Strategic Business Planning: Creating a Business Relocation Strategy

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | Strategic Business Planning: Creating a Business Relocation Strategy

Relocating your business and moving to new premises doesn’t have to be stressful. If you create a relocation strategy, you will find that you can manage to make the move and transition seamless and painless. Within your strategy, you will want to think about why a move is positive for your business, and what obstacles you may face.

Decide What Is Driving Your Relocation

You must decide what is driving your business relocation to ensure the relocation is successful. For instance, are you moving because you need more space for customers to visit? Are you relocating because you need to be better placed and closer to great transportation links? What is making this move happen? Having the drive and direction to make the move happen is crucial, so establish this before moving onto your budget.

Establish a Budget

If you are upsizing your premises, or even moving to a new area, you need to have a budget in place. Without a budget, you will struggle to get a grip on costs. This may mean that you are spending more than you want to on new premises, and on making the move happen. When you are creating a budget, you will need to factor in the moving of any physical documents you hold, in addition to stock movement.

Find a Suitable Location or Office

You are better equipped to go looking for new business premises when you have a budget. Having a list of essentials and requirements for your business premises is now important. A business premises or location checklist will help you find suitable premises. When hunting for a new location or premises think about size requirements. Are you looking for minimum square footage? Are you after an open-plan unit? When you are thinking about size requirements, carefully think about how you will use the premises. Think about how any extra space will be managed. Also, think about the things such as health and safety and cable management at work, as well as the minimum space required for each employee when at work.

Creating a Moving Checklist

To take control of the moving process, you need to have a checklist in place. This will help the move run as smoothly as possible. To make an inclusive checklist, look at the business operations you carry out daily. Establish what can be moved first and why. For example, can you start moving across backdated and archived files in anticipation of the big move? Does your checklist need to cover the movement of office furniture including desks, chairs, computers, and monitors – or are you going to replace these when you move? When you put together a checklist, you start anticipating the size of the removal vans you will need.

Moving to new premises and relocating your business can take time. You must give employees ample notice to move, especially if they will be traveling further (commuting) each day. Or, if the new premises is located away from excellent transportation links (as they may have to arrange alternate transport).

What Are the 10 Economic Factors That Affect Your Business?

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article | What Are the 10 Economic Factors That Affect Your Business?As much as one might believe the success of their business solely relies on the work they put into their business, there are many outside sources that come into play. Check out examples of external forces in this PESTLE analysis examples article. Inevitable economic factors, for instance, can make or break your company. Below are several examples of ways your business can be impacted by the state of the economy.

1. Supply & Demand

One of the top economic factors that affect business is consumer supply and demand. As the demand for certain products or services increases, the supply for such begins to decrease. This can lead to inflation, which increases the monetary value of such items until (and if and when) the demand decreases. Some businesses might struggle to keep up with the demand.

2. Recession

A recession can trigger layoffs, higher prices, a surge in unemployment, and as a result, lower consumer spending. In turn, businesses may struggle to bring in sales.

3. Minimum Wage

An increase in the current minimum wage increases how much a business must spend on staffing employees. As labor costs increase, this might lead to lay-offs. In severe cases, a business might have to shut down completely if they can’t keep up with the costs of labor and still bring in good profit.


4. Laws & Policies

Laws and policies set by the government surely affect businesses. If the government, for instance, decides to ban a certain product from being sold, this immediately impacts any business who’s selling it.

5. Inflation

As consumer demand increases, this leads to the increased costs of goods. Inflation directly affects the money supply and purchasing power.

6. Tax Rate

The current tax rate, whether it be sales tax or a special tax levied on certain goods or services, can affect the total price a customer must pay when buying from a company.

7. Government Activity

Government activity such as promoting a certain industry or removing trade barriers can either decrease or increase a business’s overall success. Such activities can change consumer demand, increase competition, or lower/increase business expenditures.


8. Interest Rate

If loan interest rates increase, this decreases a nation’s cash flow and lowers its liquidity. The opposite is true if interest rates decrease.

9. Unemployment

The higher the unemployment rate, which often comes with a recession, the harder it will be for a business to keep up with supply and demand. In extreme scenarios, sometimes businesses have to increase wages/benefits to encourage more people to apply and to stay with the company.

10. Exchange Rate

The current exchange rate has a direct effect on international payment. Thus, it can change the prices of goods, as well as the demand for such goods to international customers.

Conclusion

The economy has an effect on each of us in some shape or form. Economic factors, from inflation, to unemployment, to a change in the tax rate, can impact businesses of all sizes. In the end, we must work with, not against, the current economic state if we wish to start or continue to run a successful company.

 

The Benefits of a Business Plan Service

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article |Business Plan |The Benefits of a Business Plan ServiceNot every business has a business plan, not because they don’t need one but because they don’t have the skills or knowledge to create it. That’s where a business plan service can help, these services offer a professional solution to business planning, so you get it right first time.

More Clarity

Not having a business plan doesn’t mean you can’t run a business, but the chances are your business will miss out on efficiency and a host of other benefits that go with having a core plan. For one thing, you will have more clarity which can lead to better decision making in key areas.

Whether it’s an investment, personnel, leases, or resourcing, you can make decisions faster and better when you can look at your business performance over a period and see how it aligns with your business goals. A business plan service can help you develop or update a business plan.

Better Marketing

If you have an excellent product, you need to get it in front of the right people; this requires some industry insight and proper planning. If you want to improve your marketing, then identify your target market and ideal customer persona; you also need to carry out market analysis.

All of this goes into your business plan, so you know exactly who to target and when. A quick glance at your business plan during key periods of the year gives you the solid information you need to make intelligent marketing decisions. This also helps when needing to secure funding.

Funding Support

Whether it’s a bank loan or outside investment from a venture capitalist, you need a business plan with some solid numbers to support your pitch. An investor will need to know your valuation of the company, how you arrived at that valuation, and why you need funding going forward.

Although this section of the business plan is important, not every business owner knows how to calculate the finances of the business and write it out in a way that’s suitable to investors. That’s where a business plan writing service can be useful; they can assist with outlining the numbers.

Better Structure

Without a business plan, a company might suffer from structural inefficiencies that can affect the bottom line. A good business plan should include who works in the business, what departments they manage and what their key skills are, which creates a useful framework for the business.

Not only does a business plan create a structure that helps to strengthen the business internally and flourish, but it also helps to create clarity from the outside. Investors can then look at the business and understand how it works, giving them more confidence to part with their money.

Better Hiring

If you don’t have a business plan, chances are you will bring in the right people at the wrong time leading to inefficiencies that can be avoided with some proper planning. Get it right, and a business plan can assist with hiring the best talent to take the business forwards when required.

9 Key Elements of a Flawless Gym Business Plan

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article |Gym Business Plan|9 Key Elements of a Flawless Gym Business PlanTo run a successful business, gym owners must do more than purchase exercise equipment. They must determine which type of clientele they’ll serve, whether they will require a membership or allow drop-ins, and more. A gym business plan becomes of great help in ensuring nothing is overlooked when establishing and running the operation.

The plan serves as a formal document that outlines the different aspects of the business. It determines how the company will operate and what steps will be taken to ensure its success. A well-defined plan, while not essential, helps businesses secure capital and grow their organization. Gym owners need this document along with tips for digital marketing, great employees to represent the business and more.

How is This Document of Help?

The plan serves as a road map for the organization. It shows where the business currently is and where it would like to go. When writing this plan, owners often find they come up with new ideas for their venture and see where improvements need to be made. What may one learn when they create the plan?

The plan becomes of great help in analyzing the market and determining what makes a gym a success. With this information, it becomes easier for the owner to determine the best path forward and obtain the funds needed to grow and succeed.

This plan begins with plans for allocating resources, hiring personnel, and marketing, among other things. Writing these things down helps to fine-tune them. Additionally, writing the plan out provides an individual with a better understanding of the industry as a whole and which resources are needed to start out and grow the business.

Writing a Business Plan

When writing this plan, the individual must know where they are at and where they want to go. How do they plan to get there? Some gym owners choose a lean start-up plan while others want a traditional document. The lean start-up plan is good when the owner wants to see all relevant details of their business quickly and easily. However, financial institutions require a traditional business plan before lending money to a person.

Elements of a Detailed Business Plan

Business plans contain several elements, and creating this document takes time. Work on one task. When it is complete, move on to the next. If this method is used, the gym owner is less likely to become overwhelmed and give up.

The Executive Summary

The executive summary of the plan includes a description of the company and summarizes the market analysis. With this information, a person can explain why their business is needed and where it fits in the existing market. Only highlight the important parts in this portion of the document. Go into further detail later in the plan.

The Business Overview

Include an overview of the business. This detailed description provides information about the gym, the target audience, and how the organization differs from others. In this portion of the document, the owner should include the gym goals and strategies that will be used to achieve them.

Market Analysis

Next, include the market analysis that was conducted. Explain where the gym will fit into the existing industry and current trends that could increase the odds of the gym succeeding. Include data that back up any assertions made in the plan.

Competitor Analysis

Along with the market analysis, a competitor analysis is needed. Learn the strengths and weaknesses of direct and indirect competitors. Include gyms that are similar to the one you operate along with those that function as gyms but differ in one or more ways. Speak to individuals to learn why they chose the facility they use and what they would like to see in their existing gym or a new one. Show how your gym can meet the needs of customers.

Products and Services

A detailed plan needs to provide information about the products and services to be offered. Share information about membership options, exercise equipment, personal training options, and group classes. If child care will be offered or special training sessions, include them in this portion of the plan. Show how these products and services meet the needs of the target audience.

Marketing

Marketing plays a key role in the success or failure of a business. A business may advertise, seek sponsors, or offer loyalty programs to bring in customers and generate revenue. Include as much information as possible on how clients will be acquired and retained.

Personnel

Financial institutions want information about the key personnel in a business. They would like to know their experience. This includes the fitness experts and those who will handle administrative tasks. A gym needs the right people to ensure it succeeds. Add bios and an organizational chart showing these key people. Furthermore, include compensation and benefit plans, as they play a role in a gym’s ability to attract and retain talent.

Outside of rent, labor is the biggest expense for most fitness club operators, so having the right compensation is critically important. Break down your management and staff profile, along with their compensation and benefits. Financial institutions want to know their money is being spent wisely.

Financial Projections

Provide financial projections in the plan. Existing businesses should share a copy of their financial reports for the prior year and projected revenue in the coming years. Market research becomes of great help when providing this data. To show this information, create financial projections that include standard business financial documents, such as balance sheets and income statements.

Create these documents for the coming three-year period showing both the best and worst-case scenarios. Show how the figures presented in the documents compare to industry benchmarks, and reference start-up costs, debt payment schedules, and payroll expectations.

Funding

Share resources that may be used to fund the plan. This could be a bank loan, a soft loan from family or friends, personal savings, and other resources. Explain where the funding will come from and how much will be needed.

Every new business comes with challenges. A detailed business plan helps owners deal with these challenges. It serves as a reference when making critical decisions and becomes of help when funding must be secured. A business owner feels confident moving forward, as they know they have a complete understanding of their venture, and employees appreciate knowing this document is in place. They believe this provides them with more job security.

Each business is different, thus each plan will be unique. Create a plan that meets the needs of your gym. Individuals who do so find the plan serves as a blueprint to move their business forward and grow.

What strategy is (and what it isn’t):

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StrategyDriven Strategic Planning Article |Strategic Planning|What strategy is (and what it isn’t):Strategy, Oh what a lofty word. High-minded. Mysterious even conjuring wizards behind the curtain. Military generals hidden in a secret bunker calling the shots. The simple word “strategy” can be added to just about anything to make it sound more important or thought-out, strategic relationship building is still just going to a cocktail party or out to lunch with a potential client.

Despite it’s overuse, strategy is still vitally important. Just the act of thinking about something, breaking it down and making a plan, is a thing of beauty in and of itself. Strategy is The Plan, the 360 view. It’s how all the pieces fit together, and what will hopefully result from our actions or reactions.

It turns out a lot of people have a lot to say about strategy. Every conflict ever known has figured in some kind of attack or reaction. Survival depends on it. And so does ours.

Sir Lawrence Freedman of Oxford University is one of the world’s preeminent international scholars on politics and war. His 2013 book, Strategy: A History, which took 40 years to write, is the best book ever written outlining the entire history of the development of strategy.

Freedman writes, “So the realm of strategy is one of bargaining and persuasion as well as threats and pressure, psychological as well as physical effects, and words as well as deeds. This is why strategy is the central political art. It is about getting more out of a situation than the starting balance of power would suggest. It is the art of creating power (emphasis added).”

When a client or manager or CEO asks, What are we doing here folks? we are the ones who’d better have an answer, and preferable a well-crafted document.

One of the most well recognized books on strategy is from the British military historian B.H. Liddell Hart. In his book, Strategy, he defined the concept in the very literal sense as “the art of distributing and applying military means to fulfill the ends of policy,” distinguishing strategy from, on one side, “tactics” — the modes of “actual fighting” on the battlefield — and on the other, “grand strategy,” in which civilian leaders set high-level policy and coordinate the nation’s resources toward a collective goal.

There is a temptation to confuse a vision or policy with a strategy, but they are not the same thing. Policies address the “what.” They’re prescriptions for the way things might operate in an ideal world. Strategy is about the “how.” How do you move toward a desired end, despite limited means and huge obstacles? A policy may have an implementation strategy behind it.

Strategy is often associated with high-level decision makers — generals, presidents, corporate titans — but the basic challenge of, in Theodore Roosevelt’s words, doing “what you can, with what you have, where you are” applies just as much when working from the bottom up.

Saul Alinsky, a hero of the labor movement and a patron saint of union organizers, made the claim that strategy is agnostic about who is currently in power. In his book, Rules for Radicals, he wondered how to use these same concepts of high strategy to wrest power from the oligarchs and tycoons and give it to the people. Alinsky believed the right strategy would allow anyone to wield power.

There are different interpretations of strategy. Beverly Gage is a history professor at Yale University, where she just resigned in a furor from the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy because of donor pressure over the curriculum. She writes, “The original concept of strategy comes from the world of military affairs. It derives from a Greek word meaning ‘generalship’ or ‘the office or command of a general’: it was an enterprise for the man in charge.”

Any strategic challenge in our daily life, both personal and professional, requires contending with limits and obstacles: scarce resources, structural constraints, devoted enemies and fickle allies, chance, and luck. The plan is a thoughtful prediction.

My belief is simple, strategy is all about creating something greater than it’s parts. Something bigger than yourself with the limited resources of Time, Money and People.

Don’t just leave the strategy to others. If you see a better path forward, outline the strategy and lay it out there. Sure it’s risky, but it’s better than nothing. You just might find yourself a wizard behind the curtain.

About the Author

Matthew L. Moseley is the president and founder of the Ignition Strategy Group and the author of Ignition: Superior Communication Strategies to Create Stronger Connections by Routledge publishing. He is a world record adventure swimmer and lives in Boulder, Colorado.