinking that they will make millions out of the shoot.  If I don’t, they would not accept my proposed plan.

Business Strategic Thinking is a praxis (combination of theory and practice, Karl Marx definition) of your strategy,tactics, and implementation.  Don’t get caught in the position of trying to save your business when you could have planned for its success instead.