DISQUS

Lee Stacey · 12 months ago

Your first point is a good one and perhaps the most important but you need to do more than just "revisit" your business plan. If you really want to stay ahead of the game you MUST continually tweak your business plan. To some degree even on a daily basis.

Just ten minutes a day looking at your plan and tweaking it will enable you to implement a continuous improvement programme that can make a big difference to the way your business works and people within your business communicate.

Innovation actually becomes pretty easy when you get into a habit of doing it every day.

Simple things like process mapping and reprioritising can make a huge difference when visited daily.

Get the post-it notes out and throw those ideas up on the wall. Remember that every idea is a good idea, no matter how silly it sounds. Even the silliest ideas can be the seed that makes a really good idea grow.

<abbr>Lee Stacey´s last blog post..I Don't Do Piracy</abbr>

Danny · 12 months ago

That must be my UK version of terminology coming through - when I said "revisit" I did actually mean tweak it if needed. I'll have to stop and think in future of the different meanings... ;-)

Great point about being innovative every day, particularly when there are companies that aren't being innovative anywhere near as much as they should be. Then they wonder why they're struggling...

jon buscall · 12 months ago

Excellent point about targeting local business. It's easy to forget to talk to the locals with social media.

As someone working in Sweden and using Twitter, I've found the hashtag #svpt a useful way of making sure some of the things I say are directly aimed at Swedes ---even though nearly everyone is writing in (global) English.

On Twitter it's important not to alientate non-English followers. Hashtags are a great way of targeting local followers.

<abbr>jon buscall´s last blog post..2008 – That Was the Year That Was</abbr>

Tom - StandOutBlogger.com · 12 months ago

I consider my blog to be my business and I constantly find myself going off track and having to go back to my goals and initial plan.

<abbr>Tom - StandOutBlogger.com´s last blog post..10 Things Climbing A Mountain Taught Me About Goals</abbr>

Danny · 12 months ago

@ Jon. It's interesting to see you use the international "local market', with your own country as your local audience (particularly on Twitter). I feel this is where many users whose first language is English are probably missing out - it never fails to amaze me how other countries are able to drop into English easily (or so it would appear). Can only help in the long run, and always impressive to see.

Paul J Roberts · 12 months ago

I see all these steps as opportunities, especially when companies fail to consider any or all of them.

#2 Proactive vs. Reactive- (Is a post topic I've had a working draft on for a few days now.) This is one I have the biggest issue with. I've seen some very prominent firms sit back and watch what their competitors do first and always follow suit. Never the innovator, even though they have the power to. Sometimes it's due to a lack of creativity, but often it's been a result of trying to maintain a minimalistic "Do only what we have to" approach. If you're going to be #1, then be #1 by leading the pack with innovative services, products and customer relationships.

<abbr>Paul J Roberts´s last blog post..Set Your Goals for 2009</abbr>

Willie · 7 months ago

Being proactive can be at times risky. But with any business, risk is the norm. It is a "dog eat dog" world. Outshine your competition. Never settle for less.

Thanks for the article.

Willie