We face fierce competition from low cost competitors in both international and domestic markets. There is always someone prepared to do it more cheaply, more quickly and with more features; even if it is only to get a toehold in the market. How are you going to react?

• Bury your head in the sand and hope it will go away?

• Let the changes toss you every which way with the tide?

• Recognise that these changes mean unrivalled opportunity for business growth and personal renewal? Then act quickly and assertively?
  

2. We operate in a market of the best educated consumers of all time

Consumers today have a mind numbing choice of goods and services. Many of them are exceptionally high quality offerings. Look at automobiles today compared with twenty years ago. Consumers have instant access to information about these good and services and they can price shop from the comfort of their own homes. The small business that can differentiate its offerings and be seen, heard and believed in this morass of information will prosper.

More than ever we need to know the finer detail of the markets we operate in. Who are our likely buyers? What are their buying patterns? What is important to them? What are their expectations? How will they respond to offering "A" versus offering "B"? Even the solo professional now has the ability to know his/her market inside out. In the past this has been the privilege of companies with specialised marketing departments. If you do not access, analyse and use this information you will be left in the wake of those who are.

You have no hope of competing with the big players so don't try. How credible is a one person law firm who offers the full range of legal services? Yet we see small businesses trying to play the giants at their own game. This is a recipe for going broke. But what to do? There is a huge market out there of people who want bespoke goods and services and to be treated like an individual. Are you capitalizing on this opportunity?

You may have heard of the phrase "working on your business rather than in your business" made famous by Michael Gerber in his great book "The e-Myth". Gerber explains that most small businesses are so busy doing, doing, doing that they have no energy or time left for the all important activity of planning and organising their businesses. The fact that you are a great lawyer, graphic artist, merchandiser, salesperson, architect, surveyor, builder, whatever is not going to guarantee success. What would cause me to drive across town to use your services and then pay a premium when I get there?

While its essential to know what is happening outside your business it is just as critical to know what is happening inside your business. Do you have your finger on the pulse of the top ten "numbers" you need to know in your business? My experience has revealed that small business owners fall into one of the three categories

• They do not even know what metrics they should be keeping

• They know but do not have a system for collecting and collating the data

• They know and have a system but do not know how to exploit the information

• Getting on top of this one area alone has the potential to commence your business transformation

Even the most devout information junkie will admit that it is impossible to “know it all”. We need access to others networks, information and skill sets if we are to achieve to our potential. High achievers in small business tend not to gather in bunches. But when they are part of a group of like minded individuals who are serious about success then they are unfailingly generous with their time skills and ideas. It is not unusual for them to break into sub-groups to brainstorm and integrate a solution for a group member’s problem or opportunity. The “mastermind group” is the single greatest way to shorten the learning curve of experience. Experience is great teacher but the cost of tuition is prohibitively high and too long.

It has become hackneyed but it is so true just the same; if we continue to do what we have always done than we will continue to get what we have always got. Persistence is a wonderful quality but enough is enough, smart people know when it is time to say “let’s change the way we are playing the game. We need a different game plan – a different strategy. If you have been doing something the same way for 2 years without change it is probably time to change. But it’s working! How do you know that something else may not work better?

Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between ten years experience and one years experience ten times. You are your most valuable resource. You have 168 hours each week the same as the most successful business entrepreneur ever born or whoever will be born. How effectively you use your most valuable resource in that 168 hours has an enormous impact on your results. Do you have a plan to improve your effectiveness and efficiency on a continuing basis?

If you have been in business for a while or have gathered the resources to open your own business or practice then you are probably technically competent enough. Can you still improve? Of course you can. But what do you gain if you have all the knowledge and skills about what you do and can’t establish relationships with your clients so that they become advocates for you. So no matter that your opposition launches the latest product in the latest premises, your advocates want to deal with you because they value the relationship. Establishing these relationships demands the nurturing of a relationship culture and systems to sustain and build that relationship.