0:35

Today's episode is

0:35

the fourth of a 10 part series

0:38

here all around the 10 pillars

0:38

to purposeful leadership for

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your business. It's all around

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keeping ahead of the curve with

0:46

a proactive mindset. So it's all

0:46

about being proactive this week.

0:51

I'm your host, Pete Moore. And

0:51

welcome back to another episode

0:54

of the business owner

0:54

breakthrough. Why wait for a

0:57

storm to start building shelter?

0:57

It's interesting, you know,

1:01

being proactive means that you

1:01

foresee what's coming and

1:05

prepare in advance, not just

1:05

problems, but opportunities as

1:09

well. Right. Acting ahead of

1:09

time, keeps you in control. And

1:14

think of it like steering a

1:14

ship. And we talked a little bit

1:17

about the ship analogy last

1:17

week, too. You can't wait until

1:21

you're in the middle of the

1:21

storm to decide your course you

1:23

got to plan ahead based on the

1:23

weather forecast. You know,

1:28

there's an old adage out there

1:28

that the early bird gets the

1:31

worm. And yes, it's cliche. But

1:31

it's also true. Let's say you've

1:36

noticed that people are showing

1:36

interest in eco friendly

1:40

products, for example, within

1:40

your industry. And if you adapt

1:43

early, you can lead that trend

1:43

instead of catching up later.

1:47

But this isn't really just a

1:47

solo effort. You got to tell

1:51

your team, that you're seeing

1:51

these sorts of things, share the

1:54

vision so that they can prepare

1:54

and adapt and help you steer the

1:58

ship in those weekly meetings in

1:58

those quarterly meetings, all

2:02

the different times you have

2:02

together to talk about strategy.

2:06

But also remember, there are

2:06

risks of being too early when we

2:10

look at some of this stuff.

2:10

Being too early has its

2:13

downsides. You don't want to

2:13

pivot your entire business model

2:17

just because you noticed a

2:17

slight trend in something within

2:20

your industry. It's not being

2:20

proactive, that just being

2:24

hasty, essentially. So it's a

2:24

balancing act. We talked about

2:29

balancing act a lot here in the

2:29

10 pillars, but the idea is to

2:33

be keen, but not necessarily

2:33

impulsive in some of these

2:37

decisions. And last week you did

2:37

the SWOT analysis, or I hope you

2:41

did a SWOT analysis. And if you

2:41

didn't, take some time, go back

2:44

and listen to last week's

2:44

edition. So that you can do that

2:48

SWOT analysis, because we're

2:48

going to talk a little bit here

2:50

about is overlaying your five

2:50

P's on to that SWOT analysis.

2:55

And that's why I popped this one

2:55

in after last week's episode,

2:58

because once you have that SWOT

2:58

analysis, now you can go back to

3:01

your five P's and you know, the

3:01

five P's. Right, the promise,

3:04

the product, the process, the

3:04

people in the profit, we talked

3:06

about a lot. But go back and

3:06

overlay the SWOT on a few

3:11

different things. And I'll give

3:11

you a few examples here along

3:13

the way. But number one, if

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we're talking about the promise,

3:16

look at your SWOT and see how it

3:16

aligns with the promise, or the

3:20

transformation that you offer

3:20

your clients, right, the GFI. If

3:24

there's a strength that you can

3:24

use to better fulfill that

3:27

promise, then it's time to maybe

3:27

modify a little bit right? We

3:31

look at the product or the

3:31

service that you offer, are

3:34

there some opportunities to

3:34

improve or diversify your

3:37

product or service based on the

3:37

SWOT analysis you did last week?

3:41

And then we go to process? Did

3:41

you see any weaknesses in your

3:46

SWOT that could be solved by

3:46

tweaking some of your processes

3:49

by looking for automations by,

3:49

you know, aligning some of that

3:53

sort of stuff, so that you can

3:53

dig into the fourth be your

3:57

people, to your strengths point

3:57

towards the need for specific

4:01

talents. Maybe it's time to hire

4:01

or reassign the roles, maybe

4:05

it's time to maneuver the

4:05

accountability chart, or find

4:08

maybe new suppliers, or level up

4:08

your customer base, and your

4:12

ideal clients. Number five is

4:12

the profit. And finally, you got

4:16

to evaluate how your strengths

4:16

and opportunities could better

4:20

fuel your profit. Because

4:20

remember, unless you're not for

4:22

profit, the changes that you

4:22

make in your business based on

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the SWOT analysis and overlaying

4:26

them here on these five P's,

4:29

only should be made if it's

4:29

going to create more profit for

4:33

your business. You know, the

4:33

idea is to align your internal

4:37

and external landscape with the

4:37

five P's. It allows you to be

4:40

proactive in all of the areas of

4:40

your business. And as always,

4:45

I've got a couple of questions

4:45

to tack in when you're going

4:48

through this process as well.

4:48

And one is name one opportunity

4:54

that you can act upon. Now, I'm

4:54

going to keep pressing this

4:56

because a lot of small business

4:56

owners keep procrastinating some

5:00

of the most important things

5:00

they need to do. And I'll keep

5:04

sort of bringing these things

5:04

up. But maybe there's a gap in

5:07

the market or a trend that you

5:07

spotted. What steps can you take

5:11

to capitalize on it now? It's

5:11

time to make things happen. And

5:16

number two is to list a strength

5:16

that you can leverage. Because

5:19

you may have known the strength

5:19

has been there a long time but

5:22

think about the leverage of that

5:22

strength. Is there something

5:25

you're particularly good at,

5:25

that you're not fully using?

5:29

Whether it's a product an autumn

5:32

nation, a person within your

5:32

business, whether it's some of

5:35

the capabilities that you have,

5:35

how can you make this work in

5:38

your favor? You know, we've

5:38

talked about the importance

5:40

being proactive, and how you can

5:40

align your SWOT analysis to your

5:44

five P's. And let's dig deeper a

5:44

little bit into some techniques

5:48

that can help you along with

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this, right. So one, we've

5:52

talked about it in the past,

5:52

too, it's trend analysis. And if

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you're keeping tabs on industry

5:55

trends, then you're going to be

5:58

in the know you're not flying

5:58

blind, right? You need to be

6:01

subscribing to industry,

6:01

newsletters, and Facebook groups

6:05

and all these different areas so

6:05

that you can follow thought

6:08

leaders on social media, attend

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webinars, go to conferences, you

6:12

know, dedicate at least 30

6:12

minutes a week to read on the

6:16

industry trends, and make a list

6:16

of the trends that you can

6:19

capitalize on. Don't forget to

6:19

talk to your employees, right?

6:23

employee feedback loops are so

6:23

important. Your team is your

6:28

eyes and your ears on the

6:28

frontline of your business,

6:32

create a suggestion box, hold

6:32

regular meetings, find some way

6:36

to get the information out of

6:36

your team members, they want to

6:41

see your business survive and

6:41

thrive and do well. And they

6:44

want to be a part of that. And

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if you're having some problems,

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one of the techniques I really

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love to think about is the five

6:51

why's and if you ask yourself,

6:51

why five times as you're

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drilling down into what's going

6:56

on, let's say sales are down,

7:00

you would ask why? Well, because

7:00

traffic is down has decreased.

7:05

Why? Because our website traffic

7:05

has decreased. Well, why?

7:09

Because your site's not maybe

7:09

mobile friendly enough. Oh,

7:13

well, the site's on mobile

7:13

friendliness. So in other words,

7:16

now we have an action that we

7:16

can make the mobile friendly

7:20

site that's going to increase

7:20

our traffic and move the ball

7:24

for us right, pick one issue

7:24

that you're facing with and

7:27

drill down into the root cause

7:27

by using these five why's maybe

7:31

you'll get it in three wise or

7:31

four wise. But the idea is keep

7:34

drilling down with that

7:34

question, why until you get to

7:37

an actionable item that you can

7:37

make change upon, right? One of

7:41

the things that I see doesn't

7:41

happen enough out there, when

7:45

we're looking through all of

7:45

this strategic planning, and

7:47

everything is having a plan B,

7:47

or maybe even a Plan C. This

7:51

way, if your initial strategy

7:51

doesn't pan out, you're not left

7:55

scrambling, you simply move to

7:55

the next plan, create a backup

7:59

plan for one of your current

7:59

projects. What if your planning

8:04

fails, I mean, it might be your

8:04

lease is coming due, it might be

8:08

a new supplier that you're

8:08

wanting to work with. It might

8:10

be a new addition to your

8:10

management team, it might be a

8:12

new partner that you're taking

8:12

on in your business. But you

8:15

should always have a backup plan

8:15

for some of those. But in

8:18

particular, the bigger things

8:18

out there. And another one that

8:21

I find a lot of people aren't

8:21

using enough. And even I don't

8:24

use it enough. I love what

8:24

technology can do for us. But I

8:28

don't dig into it as much as I

8:28

probably should. And leveraging

8:32

technology in today's space is

8:32

just so important for the

8:35

advancement of your business.

8:35

There are a ton of software

8:39

tools out there that help you

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forecast sales and manage

8:41

inventory that track customer

8:41

behavior CRMs and invest in

8:46

technology that help anticipate

8:46

future needs or challenges and

8:50

list some of the tech tools that

8:50

you are using currently. And

8:54

identify some of the gaps that

8:54

could be filled with some new

8:57

software that you're hearing

8:57

from some of your friends in

8:59

your business or whatever the

8:59

case is. Stay in touch with

9:03

people that are like minded and

9:03

have up seed and a read on your

9:08

industry so that you can be

9:08

sharing with them, the wins that

9:11

you have, as well as they'll

9:11

share the ones that they have

9:14

had with you right. Being

9:14

proactive means that you're not

9:19

just for seeing but you're also

9:19

preparing. It's about making

9:23

calculated decisions based on

9:23

data on trends and on good old

9:27

human input. And you can't take

9:27

away the human input. It's the

9:33

most important piece in my

9:33

opinion, or if you're

9:35

overwhelmed and caught in the

9:35

day to day and it's hard to

9:38

think ahead. And if that's where

9:38

you're at, let me help you move

9:41

from being an operator to an

9:41

owner. Just go over to speak to

9:44

pete.com and book a chat me if

9:44

you like this episode, subscribe

9:49

to the podcast so you can get it

9:49

automatically each week

9:51

downloaded to your phone and

9:51

until next time, keep being

9:55

proactive and watch how it

9:55

changes your business and

9:59

betters your life as a business

9:59

owner. Now go and make it a

10:02

great day.

10:10

An ironic media

10:10

production visit us at our

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