5 Questions You Need to Ask About Your Business Today.

While most of the Northeast is being bombarded with snow, Marie and I were fortunate enough to plan a three-day sojourn to Puerto Rico about 2 months ago, never realizing that we would be missing the snow storm of the century.  With more than 25 inches of snow already having already fallen, we are hoping that our flight will be canceled.

Unfortunately, hope is not a strategy and if we wanted to stay longer we should have planned it. Alas, we did not plan for that and will be on a plane tomorrow in the late afternoon or maybe it will get delayed. I suspect the latter.

But where does that leave us.  It leaves us with asking some important questions about our business and our plan.

Here are 5 questions to find out if we are planning to do work that matters.

1. What are you doing that is difficult vs hoping someone will give you an easy solution?
2. What do people say when they talk about your center?  How much time have you spent today building your brand?  Does anyone care about your  business as much as you do?  And if not, why not
3. What are you trying to change and who are you changing it for. Often, I speak with operators who love the idea we suggested, but freely admit that it may be difficult to control.  If control is your mission and not trying to offer more valuable products to your customers and prospects, then why don't you have a job as an auditor somewhere else where you can check and control other people's work as opposed to doing the hard work necessary to be the best?
4. Can you visualize what that change would be, really see it in your mind's eye and be able to translate your vision to your staff so they can see what the goal is supposed to be?
5. If you stopped delivering your product, would anybody miss it or would they just pick up and go somewhere else?  I'm really asking: Is your product and service combination remarkable, unmistakably different and would it be missed terribly by the people who already patronize your business?

Please answer these questions, if you can, and if you cannot then it certainly is a symptom of other issues; issues that you may not recognize right now, but issues that, over time. will most likely impact your business. 

As Larry, the Cable Guy, says: "Get 'Er Done."