photo by Esparta

I was revisiting some of my older blog posts and I found one that I felt was really worth while.  The original post is called What are your Real Goals and it covers a powerful exercise that will help you look at what you want to do differently.

One of the traps that we all fall into is more of a wish fulfillment state rather than an honest and actionable set of goals that actually mean something.  “I want a lot of money” is not an actionable or even inspirational goal…however something like “I want to be free from concerns about money so that I can do the things I love” might generate more direction and be more inspirational.

Take a few minutes to go through the exercise (actually write things down) and I guarantee you’ll get something out of it.  Here’s a link to a form you can fill out for the exercise:  Real Goals Worksheet

Now – go and find out what your Real Goals are.

Shawn Kinkade  Kansas City Business Coach

In today’s competitive environment it’s more important than ever to have a competitive advantage – something that puts you above the general fray of your industry.

Maybe you have a unique technology advantage…a patented something or other that no one else has.

Maybe you were first in your space and really own the marketplace (95 of the top 100 companies use our service…).

Maybe you’re faster, better a different business model – there can be lots of ways to build a competitive advantage.

However if you’re stuck on what yours might be, you should look at your core values and your vision as a possible way to stand out and make yourself different from the crowd.

Do you have customers that buy from you because of what you stand for?  Great employees that do more than you expect because they believe in the bigger picture of where you’re taking the business?

I’ve written before about how to find your core values, but even more importantly you can actively use those core values as a differentiator…a competitive advantage.

(photo by Zach Dischner)

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A lot of people struggle with establishing processes for their businesses.  It feels bureaucratic, stifling and it can be some serious work up front to get things documented and figured out.

However it’s not rocket science…by any stretch of the imagination.

The trick, assuming that you’re a business that’s already up and running is that you are already following a process.  You may not be following it consistently, you may not have a great handle on all of the components (i.e. it’s not written anywhere) but in order to get the work done you are following certain steps to go from start to finished.

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  photo by Paul Kehrer

Running a business is a uphill climb, even in the best of times (although the views from the top make it worthwhile).  Regardless of the kind of business you have and how far along you are in that business – there’s some kind of challenge facing you.  It could be something significant, if you don’t take the right path you could fall off a cliff or it could be the kind of challenge that just wears you down over time.

I had a great opportunity the other night to take an informal poll and discussion with about 20 small business owners here in Kansas City and get some great feedback on the types of challenges they’re facing.  I was holding a demonstration ‘event’ for the Peer Group Advisory boards that I run – looking for potential members for a new board and it gave me a great excuse to ask everyone to share a big challenge that they’re facing in their business today.

And we got some great answers…

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photo by albertopveiga

Does it ever seem like life gets too complicated? 

Does your business get so crazy that you constantly feel like you have to play the ‘Hero’ – come in and pick up the pieces and save the day?

Have you ever had a potential customer say to you:  “Now what is it that you do…exactly?”

Simple is underrated when it comes to success in business.

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