Routes To Success

Following on from last weeks blog – Road To Nowhere, lets talk this week about Route Planning. Anyone who has to travel  simply from A to B or to multiple points has at some time engaged in Route Planning. Whether you pull out the digital helper ‘satnav’ or still prefer the old map book (yes there are still some who do!) One thing becomes blatantly clear very early on. No amount of planning is enough preparation for the road ahead and any amount of hurdles lie before you:

• Poor weather conditions as seen recently with high winds and rain or even snow.
• Poor roads – some routes are marked as national speed limits but end up being little more than single track roads with blind corners and potholes that could swallow a mini!
• Poor driving – no matter how up to the task we may feel, stress and time restrictions can cause us to make poor choices and opt for the ‘fastest route’ when this may take us on some of the roads mentioned above.
• Bad direction – this can happen when someone else is planning the route for us and has little idea of our specific area.
• Finally unknown factors – you get to the end of a road and find a locked gate or it just disappears into a dirt track or farmyard – and let us not forget the random roadworks that will close off whole areas!

In life as in business we need to think of all of these factors before we even think of the journey ahead.

• Will your business weather the storms ahead? The droughts that leave you nearly penniless, the times of plenty when you don’t have enough hours in the day and the sudden setbacks that can come out of the blue.
• Is your route clearly marked out and have you tested it beforehand? Throwing all of your resources into one course of action is dangerous unless you are ready for a ‘worse case’ scenario.
• Do you have the backing and aptitude to weather what lies ahead? Many small businesses fail in the first year simply because they cannot cope with the steep learning curve that is needed to survive.
• Are you following someone elses directions? No matter how popular and well known that book is – it will not replace the hard earned experience of those who have actually been there and worn the T-shirt. Be careful how much you trust in direction from outside sources, they are not you and have no idea of how you will react to what lies ahead. Take some advice from networking meetings – get out there and meet the folks already doing it!
• Do you have a plan B? If everything suddenly comes to an abrupt halt or the lead suddenly evaporates, you have to be ready for that eventuality and build it into your business plan.

Debayne Web Design has been supporting businesses of all sizes for many years now and we would love to help you with yours. The information superhighway is waiting for you to join the traffic, will you be stuck in a side-road or reaching your goal in style? It all begins online.. Debayne Web Design – Weaving the Web your Way.