93: What is your business missing? Strategy?
One thing your business might be missing…
And it is something I have noticed in the last few months among female entrepreneurs.
It striked me how many small business owners prioritise tactics, flashy digital tools, and shiny objects, overlooking the fact that the missing link is actually the strategy led by none other than YOU, the CEO.
The crystal clear vision.
With over 15 years of experience as a strategy consultant and business doula across various business sizes, I can confidently say that we ALWAYS begin with a well-crafted strategy before handing it off to the marketing, product, financial, and operations teams.
This applies even if you're a solopreneur or have a small team.
I am wholeheartedly convinced of this truth!
This episode will help debunk some strategy myths and set you on the right path!
If you LOVED the episode, make sure you share this on your Instagram stories and tag me @essential.shift.
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KEY EPISODE TAKEAWAYS
What is business strategy
The myths about business strategy
Why you need a business strategy
How to get started
SHOW RESOURCES
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Bless it be.
With love, Laetitia!
TRANSCRIPTION
Laetitia Andrac 0:00
Many hundreds woman in the room and it strikes me how many small business owner prioritize tactics, flashy digital tools, shiny objects, all of the things that someone else told them they should do, rather than going back to their business strategy to themselves as a CEO, the sacred CEO of their business, you know, I love to say that and I'm in the process of trademarking, sacred SEO as it's at the heart of my book, light it and really, I not, it's said many of them are not seeing how business strategy is the missing link for them to grow the business in a way that's truly aligned with themselves and with their vision. I have 15 years of experience as a strategic consultants and business doula across Vyas business sizes from a few 1000 You know, the 50,000 turnover yearly, up to the 50 million and even beyond that billion dollar businesses when I was working in strategy consulting and I am confidently telling you that you always need to have a well crafted strategy before you handing it off to your marketing team to a product team or if you are the marketer in your business or if you are the accountant in your business, you need to have a clear business strategy so that you can really really Claire with clarity, know what you're doing. So today, I decided to record an episode around the fact that you know, around the method that there is around business strategy. So my first question before I start going into the episode is do you have a clear and documented business strategy for your business? Take a moment and there is no right or wrong answer to that question. Just answer that question and you can DM me on Instagram at essential dodge shift with your answer. And again, no judgments. And I know it can be a conferencing questions this question around Do you have a clear and documented business strategy for your business? If you answer yes, I will not ask you to show me your strategy. But make sure that you have a clear and documented strategy. So I really liked was this episode to say stop to the pseudo business expert the business guru as I'd have to call them out there who tells you what you should do you need to have an online course you need to have a large catalog of products you need to have an e commerce Store you need to dance on a real you need to have a large email list you need to have a podcast you need to have a YouTube channel, you name it, whatever they're telling you to do. Because right now you're feeling overwhelmed because you don't know what to do next. You're just following someone else's advice, or the last person you spoke with and then you're like, a chicken without a head of that actor you know, walking around and I'm doing that on video but you can see it but really like you're really overwhelmed. So my invitation today is really to debunk those common myths around business strategy. And explain the significance of it for you as small business owner or even medium sized business owner or it's relevant for large business owner too. So let's do it. Let's talk about this passion of mine of business strategy. So, before we dive into the Myths and Truths surrounding strategy, I really want you to understand in the first part of this episode, its immense significance. And then we are going to explain the different aspects of a business strategy. So fasten your seat belts as we embark on a journey to deep and common messes around business strategy and uncover why it's an absolute must for every business owner out there. So let's start with a common myth. The first myth that I hear a lot of people coming to me with it's like business strategies only for big corporations. You have been a business consultant at strategy consultant, and business transformation and innovation consultant in big firms. So it's only for the big firm, that it is relevant. No, no, this is this is a belief that you have that strategy planning is reserved solely for the giant in the industry. But it is time for you as a small business owner or medium business owner to really know that whatever is the size of your business, you need to have a strategy and that's why I love to host quantity strategy planning within my communities. The next one is on the 14th of September from 10am to 4pm. Australian time and we are also hosting it online. So it's in person around Sydney and it's also online. If you want to join we'll put the link here it's only open to member of the circle or someone who has never been part of the circle and you can join this quantity planning and then the cost of the quantity planning will be dedicated to your circle membership subscription. So if you want to join us and start planning strategically, it is time to shatter this misconception that it's only for big corporations that spending time doing the strategy is not necessarily like you need that. So I can share with you an example of one business that I helped privately without naming the business that I helped privately which grew from zero to multimillion because they strategically tapped into their niche into their unique value proposition into their innovative traits. As a business because they carved time to design their strategy with me helping them design their strategy when the plan for the next years and next quarters and next month. Working backwards from the 10 year vision to the five to the year. To the quarter to the month. Okay. growth comes from vision and strategy. So that's why the first is business strategy is only for big corporations. The second is that I hear a lot of people you know saying out loud sharing with me or asking question about is strategy is like planning. It's just a fancy term for planning. No, that's another myth we need to best. The misconception is that strategy is just you know a planning that will limit you that will design for you. What are the next task and what are the next thing? No, it's not that think of operational planning as your day to day each in Harare and strategic planning and a strategy for your business as your GPS for the long haul. Does it make sense? Your strategic planning is a long pole is a GPS is where are you aiming to go? And then your plan you're planning your task are the short term for this. So I had this question coming through when I shared in a closed Facebook group of a community I'm part of Do you have a business strategy and do you know what a business strategy is? And someone said, I don't have a business strategy. Because I find that if I ever business strategies and you will be you know, just a plan on a page and you will limit my creativity like no no, no, no, no. For me again, if you don't understand the GPS analogy and the day to day task, what I gave as an answer and I'm going to read you here what I wrote is like think of the strategy as a river bank to allow you business day to day to flow like the water in the river. Not to overflow or not to dry either. This makes sense. I think it's beautiful. This extract from this answer. And so really think about this. Okay, then the Ottomans that I have is a business tragedy is static. The Myth number three the believes that a business strategy is set in stone is wrong. As I was a business strategist for big corporation, or for small startup or mentor in Meridian, which was our incubator in Telstra all of that,
we would refresh the strategy regularly. So it is not static. It is anything but static because the business environment is not static either. It's more again like a river, either shift ever shifting and evolving. So if you have a business strategy, don't think like okay, I've done this exercise. I put it there don't need to look at my business strategy for the next 10 years. No, no, no, no, you look at your business strategy every month or every quarter. Don't look at it every year. It's too late. You need to change it regularly adapted successful business understand this. They continuously refine their strategies to remain adaptable. In the face of the trends that are emerging, emerging now we have like lots of people talking about the different tools that are emerging with AI and I know some businesses are really challenged by this. Now you can create a website things to AI in a few second, you can create invent and create photo and design by just asking a bot to create this kind of image. So some designer are also challenged or photographer, new technologies, all those kinds of unexpected challenges like you know coding, no one could plan this. So yes, you need to refine your strategy. You need to adjust it. It's always shifting but if you don't have one because you're like, Ah, it's useless to do it because it is a saying it's not static. It's not useless. It's amazing because then you've planned it and then you adjust it. So you're starting from something and you're adjusting it and you're evolving, and you're shifting it and you're making it always relevant. So please don't delay something to be done just because it will be outdated as soon as it's done. It's actually great to add it and then I just did okay as you can see, I get very excited. So okay, let me finish with this fourth myth. So the myth four that I hear a lot and those are like the main means that I have gathered based on conversation I had with many business owners, if you think of any other means or if you have like any beliefs that prevents you from designing your business strategy, just send it to me on Instagram at essential dodge shift. I would love to answer to you around this. So the last news that I hear all lot is like strategy is all about beating the competition who might gosh, so I don't agree with that. True strategic thinking extends far beyond rivalry. And I am all about cooperation over competition. So designing a business strategy is not about just looking at your competition and being like I'm gonna get better than them. I'm gonna like all of that. And, you know, it's not the point. The point is actually with strategy and we have this thing of, you know, blue sky thinking in strategy which is really about getting into other space using to other contexts into new market being so innovative that actually we playing when no one is playing. And so rather than being confined to the red ocean of the competition, you go into the blue sky thinking and then you introduce an innovative products that met a previously unaddressed need. And again, I have helped many of my clients and you can go through the case study on my website to design offerings, product software services, that were truly innovative playing, you know, totally different game. So then you're not competing. You're actually the only one doing this and this comes from spending time during your strategy. Okay, so those are the four myths. First one business strategy is only for cooperation. I hope you have this one. Now, Don. Strategy is just a fancy term for planning, business strategies static and the fourth one strategy is all about beating the competition. So now that I have explained to you the myth, let's go into what business strategy really is. Let's get into that and then the last part of this podcast will be the importance of it for you as a business owner. So business strategy now that I've you know, dispel those myths. Let's Tao delve into the essence of business strategy. So business strategy is like the compass, guiding your decision and action, leveraging your strengths, mitigating your weaknesses as a business as a business owner, seizing the opportunities and mitigating the threats. So that's weighing you know, I love to say is as a component of a solid business strategy is like a puzzle, where every piece is critical. So I always love to start with what is the mission? What is the vision statement of your business? And this is the first thing that you know, first of the pillar that I helped my client design as part of my flow business accelerator, you can join the waitlist, the link is in the show notes. But really something we need to start with the mission and the vision and the values of your business. And today, a lot of Guru business mentor out there are not explaining to you how to do that. And this is critical. Critical to MCs clarifying then we look at the target market, the customer needs. The ICA the ideal customer avatar, you know, I'm completely focused on that, but we need to uncover your audience's pain points and desire. Really understanding that is critical. And then we go through the other pillar that we cover inside the accelerator, but really going through those different pillar and we will link this episode where I explained the different pillar to have a successful business because all of those pillar of creating the puzzle of your business strategy. So I'm not going to repeat myself from this episode, so I will link it in the show notes. So now why is it essential to add a business strategy as a small business owner? First elements in the long term, you have a direction. Why is it so crucial to have a direction because then it provides you the North Star that guides you in your business journey through the cosmos off business, roller coaster, all of that. So, you know I have some example again, in my case study and you can go and check it out. But many clients are like oh my gosh, now I have a crystal clear strategy. So now I can make decision. Rather than being reactive. I can make decision proactively and I can propel myself through sustainable growth. So really, I think this Northstar, this long term direction will help you stay away from the shiny object. Stop delegating to someone else to shoot the thesis that the next trend the thing you need to do law. No, you know what you want to do? Given your north star and the step to take towards your North Star. Then having a strategy Why is it essential as a business owner, let's talk about the resource allocation. When you want to make the most out of what you have and you know resources are always something that we feel as small business we are lacking, you know, it's like you know, to allocate my resources to something that actually create the results. So if you allocate your resources wisely based on your long term strategy, then you making the most efficient use of those resources. So for instance, something that I'm teaching right now in my intuitive selling course, is if you invest and if you retain 5% of your clients through your loyalty, you're creating 95% more profit. Hear me right? 5% increase in loyalty creates 95% of profits in your business. So here we're like, rocking the Pareto law, which is 20% of the effort create 90% of the results. Here's like 5% Great 95% of profits, bottom line in your business. So okay, so let's focus on loyalty then. Right. Then you can focus the resources allocation towards loyalty in your business. This is where it is critical to know those data, the strategy so that you can do that those kinds of allocation, and then you can efficiently grow your business without burning through unnecessary funds, throwing money into things that actually don't create results. And then, another thing that I want to share, which is the last one around the importance of having a strategy and there is way more things that I could share, but you know, I'm just like here to say, Please build your spread today. I've been you know, showing you all the elements that I've prepared for this podcast, but the last one is, is then your adaptation to change will be stronger when you have a strategy. The business word is a dynamic stage with cribs can change in an instance so when you have a well crafted strategy, you are equipped with the agility to pivot and seize emerging opportunities. Again, you will be able to be proactive, rather than reactive
the strategic pivot in some instance for some of my clients not only saves the business, but positions them for unprecedented success because they seized an opportunity. And how did we do that? Because rather than looking through the rear mirror, we were looking forward. Okay. So let me wrap this up. I hope you are convinced now. And it was an eye opening episode around your strategy. So let's reflect quickly on all that we've shared. So I have filled a layer of myths surrounding business strategy for you. And you've discovered the true essence and the true power of strategy. So remember, now that strategy isn't, you know, a shiny word, something that's trending right now or lofty concepts reserved for corporate boardrooms. It is actually the heartbeat of your business, the illuminated roadmap to your dreams and the key to unlocking the full potential growth. sustainable growth of your business. So go ahead, put your strategic hat on and let's craft your unique strategy. Let's the strategic thinking illuminate your path. And if you feel a bit overwhelmed on how to do that, you can download my free guide for business foundation which we'll put in the link in the show notes. You can join my quarterly planning which we'll put in the show notes. You can book an intensive with me and we can work on your strategy. Or you can join my flow accelerator program or even my goddess embodiment sisterhood mastermind which is starting the first of October, and we've already sold a few spots. So get in quick. So that's it for today. I hope you enjoyed it. See you soon