As I was sitting in the waiting room today for a routine medical check-up I got to thinking. Routine check-ups are healthy things to do. They ensure that everything is on track, in the zone and can potentially catch issues at an early stage.
So I was thinking about business and check-ups. Are you a business owner that never goes in for a check-up? You just plow through any illness symptoms your business may be experiencing and figure you will just sweat it out. Or worse yet, turn a blind eye to the health of your business.
I would like to perhaps change the perspective and encourage people to regularly do a check-up on their business. Here are some things that should be on the health checklist:
- Review of business plan – is the plan still viable or stale? Your business plan should be a dynamic living document that accurately reflects your company, including core values, mission, vision and goals. Other things to keep up to date are the financial plan, marketing plan and competitor analysis.
- Review of goals list – do you have yearly or quarterly goals that you wrote down in January? How are they progressing, or did you lose the sticky note they were jotted down on by February? A suggestion is to make sure that your goals are broken down into digestible steps that you can mark as done as they progress. This will help you see movement and keep motivation up.
- Review projections – are these still on track or should they be revised? Unrealistic projections do not serve you or your business. Make sure they stay relevant.
- Review website – is the information current? Remove any stale information. Outdated information will frustrate current and potential customers. That is not the last memory of your business you want to leave for folks!
- Blog – has it been 6 months since you did a post? If you cannot maintain a current blog remove it from your site. An outdated or stale blog looks like you are not invested in your business presence to keep things current.
By checking up on elements of your business you will be able to make sure your goals are realistic and attainable. This is also a time to modify course if things have changed. Businesses should transform with changing times. And if there is an issue, just like in medical health issues, the earlier something is caught, the easier it is to deal with and cure. Check-ups keep your business healthy. And a healthy business is a thriving business.
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