Your Business Can Be Set Up For Success - Learn How

In any endeavour, there is one thing that has to happen before anything else can move forward. Unfortunately, so many of us are so excited and caught up in the energy of doing, we forget this step. In life, we often get the chance to go back and start over with not much more than a little embarrassment - but in business, this step can spell the difference between huge success and crashing failure.

This is one of those things that is so obvious, so much common sense, that we all know it and we have all known about it for a very long time - yet we still miss it without the right tools - but more on that in a moment.

First - let me share with you a little story that really brought this home for me. There was a joint oil refinery project, being built between the Americans and the Japanese. Each nation had it's own strengths, and it was agreed that the Americans would build one half of the plant and the Japanese would build the other half. In just nine months, this would be the finest oil refinery in the world.

Day 1 - the Americans show up. They bring their earthmovers, they bring a huge crew of men and they get to work! Soon the dirt is flying, foundations are going in - this is real progress!! On the Japanese side - two men in a small pickup show up - take a few measurements and then drive off. By the end of the first month, the Americans were well along on their side - the foundations were all going in, they had frameworks being delivered - this would be no problem! But they were getting a bit concerned about the Japanese side of the project, because nothing had happened over there since day 1...

By month 4, the Americans were getting a little frustrated with their partners - after all, the shell of their side was almost completed, but the Japanese had not even dug the first trench on their side. How could they possibly complete the project in time - maybe the Americans should start doing the Japanese work to move the project forward?

Month six rolls around - the Americans are all but complete, all they have to do is start commissioning their equipment and they are full of confidence that everything is on track. Finally the Japanese show up, complete with their (fairly small) construction crew and trucks full of equipment.

Here's what happened next... The Japanese trucks were full of pre-assembled equipment that went together perfectly and without drama. And because it was so nicely designed, they needed far fewer people than the Americans had - and it took far less time. On the American side - the whole of the remaining time was taken up in correcting problems and modifying equipment that was not quite right.

Now - this is not an "American versus Japanese" story - because we all have some of those two characteristics in us. But what were the Japanese doing all the time that the Americans were digging holes and building? They were getting clear on what they wanted to achieve and how they were going to do it. Then - when they did get into action, they had a cast-iron, simple plan that had already been thought through - so there were no surprises. But it all started from getting that clear vision of the goal.

And this - of course - is the step that so many of us try to gloss over. There are many potentially successful businesses out there - but you have to determine just what you want to achieve with this new business. Once your objective is clear, then you will be unable to make decisions that do not move you towards that goal - if you are not clear, then you will make wrong decisions and spend far longer and work far harder than you should - and you may never get there!