In the early stages of your business, there are lots of different urgent requirements to fill. You need to register your business with the correct documents, in the correct way to ensure you can legally operate in the way you want to. Your tax arrangements need to be secure, you need premises and staff, publicity and branding, and an understanding of the customer’s you’ll be selling to.
In the midst of this bedlam, it’s easy to ask if you need any particular thing – and if it’s not a legal or practical necessity, miss it out. So today we’re asking: do you need a business strategy to succeed?
What’s a Business Strategy?
Most people have a clear idea of what they want from the experience of running a business – it’s a big reason people choose the uncertainty of entrepreneurialism over the fixed stability of standard employment: so you can define for yourself what you’re doing and follow the beat of anyone else’s drum.
Whether your targets are firmly pinned down to numbers representing growth over weeks and months, or a more emotive vision of your future success, it matters little if you don’t also have a strategy for how to achieve them. If you had the perfect holiday planned, you’d also check the route. Not get in your car and drive at random, taking whichever turning felt best at the time.
Your strategy is your route to success, along with your principles and warning signs. It allows you to bake in the values you want your business to embody, to identify the lines you won’t cross, whether that’s a level of financial overextension, a segment of the market won’t target (or let down), a price you won’t drop to or go as high as. It is the crystallisation of your decision making process on your best day, so you can apply it when you’re under pressure.
Studies show that businesses with strong strategies are more successful, so in this case, yes, doing without one would be a false economy.
Writing a Strategy
Writing a business strategy can be difficult, especially for the new entrepreneur. It requires the specialist knowledge and experienced judgement of someone with a full career behind them. That’s why business strategy consultants can be worth looking into. They specialise in strategy so you can focus on the specifics of your business, and their expertise gives you a leg up! If you’re looking for a strategy consultant London hosts agencies from corporate titans to individual sole traders, so you can find one to fit your needs and resources.
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