Bad economic times are a good time to revisit your business plans

Tom Kindred, right, and Andrew Treadwell, center, of IRSC

Tom Kindred, right, and Andrew Treadwell, center, of IRSC discuss the Florida SBDC at IRSC and its small business support initiatives with Florida Secretary of Commerce Jamal A. Sowell, left, during the secretary’s recent visit to Indian River State College.

We hope this winter 2021 issue of Treasure Coast Business finds you, your families and your TEAM members safe and healthy. We also hope this issue finds your business open and persevering through this challenging market. We continue to be inspired by resilient regional business owners who have innovated their organizations through 2020.

We are also encouraged and impressed with the number of regional CEOs, owners, managers, and nonprofit executive directors who have contacted the Florida SBDC at Indian River State College to request assistance in conducting strategic planning sessions. With all the noise and disruption in the marketplace, these business leaders are quietly and thoughtfully planning their organizations’ futures.

And frankly, what better time to review, revive and reinvent one’s organization. Just think of the insight you and your leadership team will have after occupying a front row seat for “A Global Pandemic — The Towering Inferno and Poseidon Adventure for Small Business Owners.”

Now is the perfect time to clear a day on the calendar and spend those eight hours revisiting the basics of your business. Take you, your TEAM and your business through a strategic planning session, reviewing, revising, and updating key operational metrics and components:

• Review the organization’s mission statement — does it reflect the organization’s current operation — Who you are, who do you serve?
• Reevaluate the business model and core business services — can the business expand through additional offerings or should the business offer fewer, but higher margin services and products?
• How is the organization pursuing growth and new market development? Are there opportunities through government contracting or global markets?
• Review marketing and social media strategies
• Do team members need to skill up or require additional resources to obtain new goals
and objectives?
• Review COVID-19 business pivots, changes, and updates — which ones worked?
• Review your organization’s strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats [SWOT Analysis].
• Finally, develop the strategic plan — Where does the organization go from here? What do we want to accomplish? Where do we want to take the organization in the next five years? What steps will we have to take to create the ideal future business?

Creating this plan is not done for the sake of creating a plan, it is created to get things done.

The process puts new ideas on paper and establishes accountability for your team members, creating a tangible blueprint for moving your organization forward. This plan will also serve as guidance for management, stakeholders and front-line employees. A thoughtful and serious strategic plan will enhance employee engagement, ultimately creating a more efficient, easier to manage and more profitable operation.

Business, just like life, is full of obstacles. No doubt the pandemic has been a market and business shattering obstacle. However, if you are still in business, now is the time to thank customers, employees and others who helped you survive, assess the damage and strategically position your business to take advantage of opportunities created by a disrupted marketplace.

With subject matter expertise and experienced business consultants on the team, the Florida SBDC at Indian River State College stands ready to assist you and your organization in creating a vision and plan for business beyond the pandemic.

To learn more about these programs and all Indian River State College has to offer, please visit www.IRSC.edu. To contact the Florida SBDC and the CCTI, send an email to FSBDC@IRSC.edu or call 772.336.6285.

See the original article in the print publication


Treasure Coast Business is a news service and magazine published in print, via e-newsletter and online at tcbusiness.com by Indian River Magazine Inc. For more information or to report news email staff@tcbusiness.com