Increase the relevance of your business in your local area. There are many ways to do this, though some of them are ignored because, well, they’re hard to implement. Being a business operator is full of opportunity and challenge that begets even more opportunity, though it’s not always easy to step up and take hold of opportunity with vigor, is it?
Nevertheless, it is often the harder tasks that most warrant our attention (such tasks often demand our consideration even after they’ve been denied per normal practice). So maybe we should first take a look at what’s involved with facing those harder tasks: courage and a willingness to meet challenge with a smile that allows the “ah ha” moments to roll in.
Two challenging aspects of developing a healthy business…
Some business operators find it difficult to productively assess their competition, and some find it difficult to embody diversification in their business as much possible. By productively assessing competitors and becoming focused on ways to create a distinctive business, it is possible to revitalize your business so that something fresh and significant emerges.
It isn’t easy to make time to enumerate and learn from our competitors because learning from them may require admitting where we may not be operating optimally, or where we must improve. Nonetheless, this exercise alone (performed regularly) is ultimately a most critical part of assessing ourselves, our own role in our business, and what action we must habitually take to make necessary changes. It is part of the groundwork that is essential to understanding what our business is, is not, and why it has a strong place in the community even when there are others serving in a similar capacity.
At no time should a business operator be ignorant of who, where, what, how, and why concerning their competition, to the extent possible. In turn, the who, the where, the what, the how, and the why concerning one’s own business operation must be even more deeply understood as competing businesses are assessed. Competition is also directly linked with territory in franchising.
What about diversification? What does this look like? Creating a business that honors and is interested in diversity equates with creating a business that distinguishes itself from competing elements. So whether it’s a broader range of ethnic backgrounds making up the team, more of a balance in gender on staff, more innovative ideas involving products on offer in relation to varied local service markets, or integrating an eye for global affairs to make headway in different cultural markets, the list of what constitutes honoring diversity is up for grabs.
What we can be sure of is this: diversity may well be something worth integrating in your upcoming new year business plans and it’s not easy to know where to start. Implementing a strategy that honors diversity requires stepping outside ourselves and at times outside our comfort zone in business. Nonetheless, the potential rewards can be huge as a business is differentiated from neighboring competition and made more adaptable to changing times.