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Do you sometimes wish you could be more

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prepared to handle potential

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obstacles in your business

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or more focused

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on achieving your goals ? Well

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, there is a way . In today's

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episode , I am going to share a simple

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but powerful way

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to get more in touch with your business

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and external factors

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that may impact your business

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. Welcome to the Operations

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Toolbox podcast . I'm your host

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, tonya D Harrison . Let's create

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version 2.0 of your

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business , and this is the version

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that is called Growth Without Burnout

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. So let's get started . Today

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, I want to share with you a powerful

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tool , a simple but yet

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powerful tool , and it

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is called a SWOT analysis . A

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SWOT analysis is a strategic

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planning tool that is used to identify

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and evaluate the strengths

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, weaknesses , opportunities

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and threats facing your

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business . Now we're going

1:06

to go into a little bit more detail

1:09

, but let's talk a little bit more

1:11

about the SWOT analysis . This

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SWOT analysis has been around

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since the 1960s , so

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businesses have been using it for

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a while now , and it is still

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widely used today . Not

1:25

only is it used in business , but

1:27

it's also used in the professional

1:29

growth arena and is something

1:31

that I used to use when

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I was a career coach . Performing

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a SWOT analysis allows

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you to take an objective , look

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at the risks and opportunities for

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your business , and it gives you time

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to prepare and put a game

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in place to minimize or mitigate

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the risks or take advantage of the opportunities

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. Now I

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advise that , when you are preparing

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to conduct your SWOT analysis

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, that you take a look at the five

2:03

pillars of business . These

2:05

are the five areas that I

2:07

recommend for all solopreneurs

2:10

as well as small businesses

2:12

. These five

2:15

areas are number one financial

2:17

stability and growth . So

2:20

the first thing you want to do is you want

2:22

to make sure you're you are financially stable

2:24

, and then you want to look at . You want to make sure you are financially stable and then you want to look at how

2:26

you can grow . This is a specific

2:29

area that you want to focus on

2:31

. The second one is customer

2:33

value and success . How do you create

2:36

more value for your customers

2:38

or potential customers , and

2:41

how do you increase lifetime value

2:44

of the customers that you already have

2:46

? We've heard the saying that it's cheaper to

2:48

keep a customer than it is to get a

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new one . The third area

2:53

is operational excellence . This

2:55

is your operations . In

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this area , we're mainly talking

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about how efficiently you

3:01

get things done . So this is around

3:04

your processes , tools , technology

3:06

, anything that creates efficiency

3:09

and increases your profits . Sales

3:12

and marketing is the fourth area

3:14

, and this is taking a look at

3:16

your marketing . Is it landing ? Is

3:18

it converting into sales ? How

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is all of that working for you ? The

3:24

fifth area is professional

3:26

growth and team development . As

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a solopreneur , you want to make

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sure that you are growing professionally

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, since you are one

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of the or the primary resource

3:38

within your business . Also , you

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want to think about ways that you can expand

3:43

your team as well

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as develop them once

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they're on board . So

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let's talk about , or let's

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break down , each component

3:55

of the SWOT analysis . Let's dig a little

3:57

bit deeper . The

3:59

first one is strengths . So

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these are internal . These

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are within your business , so you have more control

4:06

. These are internal factors

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that contribute positively

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to your business's success . Strengths

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may include things like a

4:15

unique skill or expertise , a

4:18

strong brand recognition , customer

4:22

loyalty , efficient processes

4:24

, access to valuable

4:27

resources . These are

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your strengths within

4:31

your business . Weaknesses

4:34

they are internal as

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well , but these are things that hinder

4:39

your business's performance or

4:41

your growth potential . These

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may include things like lack

4:46

of expertise , limited

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financial resources , inefficient

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processes or poor

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brand recognition Anything

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that internally that

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impedes growth . The

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next two areas are external

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factors . The first one

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is opportunities . So this is an

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external factor that the

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business could take advantage of

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, capitalize on to achieve

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growth or competitive advantage

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. This could include things

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like emerging market trends

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that you can jump on , new technologies

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you could use . Expanding

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customer segments right

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, so you may have a product or services that you're

5:32

using in one industry that

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could be expanded to another industry

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, or maybe there are

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gaps in a market that you could feel

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. The

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fourth one is threats . This is

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again external , but these are things

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that could potentially harm your business

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or pose

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obstacles to its success

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. This could be increased

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competition , like a lot

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of people talk about . The market is saturated

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, so maybe that is a potential

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threat . Economic downturns

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, the talk about inflation

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we're in a depression All

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of those things may have a direct

6:16

impact on your business or could potentially

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have a direct impact on your business . Changes

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in regulations there could be a law or

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something that's coming into place that

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may directly impact how you

6:28

do things . Shifting in consumer

6:30

preferences they

6:32

now like something different , right

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that could be a

6:36

threat . Or technology

6:39

disruptions . So think

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about all of these things . Be

6:44

objective , look across the different areas

6:46

within your business and think

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about what are the potential threat

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. Now , when you're doing your

6:52

analysis , because it's

6:54

only you as a solopreneur , you're going

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to have to do some research . Some of

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this information you're going to have readily about

7:01

available because it's internally

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, so you're just objectively looking at your

7:05

business . But for the external

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things , you're going to have to do some research , some

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market research . You're going to have to go out there

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and do some analysis as

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to what is going on , looking at your

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competitors , looking at again any

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laws , looking at

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different marketing trends and things like

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that . So you are really going to have to do

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your work , your homework , in order

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to make this as effective as possible

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. The ultimate goal is

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, when you identify these things

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, you want to have a plan how

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you can utilize them to your benefit

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, or things that you could put

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in place to minimize or

7:43

mitigate risk . Now

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here's why small businesses

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in general should conduct

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a small SWOT analysis

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. The first

7:54

thing is strategic planning . So

7:56

conducting the SWOT analysis helps small

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businesses identify key factors

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affecting their success , right ? So

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it's just like we just talked about . You're able to develop

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strategies to leverage

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your strengths and address your weaknesses

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, capitalize on opportunities

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and mitigate threats . So

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you are in a position

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where you have a roadmap

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for strategic decision

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making and resource allocation . The

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second thing is risk management . It

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puts you in a position where you can now manage

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your risk by identifying

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potential threats and weaknesses . You

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are able to proactively

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address these risks and vulnerabilities

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before they escalate

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into major problems . So you could put

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something in place . You could be proactive

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, which is what we want

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to do . We don't want to wait until something happens

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right . We want to make sure we

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are proactively doing things . Resource

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allocation Now , understanding

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your business strengths and opportunities

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, you can allocate resources

9:03

more effectively . You can prioritize

9:05

those investments and those things

9:07

in areas that is going to help

9:10

you achieve a competitive advantage

9:12

or where there is potential

9:14

growth . So you could really

9:17

optimize your resources

9:19

, and we know that we have limited resources

9:21

. The last one is competitive

9:24

advantage . So a SWOT analysis

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helps small businesses identify

9:28

unique strengths and competitive

9:31

advantages , allowing

9:33

you to separate yourselves in the market

9:35

, differentiate yourselves and attract

9:37

customers . It also enables

9:40

businesses to stay agile

9:42

and responsive to changes in

9:44

the market . Now

9:47

, when it comes to solopreneurs

9:50

specifically , there are

9:52

some additional benefits

9:54

Because we are the

9:56

primary resource within our business

9:58

solopreneur . One

10:02

of the benefits is self-awareness

10:04

. It allows solopreneurs

10:07

to gain a deeper understanding of

10:09

their own strengths and weaknesses

10:11

, and now you can leverage

10:13

these skills more effectively

10:15

. Leverage these skills more effectively

10:18

or , for the areas that you have a weakness

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, now

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you can implement some personal

10:29

and professional development so that you could get ahead of it . And

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when I say self-awareness , I'm talking about

10:37

everything , right ? Something

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as simple as if you scroll social media too , too long , if you're spending two

10:42

, three hours on social media scrolling , that

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could be two to three hours that you are

10:47

working in your business . So

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nothing is too big or too small

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. Really , think about everything when

10:54

you're doing this SWOT analysis . The

10:56

second thing is focus , so

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you can gain insights

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from SWOT analysis to help you

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prioritize your activities

11:06

. Again , we are going

11:08

to focus on those strengths and opportunities

11:11

so that we can leverage them

11:13

. So you could think about what those tasks

11:15

are . We're going back to the 80-20

11:18

rule , right ? 20% of the activities

11:20

usually lead to 80%

11:22

of the outcomes . What are those

11:25

activities that you need

11:27

to be focusing on to achieve greater

11:29

results ? Efficiency

11:33

is the next one . By identifying

11:35

potential threats and weaknesses

11:37

, you can take proactive measures

11:40

to address these issues and

11:42

minimize the impact to

11:44

your business . Again

11:46

, this proactive approach helps

11:48

solopreneurs operate more efficiently

11:51

and effectively . Now

11:54

, the SWOT analysis although it's

11:56

been around for a while and a

11:59

lot of companies use it , there are alternative

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approaches . A lot of companies use it , there are alternative approaches

12:03

. There's something called the score analysis

12:06

, the PESTO analysis , soar

12:09

, noise analysis , and

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each of these tools have pros and cons , so you can go out and you can research

12:16

some of them . I like the

12:18

SWOT analysis because it is

12:21

simple and straightforward

12:23

. What

12:25

are your strengths , what are your weaknesses , what are your opportunities

12:28

, what are your threats ? I like it because

12:30

it's simple , it's straightforward . It

12:32

forces you to look at

12:34

things that you may not have necessarily

12:37

looked at before , as

12:39

long as you're doing it from an objective

12:41

perspective . Again , you

12:43

gotta do your research so

12:45

that it is complete . And

12:48

then also , the other thing is

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, like I said , once you complete your

12:52

SWOT analysis , you want to

12:54

make sure that you have a plan that

12:56

addresses each of these your

12:59

strengths and opportunities , as well

13:01

as your weaknesses and your threats . That's

13:03

how you're going to get the most out

13:05

of it , by doing something about it . So

13:08

, if we go back to the example

13:10

of the weakness of

13:12

scrolling social media , what

13:15

is the plan to stop that

13:17

right ? So it may be to put

13:19

. Where notifications don't

13:22

come through on your computer or on your

13:24

phone , or block certain apps

13:26

during a certain time of day , there has

13:28

to be a plan to address it in

13:31

order for it to be effective

13:33

and useful . This

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wraps up another episode of the Operations

13:39

Toolbox podcast . I hope you

13:41

found this information helpful . Go forth

13:43

and do your SWOT analysis and

13:46

create that proactive plan so

13:48

that you can continue to grow

13:50

your business without

13:52

burnout . I'm your host

13:54

, tanya D Harrison , and I

13:56

want to thank you for joining me . Until

13:59

next time , keep pushing

14:02

forward on your entrepreneurial

14:04

journey .