If You Could Do It All Over, What Would You Differently In Your Business Today?

Written by on - 4 Comments
Categories: Business Attitude, Featured Articles

If you had a crystal ball, it would make many of your business decisions easier to make, wouldn’t it?

If only you knew that the big contract you took on last year would turn out to be the biggest admin headache you’ve ever had.

If only you had asked for references and examples of work from that website designer, you probably would have had a website up and running quicker.

If only you hadn’t decided to offer your workshops are such a reduced price, you probably would have attracted more of the right clients.

Coulda, shoulda, woulda!

It’s all very well looking back and wishing you had made better decisions, but the reality is that you can’t go back in time and change things.

But what if you could do it all over again?

What if you could wipe the slate clean and start your business all over?

How would your business look today?

This is one question that came up with one of my clients recently.
 
6 years of hard graft and fighting through the fog of “let’s make this up as we go along” has created a successful brand and a trust-worthy reputation, but she feels exhausted.  The business systems are labour intensive and the business model is not as profitable as it could be.

And this is why I thought I would ask you this question today:  If you could do it all over, what would you do differently in your business today?

You see, I think that everyone as the choice of shouting “stop” at any point of their business.

The amount of knowledge you absorb in those first few months of starting out is huge.  And as you progress, you learn new things each and every day.

And yet, you are so often caught up in the day-to-day running of your business, it is too easily to grin and bear things when they don’t quite go to plan.

Let me give you some examples:

Are you still running the same administration system that you first set up?  Or is time to review your processes and paperwork you send out to your clients?  It could be time to start out-sourcing your administration and find a virtual assistant to send out your contracts and invoicing.

What about your pricing structure?  Have you stuck with the same pricing for the past few years or is it time to review your most profitable products and services?  Perhaps it time to put some of your prices up!

And what about your advertising costs?  Are you stuck in the rut of running the same adverts in the same publications for the past year?  Isn’t it time to review the results you are getting?  It may be time to negotiate prices or do something different to attract new leads.

At certain points in your business, you need to shout out “stop”.  Put the breaks on and review where you are.

Think about the lessons you have learnt from working with different clients and creating different products.  Think about what changes you can make in your business to make it for the better.

Because if you could start all over again, I bet you would have done things differently :O)

What are your thoughts about taking the time out to make changes to your business? Leave a comment below ~ I would love to read your ideas, too.

Other articles you may be interested in:

  1. Business Attitude or Business Idea: Which is more likely to lead to your success?
  2. Is your business really hard work at the moment?
  3. Are You on Business Sat Nav?

 Like this article? Subscribe to get more!

4 Responses to “If You Could Do It All Over, What Would You Differently In Your Business Today?”

Comments

Read below or add a comment...

  1. Alice Elliott
    June 11, 2009 at 4:43 pm

    I am going to start again – in September. I’m taking the summer off to totally reform my business. During that time I will look at my planning, strategies, processes, cash flow, automated methods, online presence, how I offer my services, what kind of client I will take on – in fact, absolutely everything!

    Sometimes it’s a good idea to just STOP – and take a bird’s eye view of your business. Mine wasn’t doing well (I’m the first to admit it) so if I am to continue in the future, a massive overhaul is definitely needed. It may take a long time (whether I’ll be ready by September I just don’t know) but it will take as long as it will take and I’m not going to get stressed about it. But when I do resurface, boy, there will certainly be a difference!

    [Reply]

  2. Hannah McNamara
    June 12, 2009 at 9:37 am

    OK, so things I wish I’d done sooner:

    - Work with other people/businesses who have a similar ethos and work towards a shared vision together rather than all trying to work on our own

    - Do more and better market research with someone who’s independent (very different answers when someone else is doing the asking because people don’t tell you what they think you want to hear!) – the insights have been extremely interesting

    - Focus, get my training product finished and commit to a date to start promoting it. All in development now and exciting beyond belief!

    There are loads of other things because it evolves all the time.

    [Reply]

  3. Jean Davies
    June 12, 2009 at 2:44 pm

    It’s a yes and no answer to that I think. Sometimes we have to go through the pain and get things wrong to know what’s right. It’s part of the learning and I think an essential part of setting up and running your own business. There’s lots of good advice and guidance out there, but I think most of us just have to do what feels or seems right to us and make our own mistakes. The key is knowing that at some point you must stop and peek over the parapet, and be prepared to make some possibly tough decisions. Because of this I can’t say I regret anything I’ve done in the last couple of years, it’s been a journey, continues to be a journey, and it’s my journey.

    [Reply]

  4. Carol Komassa
    June 12, 2009 at 3:35 pm

    I would listen to my gut more! There were times when I made decisions that were “logical”, I checked references, I believed what people told me (I swallowed the BS line …..aka sounded good at the time, aka sales job…..but as I look back over my notes NONE proved to be true) and my gut was screaming “run a mile”. It cost me 3 months of time, energy, and money! Why we don’t listen to our gut more is a mystery…I think women’s intuition is pretty good (I think mine is) but I try to “logic” and reason away with cold hard facts to justfy why I make certain decisions. After 35 working years I’m learning that I have to trust myself more than strangers! I’m the best boss I have! (Self Employed).

    A British transplant in the USA where the economy is just terrible and I’m having to rebrand myself again!
    Thanks for a great article.

    [Reply]

Got a question or comment to make? Add it here ...


Spam protection by WP Captcha-Free