S.W.O.T. Analysis – Next Step After Business Plan
Okay, so we've created our sticky note business plan – now it's time for the S.W.O.T. analysis. That stands for
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
The weaknesses component is a hard one to face. It is hard to look in the mirror and confess where we fall down. Especially as home based business owners because we really have no one to point the finger at except ourselves.
On Twitter this morning I learned of a free template for conducting a SWOT analysis.
The template forces you to identify those strengths and weakness in a variety of areas:
People
Resources
Marketing
Ideas
Finance
Operations
My favorite category is IDEAS. It isn't normally a line on the P&L and yet if you have difficulty coming up with ideas or thinking outside the box or looking at things from your customer's point of view – you could have trouble moving forward.
For more information on creating a SWOT for business check out these articles:
How to do a SWOT Analysis
Guide to SWOT Analysis
A Business Owner's Secret Weapon – SWOT Analysis