“Strategy” and “strategic management” are cool words. People love using them and it often leads a lasting & positive impression with your audience.
Competing to be the very best in your game is one of the major misconceptions about strategy. In the current times we live in, it is more important than ever before to make sure you stay up to date on the latest and greatest business strategies, to ensure your strategic direction leads to business growth, strong competitive position and strong financial performance.
Here is my list of SIX PRINCIPLES that every leader or business owner must harness:

KNOW your industry before you look at a strategy

Your understanding of the industry and industry competition will determine your thinking about your strategy – how you are going to compete within the industry and what is going to make you different from the rest.
The better you know and understand the industry in its entirety, the better you will be able to determine elements that will make you stand out, be unique and return a much higher average than your competitors.

PURPOSE

What is your purpose? You need a clear reason of why you are going to do what you’ll do, who will benefit from you, how you’re going to do it etc.
This part is really about connecting the world (the demand) – with your company (the supply). You’ll basically need a STRONG value proposition for a particular market, and then go out and develop unique products and services in the value chain to service this market.
“Tailor your value chain (your business’ activities) to your specific value proposition, and stay on course. This is done through “STRATEGIC INNOVATION” when developing your purpose….

KEEP MOVING FORWARD NO MATTER WHAT

Having a GOOD strategy means that you have entered the building. Competitors will move around, customers’ needs and behaviours will change, technology will certainly evolve. One crucial element to determine a solid future path for your company is to forecast any movements in your sector and incorporate this way of thinking into your strategy building process.
Forecasting the future does not have to be a stab in the dark. You can easily take some practical steps to ensure you keep moving forward in the right direction, these may include:
Gaining an understanding of the big contextual drivers for change in your industry
Get your entire business involved in future planning; key stakeholders, innovative leaders and working groups to lead an innovation strategy
This is something you need to be thinking about on an ongoing, consistent basis.

THE ART OF SAYING NO

If you have a clearly defined purpose and plan, a strong value proposition for your customer base and a set of distinct products / services in your value chain, there will actually be a lot of things you are going to say NO to. This is going to come up often.
There will particular market segments you will NOT serve, specific things you will NOT be prepared to do, and services / products that you will NEVER offer. This is equally as important in choosing the YES parts of the business.
This should be reviewed regularly….

COMPETE FOR PROFIT

Business is not about having the largest market share or about growing fast. It’s about making money.
‘I want to grow my business’ is not a business strategy. ‘I want to grow my business’ is the same as saying, ‘I want to be rich’.
These things don’t just magically happen by themselves. Growing is not a strategy, it’s a consequence.
That does not mean that you cannot use the word ‘growth’. I use it a lot in the analysis phase – for example, when you talk about growth areas of the business or when you look for growth platforms – areas where you can reach potential that will give you additional profit.

DISRUPT, OR BE DISRUPTED

Welcome to the age of customer centricity. Digital is a new imperative. It’s not an option or a nice-to-have. Then, enter digital marketing: the nirvana of quantifiable marketing.

As technology evolves at unparalleled pace, businesses MUST jump on the digital train or be left behind. Consumers require technologies that are more intuitive, drive additional value, and are easy to use online, offline, and across all devices. The convergence of mobile, cloud, and collaboration has led to new types of customer engagements, new ways of using technology to link up to customers where they are, and new business models in order to harness these demands. Businesses that are complacent in this area will get left behind, plain and simple.

Digital Marketing – The beauty of digital marketing is that it allows you to experiment with different ad combinations until you arrive at the most effective approach. The flexibility of digital marketing means you aren’t stuck to any one approach for any length of time. Again, this is very different than more traditional advertising that forces you to make an upfront static investment with no guarantee of results. Now, every dollar you invest into digital marketing can be easily quantified and measured quickly.

Add all this up and you have a very powerful platform to make the most of your resources in helping turn your business into a growth machine. A well-formulated and executed business strategy will establish the foundations against which YOUR business can create, monitor and measure success

Everyone has their “dream career” that they candidly speak about. Their dream job, their ideal working environment and ideal culture. But for many, it’s just that. The majority will never progress past this point due to complacency and comfort. This is where your career becomes lost…. Here is my mini list for effectively navigating your career and things you can start doing TODAY:

1. Be very clear about what you want
It’s totally okay to be direct when talking about, and expressing your career goals. An OUTSTANDING Leadership team wants to know what your plans are and where you see yourself in the next 5 years. After all, good leaders are naturally keen to develop leaders. You must find an appropriate way to easily express what interests you, what value you feel you can bring to the table and how you will demonstrate this value add by embarking on a bigger role. Be confident and bold in your delivery. GOOD leaders will listen and support you!

2. Showcase your Talents
Often some will never get this right and I urge you to seek out the positives in this long-term strategy. Sometimes, you MUST show that you have what it takes to do the job before the job is given to you. Put your hand up to work on a special project without compensation. Offer to take on something that is outside of your usual role. Not only will this demonstrate your passion, but it also demonstrates your ability to juggle multiple tasks at once and work under increased pressure; the catch is, just make sure your current responsibilities, whatever they are, do not suffer.

3. Speak up!
There are often times you will think someone should, or is going to tap you on the shoulder and say “Hey, I have an opportunity for you”, or you think that longevity will pay off and you will be rewarded in a business. Unfortunately, you are just setting yourself up for disappointment by adopting this type of mindset. Waiting for someone to hand you an opportunity will almost ensure that you stay exactly where you are. Instead, you have to almost broadcast to your manager and sometimes your manager’s manager exactly what you want! Just like you, managers and leaders are so busy with the day to day; navigating your career isn’t their top priority. Don’t be afraid to discuss career goals and possibly create a career plan that will help prepare you to make that next move. As I mentioned earlier, GOOD LEADERS will always develop leaders!

4. Build Authentic Relationships
Perhaps your next move isn’t in your current area. This should NOT be a deterrent or reason for delay! Take a step out of your comfort zone and schedule some time with the hiring manager or perhaps someone with whom you might be working closely with.

These networking opportunities will give YOU an opportunity to showcase your interpersonal skills and enthusiasm behind the role or area of work, whatever that may be. Take stock of what else you are doing here. Attend networking events, build your personal profile up, talk to other industry professionals, attend seminars. The list is endless.

All of these little tips are low hanging fruit that can be achieved. It all comes down to how passionate you are about your career and what you are willing to do to get to your goal. But you must put in MAXIMUM effort. At the end of the day, YOU control your career path, no one else.

I’ve lost count the number of times I’ve heard people whinge about their current position in life. Whether that would be their position in their jobs, their business, their relationship, financial position or just their life in general. Unfortunately dwelling on our misfortunes is an easy thing to do. In fact, the majority of the population are like this but are unconscious of themselves doing it. How do I know this? Because I used to be one of those people. I used to let my problems own me instead of myself owning the problem. I spent countless years blaming others for my mistakes and misfortunes and never took responsibility for my lack of action and backwards progress. I was a BITCH.

Now fast forward a number of well experienced years in business and I now own EVERYTHING I do. Any problem that arises, I tackle it head on with full force and welcome any adversity. If things turn bad to worse, I persevere and never give up until I have my desired outcome. Many shy away from pushing through as soon as things get hard, as soon as it gets difficult, as soon as it becomes a CHALLENGE. If success was meant to be easy then everybody would be successful. Not one successful person will tell you that greatness is a straight road without its roadblocks, speed humps and detours. It is all part of the process.

How do you avoid falling into the victim trap? Learn to endure the difficult times. Weather the storm through the bad times. Don’t be afraid of hitting low points. Let’s take a fitness analogy for example. When someone goes on a weight loss journey they will most always hit plateaus and times of weakness where that person wants to give up. The key is to push past these points of pain in the process to keep the process moving forward. Owning the task of losing weight will ensure you are on your way to success rather than allowing the problem of being unfit and overweight own you. Become the MASTER of your problem. I can speak from experience as when you can master your body physically, you take absolute CONTROL and no one can take that away from you.

The above example works the same for property investment. Many sell out too early as they may experience a small dip in prices due to market fluctuations, however seeing out the troughs will ensure you can take advantage of the peaks when they eventually come along. You should never deserve to have the fruits of successful property investing if you cannot handle the low points in the market. This doesn’t mean to invest in property that doesn’t perform or hold any value but to be educated enough to know that real estate works in cycles and to trust the process from very early on. By tackling the tough times head on, you can learn so much about becoming a BOSS at property investing. Own the hard times, own the mistakes and eventually own plenty of real estate!

Also, another trait that will help you become the VICTOR and not the victim is to prioritise. By this I mean what are you doing about owning your future? I see too many people worshipping The Kardashians or being absolutely fanatical about their favourite football team, however completely disregarding their own financial future. These distractions end up owning you without you even knowing it and they have you eating out of their hand whenever they see fit. These types of people who religiously follow these distractions can sometimes put so much effort into their chosen football team, favourite TV show or what nightclub they are going to on the weekend that you would think that they would have shares in these companies. Prioritising your future and cheering on for the right team (yourself) is the best way to ensure you are not falling into simply being a spectator. You want to be the star player that gets PAID.

We all have choices in life and if we choose to be negative and fall victim to every day distractions and problems we will fail to succeed. We cannot simply sit back and complain about our position in life as there will always be someone out there worse off than you. Don’t forget we live in the best country in the world to have a crack at anything, because if you fall down it is actually not that bad! We are spoilt for choice for the amount of opportunities we have at our finger-tips, we just got to go out and get it. Now stop being a BITCH and start taking OWNERSHIP today!

It’s that time of year again!

Christmas first and all the busy days and long nights that come with it. Then there is New Years Eve. And there you have it. Another year closed out, and under the belt. Many are not too dissimilar when it comes to goal setting for the new year that lies ahead, but I personally need this.

As you acquire more responsibility and control over your career or your business, the task of defining your priorities falls on your shoulders.

I am a firm believer that, failing to plan is in fact planning to fail! Too many people jump straight into a fresh piece of paper, with “NEW YEAR GOALS” and then they go about writing down their ambitious, cherry-picked, nice to have objectives ready to hit the ground running. How many times have we done this? Better still, how many times have we looked back on our cherry-picked list 12 months later and reviewed the year that has just passed?

It is critical to do a year in review of your own goals that you set out to achieve, and speak to them directly. Did you achieve them all? Which ones were ticked off, which ones weren’t, and are you content with your results this year?

You can never really commence a fresh year without first reviewing your previous list that has helped to shape and define you for an entire 12 months.

Now that you have reviewed your 2017 goals, lets make a clear plan for 2018. Here are some important reasons why you should ALWAYS stick to a plan to help you get where you want / need to be next year:

– Keeps you FOCUSED

– Provides you with DIRECTION

– Gives you greater control over your FUTURE

– Ultimate MOTIVATOR

– Helps you to manage your TIME effectively

– Gives your life meaning, and above all PURPOSE

Here are my top tips on creating a 2018 plan, which will help keep you motivated for the year that lies ahead:

Have a VISION

Create a poster board for your home office, or for somewhere private that you can always refer back to. You may be a visual person, which means you could use images that inspire you, quotes that resonate with you, and even old photos that may remind you of your overall purpose

Set S.M.A.R.T Goals

Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Time Bound.

If your new year goal is big and fancy, and even with all of your great intentions, may be out of reach, then the chances of you actually achieving this without a plan are very minor. Break these bigger goals down into smaller goals, and give yourself STRICT deadlines and small ways to measure or reward success.

Make a PLAN, but remain FLEXIBLE

A goal without an actual plan is just a dream. Plan ahead, and write it all down. If things come up that are outside of your control, then you must give yourself the ability to be flexible with your goals, and adjust where necessary. This will ensure you are not setting yourself up for failure.

LEARN from your Mistakes

Nobody knows you, better than you. 2018 is guaranteed to bring pain for some, failure for others, and adversity for a few. Learn from these shortcomings, put things into perspective, and pick up and keep going.

Don’t be a PASSIVE player

Nothing will ever work unless you do. Taking action is the ONLY way to keep moving forward and to make progress. If things aren’t going your way at times, just keep going. If you are truly willing to put in the work, then eventually you will reap the rewards. Be prepared to go the distance and outwork yourself all year.

Stay MOTIVATED

Constantly connect your day to day actions with a bigger future. Commit to personal development on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. Read books. Study something to upskill yourself for your future. Exercise daily to release endorphins. Be inspired by the movers and shakers of the world.

Happy Holidays and best wishes for a CRACKER 2018!