Why YOUR Biggest BUSINESS Threat is Hiding
When building a business, determining how to move forward could be broken down into two simple steps:
Examine current situation/facts/information/resources
With that knowledge, planning the necessary steps to accomplish your business goals
What we fail to acknowledge, is that in the process of information gathering and planning - there are many landmines hiding.
What am I talking about?
Assumptions.
NEVER ASSUME YOU’VE UNCOVERED EVERYTHING
Assumptions come in all forms:
Understanding the customer
Anticipating obstacles
Having experience with certain business challenges
Knowing what questions need to be asked
Expectations about how long a project will take
What your employees think
It is a common challenge I face even before taking on new projects.
The “work” starts before the work begins.
THE RIGHT QUESTIONS WILL LEAD TO CLARITY
I was being briefed by April, who was a business partner in a $40 million business. They were planning the launch of a new brand, one that would complement their existing 8 figure business. After about 45 minutes of talking, with April sharing with me her vision and plan - she looked at me and said “Okay, now how do we move forward?”
But the truth is that after 45 minutes, I had collected a mountain of questions. While she shared her plans with energy, we quickly discovered what she stated with confidence, were in fact supported by assumptions. We had more work to do before we could “start” on the project as she envisioned.
This is a common challenge business leaders face.
We can be so eager that we become blind to the assumptions we make.
With this particular client, the prospect of starting a new brand represented freedom from the challenges of the current business, and opportunity to grow a new revenue channel.
We must take the time to ask the right questions and lay down a plan based on the accurate details.
This sets our businesses up for success by building a strong foundation and eliminating friction and redundancies.
A GREAT IDEA IS ONLY GREAT IF YOU BUILD IT RIGHT
After our initial meeting, I guided her through a series of questions about her business to help her see that while she had a great idea and a strong vision - she wasn’t taking the time to build the vision. She was anxious and thinking about executional elements before the strategic groundwork has been made.
She was in the weeds.
We aligned on actionable next steps, which included meeting with her IP lawyer, examining her product assortment plans, and most importantly, considering whether her ultimate goal might be to exit. This alone was a major consideration that she hadn’t realized could be impacted by the assumptions she was making.
THINK LONG TERM
So next time you make plans, allow yourself to probe every assumption that is attached to your business/problems/ideas.
Assumptions don’t always strike right away - they can take years to show symptoms. And when they do, they may have cost your business a huge chunk of $, or require you to re-build aspects of your business.
What assumptions are you making without realizing?