How to Develop an Effective Strategy
You can have all the drive and energy, but without the right
strategy, you will never get what you want. By the same token, every
outcome is possible, given an effective strategy.
For example, imagine yourself as the small business owner of a fruit
shop that makes $10,000 in profits a month. Let’s say that you
decided to set a goal of increasing profits to $15,000 a month.
Would that be possible? Probably. You could work a lot harder, raise
prices, increase trading hours, sell on-line or create a loyalty
program.
What if you set a goal of making $3 million a month from your fruit
business? Would it be achievable? Most people would say, ‘of course
not, there is no way you can make that kind of money from a fruit
business like that!’ True enough. Making $3m a month from that fruit
business is impossible, if the owner continues to use the same
business strategy. Yet, if he were to completely change the way he
now does his small localized fruit business, would it be possible?
For instance, the strategy he could use would start by his studying
how to greatly expand his market: he would write a dynamic business
plan, raise capital through investments, invest in R & D to develop
a superior brand of fruit (for eg. Organic certified food products
are seeing phenomenal growth everywhere as people become health
conscious) and widen his range of fruit (eg: offer sun dried fruit
without sulfur, candied fruit using organic sugar, pureed fruit
rolls for kids), support reliable new suppliers, build a franchise
system and then license thousands of business owners around the
world to sell his fruit.
Would it then be possible for him to earn $3 million a month? Of
course it would! With enough flexibility in our strategy, we can
achieve just about anything.
You still wonder how a local fruit shop can possibly expand and go
global? Impossible?
Well, how did a British housewife create some skin and hair care
products in her kitchen using fruits and vegetables and then pit
herself against billion-dollar, heavily advertised international
cosmetic brands succeed nationally and then globally? She developed
the right strategy, which included the right unique products. This
person I am referring to is Anita Roddick who founded the
multi-million dollar chain of Body Shops.
What I have found time and again is that people who are able to
produce exceptional results use different strategies from the
majority.
When I had the opportunity to work with the top 1% of insurance
agents (average yearly income of over $500,000), I found that they
did not just work harder than the 97% who earned less than $50,000 a
year. They used a completely different approach in managing their
time, generating leads, converting sales and creating repeat
businesses.
So, taking your cue from the winners, study their strategies. If you
want to be a millionaire, study the strategies of millionaires. If
you want to be a great leader, model the patterns of great leaders.
About The Author
Adam Khoo is an entrepreneur, best-selling author and a self-made
millionaire by the age of 26. Over the last 15 years, he has trained
over 245,000 professionals, executives and business owners to tap
their personal power and achieve excellence in their various fields
of endeavor. Discover his success secrets and claim your FREE
audio CD program '6 Ways To Achieve Anything You Want In Life'.
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