David Amer Business Coach & Mentor

07/06/2023

How to Create Your Customised Business Growth Plan

The impact of Covid 19 on most companies has caused many successful business leaders to take a more conservative approach in their planning.

They are creating a “Business Growth Plan” that provides a timeline for your business for only the next two or three years-no more - in these uncertain times, projecting your business growth plan any further would be unrealistic.

Your "business growth plan" should document how you plan to grow your revenue and profits in order to achieve the targets and objectives you set in your Strategic Plan for the next 2-3 years.

• Every business and every industry have unique characteristics, so there is no “One-size-fits-all” strategy or plan.

• Your “business growth plan” should be customised for your business, products or services, location, industry, geographic location, target locations, competition, market size etc.

• Your plan is much more than a pitch for financing, it’s your roadmap from which you will manage and operate your business and refer to for direction in times of doubt.

• These days, your business exists in an incredibly dynamic and ever-changing environment with technology and uncertainty being key driving factors.

• You will need to understand & prepare for these things, as they arise

You should also review your marketing strategy. Marketing is key to growth. It’s about getting people to want to do business with you.

Businesses with great marketing will almost always outperform a brilliant strategy with poor marketing.

To receive additional information about How to Create & Implement to Your Business Growth Plan

26/04/2023

When formulating your business strategy for growth, it’s important to be clear how that will also help you to fulfil your personal purpose in life.

Research has confirmed that profit-potential alone for your business, rarely sustains people in the long-run. It’s also about your personal purpose.

In today’s fast-paced, technology-driven world, finding our purpose in life, seems more important than ever.

Purpose is the pivotal force that runs throughout the fields of our personality, emotions, motivation, perseverance & consistency.

When it comes to finding personal fulfillment… seeking it externally won’t work.

Your personal sense of purpose should be derived from your core values.
So, defining your personal and businesses core values would be a good place to start.

Once you have clarity on your purpose, you can make choices based on what your future-self wants, instead of being constrained by any limiting beliefs of your past or present self.

There are many ways that people look at their personal purpose in life.

According to a recent EY post "Purpose works as a means of setting boundaries for what an organisation will and will not do as part of its growth strategy. In addition, particularly when addressing complexity, purpose can serve as a lens through which to view the big strategic picture."

Why your strategy should also fulfil your personal purpose in life| Research confirms that profit-potential alone rarely sustains people| It’s also about purpose.

12/04/2023

Why Diversification is the way to think about growing your business in 2023.

In this fast-moving digital age, where innovation is driven by technology, diversification is the way to think about growing your business:

• Artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning are automating more and more jobs and processes, so it’s unrealistic to believe that your business provides ongoing security of income, or that a single source of income, can be taken for granted.

• Fortunately, having your own business, or being a long-serving CEO or Senior Executive, allows you to look for additional sources of income to add to the mix that maintains or increases your income.

• According to a recent article by McKinsey,
• “It’s easy to become numb to the onslaught of new technologies hitting the market.

• But the magnitude of these changes is also opening the door to new innovations, businesses, and business models.”

• Think about it in terms of your investment strategy. Placing all your funds into a single asset is a high-risk strategy. You should instead diversify your portfolio to spread the risk around.

• Diversification is also the way to think about your Business.

According to the HBR:
“Whether or not to diversify is one of the most challenging decisions a company can confront. The potential rewards and risks can be extraordinary”.

• But, everywhere we look, new technologies are forcing companies to redefine what it is they have to offer.

• Diversification will inevitably involve uncertainty; All major business decisions do. Your path toward diversification will, to some extent, be decided by how much of a risk you are willing to take - and how much money you have available to take it.

• So, don't let change just happen to you. Instead, plan and create your change proactively, on your own terms.

If your current Strategic Plan does not already include a diversity strategy, I recommend you update it ASAP to include one. It could add a whole new dimension to your future business growth strategy and increase your rate of growth.

Diversification | Placing the long-term viability of your business in the hands of a single source of income In this digital age may be a high-risk scenario.

05/04/2023

Why Diversification is the way to think about your business in 2023.

In this fast-moving digital age, where innovation is driven by technology, diversification is the way to think about your business.

It's important to understand that the traditional idea of a career, i.e., a job for life, no longer exists.

It’s certainly unrealistic to believe that your job, or even your business provides ongoing security of income, or that a single source of income, can be taken for granted.

According to a recent article by McKinsey,
“It’s easy to become numb to the onslaught of new technologies hitting the market.

But the magnitude of these changes is also opening the door to new innovations, businesses, and business models.”

Fortunately, having your own business, or being a long serving CEO or Senior Executive, allows you to look for additional sources of income to add to the mix that maintains or increases your income.

Think about it in terms of your investment strategy. Placing all your funds into a single asset is a high-risk strategy. You should instead diversify your portfolio to spread the risk around.

Diversification is also the way to think about your Business.

According to the HBR:
“Whether or not to diversify is one of the most challenging decisions a company can confront. The potential rewards and risks can be extraordinary”.

But, everywhere we look, new technologies are forcing companies to redefine what it is they have to offer.

Diversification will inevitably involve uncertainty; All major business decisions do. Your path toward diversification will, to some extent, be decided by how much of a risk you are willing to take - and how much money you have available to take it.

And as technology, artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning automate more and more jobs and processes, it will probably be the way you will be forced to approach your business to remain competitive in the not-too-distant future.

So, don't let change just happen to you. Instead, plan and create your change proactively, on your own terms.

If your current Strategic Plan does not already include a diversity strategy, I recommend you update it ASAP to include one. It could add a whole new dimension to your future business growth strategy and increase your rate of growth.

Diversification | Placing the long-term viability of your business in the hands of a single source of income In this digital age may be a high-risk scenario.

29/03/2023

How Many Years Should your Strategic Plan Cover?

Your strategic plan should be focused on mid-to-long-term goals.

I recommend a 4 to 5 plan no more. And once completed you will need to update it whenever circumstances that impact your business change, and at least annually.

The days of 10-year plans are gone. The level of uncertainty in our world in 2023 makes planning for even 4-5 years difficult.

But for any business owner, senior executive or family business shareholder, chances are your business or equity in the business you manage, will be your major asset, and will underpin your retirement savings and income.

So, if you currently plan to exit in 5 years, & your target is to receive a payout of $5 million, you need a clear strategic plan demonstrating how you will grow the business year-by-year to realise that payout.

N.b. having an exit plan does not necessarily mean that it will happen on that date. But it does give you a target valuation and you know that if you follow that plan, you will be in a position to exit on that date, or later if you so choose.

How much time do you currently dedicate to reviewing, & updating your business strategy each quarter?

If your answer is on the low side, you’re not alone. According to research outlined in the Harvard Business Review, 85 percent of executive leadership teams spend less than one hour per month discussing strategy, and 50 percent spend no time at all”.

The research also revealed that, on average, 95 percent of a company’s employees didn’t understand their company’s strategy.

Given the proper priority and attention, your strategic planning process can set your business on the right track for ongoing success and give you an advantage over your competitors.
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What is Strategic Planning | What your plan should contain | Creating your Strategic Plan helps you to create a realistic vision for your business's future.

27/03/2023

What is Strategic Planning and Why is it So Important

According to Harvard Business School (HBS):

”Strategic Planning is the ongoing organisational process of using available knowledge to document a business's intended direction”

Strategic planning is necessary to determine the direction of your organisation. It focuses your efforts and ensures that everyone in the business is working towards common goals.

Your strategic plan is focused on mid to long-term goals, it explains the basic strategies your business will follow in the coming years and helps you to prepare a realistic vision for the future.

It's about how people throughout the organisation should make decisions and allocate resources in order to accomplish key objectives.

Every business's strategic plan is unique. There is no one-fits all template.

A good strategy provides a clear roadmap, consisting of a set of guiding principles or rules, that define the actions people in the business should take and not take, and the things they should prioritise and not prioritise to achieve your desired goals.

It requires stepping back from your day-to-day operations and articulating where your business is heading, by setting goals, objectives, and priorities for the medium to long-term.

Given the proper priority and attention, your strategic planning process can set your business on the right track for ongoing success and give you an advantage over your competitors.

What is Strategic Planning | What your plan should contain | Creating your Strategic Plan helps you to create a realistic vision for your business's future.

20/03/2023

Why Do Businesses Create an Annual Financial Budget?

Ask most small/medium sized business owners what an annual budget is, & they will likely respond with something like: a financial plan for a firm's future that projects revenue and expenses

Ask them if they have one, however, & in many cases, you will get a variety of excuses why they don’t. It’s easy to get bogged down with day-to-day problems and miss the bigger picture.

Budgeting is a key element for achieving business success. It helps with both planning and control of the business's finances & enables the business owner to concentrate on running the business.

By taking the time now to set a budget, you will free up time in the future and give yourself the best chance of achieving the outcomes you want for your hard work.

A solid budget serves as a road-map for a Business Owner or CEO & key stakeholders to ensure that they are on track to meet their goals as they navigate through the year.

Once you begin using your budget you will almost certainly realise additional benefits unique to your company or industry.

Your Budget is key to your business success | It facilitates planning & control of the businesses finances | Without control over finances, planning is futile.

15/03/2023

How to get to the right outcomes by measuring processes not people.

According to “burnsmcd.com” W. Edwards Deming, the acknowledged father of quality process improvement, spent most of his career shedding light on this truism:

At least 90% of constraints on performance are in the processes, not the people.

Sometimes positive change is rooted in the freedom to ask the right questions. What can we fundamentally change in the process to get the outcome we want?

How can we empower people to work on processes that result in real and positive change, and not find themselves constrained within the process?

The key message here is that you get to the right outcomes by measuring processes not people.

You can read the full article from “burnsmcd.com” by clicking on the image below.

13/03/2023

This list of inspirational leadership quotes will inspire you!

Sometimes the answers to the problems or issues you were seeking come in the form of a change in perspective, and in reality we actually had them all along.
We just needed a reminder.

These leadership quotes from “Everyday Power” will inspire and guide you towards becoming a powerful and compassionate leader.

These collection of handpicked leadership quotes will spark your fire and guide you towards becoming a powerful and compassionate leader.

08/03/2023

15 Ways B2B & B2C Companies Can Reignite Their Marketing Efforts

Whenever you take some time off – or business is slow – here are some things you can do with your downtime to expand your marketing and business development efforts.

Even if you have enough clients now, don’t pull back on marketing when things are going well; you never know what might be just around the corner.

Marketing is not just for client or business development. It can help you stay top of mind with the media & help you build your brand.

This article written for “National Law Review”, would also apply to most professional service firms, B2C and B2B companies.

My favourites were number 8 and 13. What do you think?

A lot of people are on spring break this week – but you shouldn’t take a break from marketing. In fact, there is so much opportunity to stand out as others sit on the beach during any kind

05/03/2023

SEO Checklist to Boost Your Ranking.

Whether you are writing a blog post or LinkedIn post, including the keywords to attract your idea customers will boost your results.

In this post AIOSEO (All In One SEO) has provided a comprehensive checklist to follow to get the best outcome, including a score out of 100. I always aim for at least 85 with my blog-posts.

Creating a blog post takes a lot of time and effort. It also costs a lot in terms of resources, whether you create them in-house or outsource. Because of this, you need each blog post to give you a good return on investment (ROI).

There are a lot of steps, but it will become much easier with practice.
Maybe delegate to a trusted employee!

Need a blog post SEO checklist to help you rank your content? That's what we'll share with you in this post, so you can optimize your blog posts like a pro.

14/02/2023

Relaxation techniques: Try these steps to reduce stress.

As business leaders, we all know that running a business can be stressful. But chronic stress can have serious consequences for your health, and your ability to lead and manage your business effectively.

Relaxation techniques can reduce stress symptoms and help you enjoy a better quality of life.

This new article from the Mayo Clinic provides comprehensive details of relaxation techniques.

Highlights from the article:

“Learning basic relaxation techniques is easy. Relaxation techniques are often free or low cost, pose little risk, and can be done nearly anywhere.

Relaxation techniques are a great way to help with stress management. Relaxation isn't only about peace of mind or enjoying a hobby. It's a process that decreases the stress effects on your mind and body.

Relaxation techniques can help you cope with everyday stress. And these techniques can help with long-term stress or stress related to various health problems, such as heart disease and pain.”

Research has shown that stress is the underlying cause of over 85% of visits to medical practitioners, and of many chronic diseases.

Learn how to use relaxation techniques to reduce stress and bring more calm into your life.