What Is Your Strategy?

What's a Bad Strategy?

A bad strategy focuses on the business itself. It pretty much ignores the customer. The only focus is growth. A long-term aim which sets a goal with a plan of 'selling more'.

These types of strategies are typically ego-driven.

They are devoid of detail in how they deliver, and the execution is less than satisfying. Employees struggle to meet the demands and morale is low.

Everyone knows what the goal is. The problem is no one knows how to achieve it.

Your Problem Might Not be a Bad Place To Start

The point of the 'don't solve your own problem' is this: Too often, a strategy solves your greed problem.

It doesn't serve a customer.

Some of the problems which frustrate you are worthy of solving.

Our greatest frustrations can often give us the motivation to find a solution. It's like scratching an itch. You've got to fix it.

The one caveat is making sure you're not alone in suffering from it.

Many an entrepreneur has failed to get their business off the ground. The reason; their problem was only their problem and no one else's.

The Solopreneur Strategy

For solopreneurs, the value chain is critical.

Many will spend their time building an audience without truly knowing what they offer or how it solves a problem. The vanity metrics which feed us adrenaline are a complete distraction for solopreneurs.

As a solopreneur, you should be thinking about how you can help solve a problem.

Ideally, it should be a unique problem and one which only you can solve. Maybe that isn’t practical. Maybe you can do something better than someone else.

Whatever it is, you're on the way to thinking strategically.

The product or service you’ve created is the first part of the strategy. Having identified the problem it solves, you should be able to spot the people who suffer from it. These people are your customers.

Becoming a solopreneur is easy. Staying one is hard.

Your business strategy is all about the long-term (it is a strategy after all).

It should explain the problem. It should explain how you solve it. And, it should show how the revenue and profit you generate will help you reach more customers.

It's a flywheel.

Don’t get hooked up on creating a flywheel. The obviousness of the wheel spinning quicker and quicker only becomes apparent when you look back.

At this stage, focus on solving the problem and then talking to the people who have the problem.

Concluding Thoughts

Everyone loves the glory of a strategy without grasping what one is.

Creating a strategy sounds simple but isn’t easy. For starters, a good strategy focuses on the customer, not the company.

Growth will always feature in a strategy.

A strategy sets not only the destination but also gives directions too. A telling part of a bad strategy is the directions are often missing. Everyone knows where they are going, but has no clue how to get there.

Which is why we come back to solving a problem.

It creates purpose and value beyond your business. It gives it to your customers and they give it back to you.

That's the key to a good strategy.