Say Yes To Strategy

There’s definitely something to be said for winging it.

When you first start a business, quite a lot of it is exactly that. You try things. You make mistakes. You follow opportunities. You figure things out as you go along because this is how we really learn.

Winging it can work.

Until it doesn’t.

At some point, you have to stop and ask yourself some much bigger questions:

What am I actually trying to achieve?

Which direction am I taking?

What have I learned so far that I can use to help me plan ahead?

Because without some kind of strategy, you’re not really choosing the direction of your business. You’re just responding to whatever happens next. Working reactively more than proactively and that’s just not sustainable.   

So, after saying Yes To Growth throughout August, September feels like the perfect time to ask what comes next.

This month, we’re saying Yes To Strategy.

Not complicated spreadsheets. Not 48-page business plans that disappear into a drawer. And definitely not pretending we know exactly what our businesses will look like five years from now. We’re talking about making deliberate choices about where we want to go and putting a realistic plan in place to help us get there.

Strategy is about choosing what to do next.

Busy doesn’t necessarily mean you’re moving forward

This is probably one of the easiest traps to fall into when you run a business because there’s always something to do.

You can fill every hour available to you and still finish the week wondering what you’ve actually achieved.

Strategy helps us separate activity from progress.

Instead of asking, “What do I need to do today?”, try asking:

“What am I trying to achieve and what do I need to do today to make that happen?”

Start with where you’re going

It’s very difficult to create a strategy if you haven’t decided what you’re working towards.

And “I want my business to grow” isn’t enough.

What does growth actually mean to you?

More customers? More income? A bigger team? Fewer hours? A new service? More stability? Perhaps you don’t want a bigger business at all. Maybe your version of success is a business that earns what you need while giving you more time to live your life.

There isn’t a correct answer.

But there does need to be YOUR answer.

Because once you know what you’re trying to create, you can start making decisions based on whether something takes you closer to it or not.

Strategy means choosing

This is perhaps the bit we don’t talk about enough.

A strategy isn’t just a plan of everything you’re going to do. It’s also a decision about what you’re not going to do.

That shiny new idea might be brilliant. But does it need to happen now?

That opportunity might sound exciting. But does it fit with where you’re trying to go?

That thing you’ve been doing for the last three years might once have worked brilliantly. But is it still working?

Sometimes the most strategic decision you can make isn’t adding something new. It’s stopping something old.

Four months. What are you going to do with them?

September gives us a useful opportunity. There are 4 months of 2026 left. That’s enough time to make something happen.

Make September the month you decide what actually matters.

Your Strategy Check-In

Give yourself half an hour, make a cuppa and answer these five questions:

1.           Where do I want my business and myself to be by the end of this year?

2.           What are the three things that would make the biggest difference between now and then?

3.           What am I currently spending time on that isn’t helping me get there?

4.           What do I need to stop doing or postpone?

5.           What will I measure or review so I know whether I’m making progress?

It’s so important to lift your head up from the day-to-day running of your business and make sure you’re still heading somewhere you actually want to go.

Winging it might have got you this far, now let’s see what happens when you add a little strategy.

This September, say yes to knowing where you’re going, yes to making deliberate choices, yes to changing things that aren’t working and say yes to a strategy that works for you.

#SayYesToStrategy #WeAreTheWomenWho

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