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Getting Out of Overwhelm
Ever find that you're doing a lot of different things to grow your business, yet you find that you have no real results to show for the amount of effort you're putting out? That's a common result of the powerful difference between strategy and a tactic.
To thrive in your business and experience reliable and long-lasting success, you need to operate with a solid understanding and application of both. Unfortunately, the easiest information to sell today is a tactic because it is the easiest to buy. Each one seems like a bite-sized easy step, but 9 times out of 10, it's the wrong step at the wrong time and because it's not connected to a broader you...you end up going around in circles getting nowhere except overwhelmed and frustrated.
A strategy is a carefully devised plan of action. It is the art and science of the “big picture” – the overall view of ways to achieve a big goal. Strategy is about the choices that affect your long-term outcomes.
A tactic is a specific method used or a course of action followed in order to achieve an immediate or short-term aim. Tactics are the actual ways in which your strategies are executed.
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 "Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat.
—Sun Tzu c. 490 BC, Chinese military strategist
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The fatal flaw that most entrepreneurs make today is they are taking short-term tactical steps but expecting long-term strategic results and end up thinking that they failed and the tactic is bad. It's just a case of the wrong thing at the wrong time.
You can change this universally true observation by Lewis Carroll from Through the Looking Glass to:
"Would you please tell me which tactic to use?"
"That depends a good deal on where you want to get."
"It's not crystal clear to me."
"Then it doesn't matter which one you use."
Your tactics must be driven by your strategies if you want to create a long-lasting successful business.
There are many ways to grow a business, however in our near two decades working with businesses big and small, we noticed that if you drilled into the businesses who achieved dependable success quickly and plotted what they did, and in what order they did it, you would see a through line of a reliable strategy. We call these the 8 stages of business success.
Knowing these eight stages, and using them as a guide, removes any guesswork and makes it simple to cut out all the noise of information overwhelm and focus solely on what you need right now. Think about the money and time you’ll save just by being focused on one stage at a time before moving onto the next one.
The 8 Stages of Business:
Stage One is the Idea.
No matter how long you've been in business, there a good chance this stage was never made “whole.” If you are just starting, well it’s obviously you’re in this stage. The stage where you become crystal clear about your business and the strategy to get there. From this place, you emerge with tools and a path to set you powerfully on your business success journey.
Stage Two is the Brand.
Here you drill down into the core of one of your businesses, divisions or products to define why it even exists, why customers should care, and how to communicate it so they crave it again and again and again. You can enter the market without a brand, but you will be constantly chasing opportunities and customers, instead of attracting them. Instead of breathing life into your business, you'll be always gasping for air. This stage assures that you never give your power away. This stage establishes the soul of your business; it sets your unique business DNA in motion.
Stage Three is Marketplace.
Once you’ve defined what your business is, 85% of the rest of your time is focused on marketing. You need to develop a never-ending stream of products to create a great customer lifetime value. Successful distribution depends on your knowledge, access and mastery over your communications and your targets. This stage enables you to turn your ideas into long-lasting streams of money.
Stage Four is Team.
By now the value of your personal time is on the rise. In this stage, you create a team beyond you, and employ employees, standing vendors, consultants, specialists depending on your specific business model and your brand’s place in the market. Stages one, two and three have created the financial foundation to help you hire a team confidently. Stage Four is about paving way for freedom.
Stage Five is Economics.
By now you breathed some life into your business and money is flowing as your products and services enter to the market. But it needs more if you're going to grow. Stage Five gets your financial house in top functioning order.
Stage Six is Systems.
In the beginning you can get things going with bailing wire and string, but a long-lasting successful business is made up of procedures and systems that regulate its life and make its moves predictable. Every point in the process of your business must be defined and documented. Stage Six refines every point in your business as a reliable system.
Stage Seven is Multiply.
Time to kick your business into warp drive. This stage is where you multiply everything, geometrically...and exponentially!! Multi-niching, licensing, franchising, you name it -- all this is designed to flow more cash your way unrestricted by your time and effort. Stage Seven keeps adding zeros to your sales figures.
Stage Eight is Brand Equity.
The pinnacle of any business is where you get to leverage all of your investment of time, money and creativity for years and years and years to come. Stage Eight is the holy grail, where your value is built into just the brand itself.
Entrepreneurs are anxious to move quickly. I’m sure you are playing the stages like keys on the piano, running up and down, and up again. But make no mistake this is the definitive order to reliable long-lasting business success. Perfecting each stage in this order is the only way you will get there fast and sustainably. If you want reliable long-lasting success, know where you’re at on the stages and perfect it
A vital, powerful, clear foundation from the start of your business is vital and priceless.
 That's why the programs of the BrandU Business Profit System are focused on ge tting you extremely solid on the first three stages. With Power Path™, Brand Power™, and Market Power™, we know that if you are solid in these three stages, you're unstoppable in your business from this moment on. After this, we simply direct you to vetted resources to support you in the next five stages and you'll soar.
The programs of the Business Profit System come with of the Eight Stages of Business full color 11 x 17 poster , so that you'll always be reminded of which stage you're in and what you should steps be focused on now.
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