Personal and professional strategies made simple by an experienced international business consultant.
Business Priorities
Written by Masi Alessandro
The most important thing anyone should focus on is the very thing they want. Bizarrely pre-teens get it right every time, while most adults fail. That is because youngsters know what they want without any complications. Paradoxically, the supposedly mature adult puts themselves and the goal of their desires through such examinations, the spontaneity and the simplicity of the original desire are destroyed by at least some of the following:
- Over-analysing the possibilities of success.
- Second-guessing already agreed-upon strategies.
- Starting to over-complicate initially simple strategies or basically:
- Becoming your own worst enemy by personalising the process of creating and adhering to a business strategy.
One of my former clients - I'll call him Vito - came to me one day and asked for my help with his new business, which was already up and running. When I asked the obvious question: "Why are you coming to me after you've already opened your doors, he replied the standard: "I already knew what I was doing, so why call in a specialist?" To which I responded with an amused and sarcastic glint in my eye: "So what could possibly be going wrong with that strategy?".
 The main part of his story is that he personalised his business goals so that he contaminated a good business idea with his personal ego needs to have a restaurant like his father did with his name in glowing lights. By personalising his business strategy, he focused on the business he wanted to be seen in, rather than what the local demographic was in need of.
When I went through his restaurant - which was beautiful, by the way - I found that, in a vacuum, he had created - at much expense - a fancy little eatery with fresh fish and meats and some exotic foods and a nice wine list with prices to match, in a luxurious setting with a fire-place and a stunning fish tank, which was all nice...
But his problem was that he ignored the demographics' (target audience) requirements for that part of town. In other words: Vito had built the restaurant of his dreams in a family-dominated working class neighbourhood. He was thinking of what he wanted, without thinking about what his most likely customer base would want.
A crucial rule when you open a business is to get the thought that you are in charge out of your head. Whether you're opening a cleaning service or a fancy hotel, your new bosses are your prospective clients!! You work for them, because they pay your bills.
Get over yourself and make your customers happy... that's a successful business!
More to follow...
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