There Is Never Just One Way

Some strategy shifts take a while longer to see.

There are some bigger patterns that affect your business strategy that can only be seen over a longer period of time.

When I did my own strategic review recently, I looked at the type of conversations I had been having with clients and potential clients over the year.

And one pattern in particular caught my eye.

When I'm describing how I can work with businesses, I usually tell them that I work in two ways:

• with early startups who need the support to get started and gain some traction. Much of it is information-based (you don't know what you don't know) and I help them figure out how to customise that information to how they want to run their business. It is the beginnings of their business strategy - their origins

• with businesses that have begun to achieve growth and need to pivot their strategy from an early stage build model to a stabilising and growth one. They want me to be more involved not just in the advice but the execution as well, which requires me to have an indepth knowledge of their business and strategy. I become, for all intents and purposes, the custodian of their strategy.

To keep things simple, I deliver all of it under the Your Startup Partner branding.

But they are actually very different things.

One is delivery focused - you ask questions, I answer.

The other is strategy focused - you tell me how you are operating your business and where you want it to go, and I assess and design a successful strategy for you and then help you implement.

Your Startup Partner will always have the affordable business support for early startups and small businesses whose focus is on the next month.

But I also work on a retainer basis to deliver strategic support to those who want a longer term partnership.

A strategic partner in their ongoing success.

I didn't figure this out as a one-off exercise.

I had to work in many different ways before I really settled on what worked for me and my clients.

Strategic thinking allows you to be this flexible as you are always focused on what is working, what isn't and making the change quickly.

But you need to then factor in moments where you can review the progress you've made and shift your longer term strategy accordingly.

Your strategy should always be a work in progress, as you figure out what your value truly is.

There is never just one way.