• Solution. Support. Expertise
  • +43 664 635 1238
  • +1 647-947-4502
  • info@tdwebservices.com
Planning Ahead For Your Small BusinessPlanning Ahead For Your Small BusinessPlanning Ahead For Your Small BusinessPlanning Ahead For Your Small Business
  • Hosting
    • Hosting
      • Business Hosting
      • Enterprise Hosting
      • TDWS VPS
      • Managed WordPress Hosting
      • Highly Optimized WordPress Hosting
      • Laravel Hosting
      • Odoo Hosting
      • Moodle Hosting
      • TDWS Reseller Plans
    • E-Commerce Solutions
      • Managed WooCommerce Hosting
      • Highly Optimized WooCommerce Hosting
      • Magento Hosting
      • PrestaShop Hosting
      • OpenCart Hosting
    • Dedicated Servers
      • Gaming Servers
    • TDWS Global Monitoring System
      • Server Monitoring
      • Network Monitoring
      • Application Monitoring
      • Database Monitoring
      • Cloud Monitoring
      • Container Monitoring
      • Storage Monitoring
  • Cloud
    • TDWS Cloud
      • TDWS Cloud Servers
      • TDWS CloudSites
      • TDWS Box Cloud
      • TDWS Virtual Private Cloud
      • TDWS Cloud Drive
    • TDWS Private Cloud
      • KVM Hypervisor Private Cloud
      • Xen Hypervisor Private Cloud
      • Microsoft Hyper-V Private Cloud
      • VMware ESXi Private Cloud
      • VMware Public Cloud Servers
    • Services
      • DB as a Service
      • Disaster Recovery as a Service
    • Other
      • TDWS Cloud Infrastructure
      • TDWS Hybrid Cloud
  • Insights
    • Small Business
    • Knowledge Base
    • Cloud Computing
    • Expert Opinion
    • Industry debates
    • Thought Leadership
  • About Us
    • Why Us
    • Data Centers
    • Affiliate
    • TDWS Channel Partners
    • Contact Us
    • TDWS Customer Reviews
    • TDWS Video
    • Legal
      • TD Web Services Acceptable Use Policy (“AUP”)
      • TDAG DMCA Notice Policy
      • TDAG Privacy Policy
      • Master Service Agreement
      • Service Level Agreement
Login
✕
Gartner and KPMG Insight: Why Almost 50% World Data will be Held in Cloud
3 December 2014
Biggest Cloud Tech in 2014 and Coming Trends in 2015
7 December 2014

Planning Ahead For Your Small Business

Published by TDWS Technical Support on 5 December 2014
Categories
  • Small Business
Tags
  • Small Business
  • Startup

Everyone has heard the adage, ‘failing to plan is planning to fail’ in some situation or another. Well this is also very true and vital for any business intent on achieving any significant growth. There are three very crucial pieces of information a person intending to progress has to have:

  1. The knowledge of where you currently are
  2. The knowledge of where you intend to go (your destination).
  3. The route to be used to get to this destination.

Failure to have the three will inevitably get the person lost or moving round in circles. This applies also when it comes to business. For a business to realize any growth, the necessary strategies must be applied to gain this knowledge. But how can this be achieved? The following are a few ways to do so:

Self study

Before you even start to set goals about what you want to achieve and how you plan to do it, it is absolutely necessary where your business stands at the time. Study the assets at your disposal, the market trends and how they have affected your profitability in the past, the amount of liquid cash that you have, areas where you may have failed in the past and generally any factor that could serve to give a picture of your current position. Self study is vital as it serves as a guide when it comes to the later stages of planning.

Carry out a S.W.O.T. analysis

A S.W.O.T. analysis is an in-depth study of the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to in your enterprise. Strengths and weaknesses are internal variables e.g. location, reputation and so on. Opportunities and threats are external variables. They are factors in the market such as demand and supply, market prices, competition e.t.c. The major purpose of this activity is to help develop a business strategy that is realistic and viable. It is therefore necessary to be as honest as possible when carrying out a S.W.O.T. analysis as it could very well be the determining factor on whether your plan is workable.

Set smart goals

Goals are probably the most important part of planning as they outline the destination of the growth journey of a business. Start by distinguishing between long term and short term goals. Long term goals should have a time limit of between three to four years. Short term goals should have a much shorter timeline of up to a month. Short-term goals act as a staircase to achieving your long term goals. As such these goals have to be S.M.A.R.T. an acronym for specific, measurable, action-oriented, realistic and time-bound.

  • Specific: short term goals unlike the long term ones need to be concrete and detailed. For example instead of setting a goal such as ‘to increase revenue by the end of the quarter’ be more specific and include figures or percentage in increase that is being aimed for.
  • Measurable: Ensure that the goals you set can be assessed after some time to determine their achievement or lack thereof.
  • Action-oriented: the goals you set should have a clear course of action to their achievement. Every person in the enterprise should know and understand what they need to do to ensure goals are achieved.
  • Realistic: Though goals should be challenging do not be tempted to set goals that are not achievable in the name of presenting a challenge. The failure to achieve goals is a great motivation and enthusiasm spoiler and in the long run you end up with a staff that is not motivated enough to even try to achieve goals.
  • Time specific: All goals set should have a deadline to ensure things are kept on track and to create accountability.
  • If you have additional staff it is prudent to involve them in making goals especially the short term ones so that they feel a sense of ownership towards these goals and therefore gain motivation towards their achievement.

Plan of action towards attainment of goals

Clearly outline how the set goals will be achieved. This plan should take into account all members of staff. Define each person’s role towards the achievement of these goals so as to create accountability. It does not stop there however, it is necessary to follow up to ensure everybody is satisfactorily carrying out their role and to employ both positive and negative reinforcement according to performance. Clear cut out roles for everyone in the business acts as a way to ensure they keep their eyes on the target and know what part they are required to play in order to achieve the set goals.

Delegate

No matter how good an entrepreneur, one cannot be equally good in all fields. It is therefore necessary to share out duties according to expertise. In addition to producing better results, this also leaves one free to focus on the areas they are best in.

Though planning is not that much fun, it is a crucial part of business operations. It gives purpose and motivation to the whole enterprise’s fraternity and therefore increases performance. With proper planning you can stand assured that growth will be observed in your enterprise and the vice versa is also true.

Share
0
TDWS Technical Support
TDWS Technical Support

Related posts

software engineer standing beside server racks

Photo by Christina Morillo on Pexels.com

5 February 2023

Maximizing eCommerce Performance: The Key Benefits of High Performance Hosting


Read more
24 January 2022

How Product Reviews Can Lead To More Sales For Your Online Store


Read more
29 December 2021

How Can Adaptive Website Design Increase Your Visitor Count?


Read more
13 December 2021

The Anatomy of a Profitable eCommerce Sales Funnel for Small Businesses


Read more
10 November 2021

Contests and Giveaways in WordPress. Ultimate Guide. [+ Contest Prize Ideas]


Read more
2 June 2021

Hosting WooCommerce Stores with Unexpected High Traffic


Read more
27 May 2021

Common Causes Why is WordPress Slow


Read more
2 December 2020

How CRM can make your business more efficient


Read more

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Our Services

  • Business Hosting
  • TDWS VPS
  • Dedicated Servers
  • E-Commerce Solutions
  • Enterprise Hosting
  • Managed WordPress Hosting
  • Highly Optimized WordPress Hosting
  • SSL Certificates

TDWS Cloud

  • TDWS Cloud Servers
  • TDWS CloudSites
  • VMware Public Cloud Servers
  • VMware ESXi Private Cloud
  • Microsoft Hyper-V Private Cloud
  • TDWS Virtual Private Cloud
  • Hybrid Cloud
  • Cloud Infrastructure

Recent Posts

  • The Power of Plus Addressing
  • Why an LMS is Essential for Selling Courses Online
  • CentOS Stream vs AlmaLinux: Which Distribution is Right for You?
  • De-Risk Your IT Strategy with TDWS High-Performance Cloud
  • Speeding Up Success: How Power Day Sale Improved Website Performance and Increased Conversions

About Us

  • About Us
  • Why Us
  • Affiliate
  • Contact Us
  • Data Centers
© 2021 TD Web Services. All Rights Reserved.