wadeandalexia.com

Is Strategic Planning Recession Proof?

Strategic Planning is a road map to lead an organization or a single entrepreneur from where they are now, to where they would like to be in the future.

Fair enough – but is it recession proof? The answer is emphatically yes! Strategic Planning is the one business tool, which if done right, can make your business essentially immune to business cycles. The key part of that sentence is “if done right”.

Strategic Planning is, at its core, a method for predicting the future. Strategy is the game plan to create your future – to win – even in the face of resource constraints, or intense competition. Strategy:

Maximizes reward, and minimizes risk
Leverages resources
Provides context, meaning, value, direction, and alignment for tactical actions
Leads to long-term success

Think about it: In almost every industry today, there are two kinds of organizations. First, there are those like Microsoft, Google, and Dell that change the game; they shape the ‘rules’ to their advantage. Second, are all the other organizations in those industries that are left to follow in their footsteps. When the competitive rules change, and they will change, the followers must do all they can to adapt, just to stay in business. They are, in a sense, on the defensive, and that is not a particularly advantageous place to be.

The ‘game-changers’ have a significant advantage because, since they left the starting gate before their competition, they get first crack at market share, and mind share. Simply put, when you make the rules, it is easy to win the game.

A major benefit of strategic planning is to help your business see the big picture, especially from a marketing point of view. By creating good strategic plans, you will be better able to understand the need for timely changes in your marketing approach and product mix. Strategic planning requires setting clear goals and objectives, and meeting those goals and objectives during specified time frames.

Why? – as I said earlier, strategy is about predicting the future, making assumptions about what is going to be, and making commitments based on those assumptions. If the future you predict is wrong, all of your right actions will still doom you to failure.

There are ways to ensure you don’t guess so wrong that you jeopardize your business:

1) Thoroughly understand your market and your business environment, and determine whether any potential “Market Disrupters” are on the horizon.
2) Create a strategy that has the effect of changing the market in your favor.
3) Create Strategic Flexibility in your business and marketing plans.

Strategic Flexibility is the key. You want to be in a position where, even if some of your assumptions are wrong (and they will be); your business is still viable.

One way to create flexibility is to think like a chess champion. You need to master the concept of “Down Board Thinking”. World class chess players do not simply think about their own moves, they look ‘down board’ and consider their opponents (competitions) possible responses to their moves, and plan a number of alternative moves ahead. This kind if thinking is particularly relevant both in creating your strategy, and in managing and monitoring the implementation of your strategy.

Another way is to have enough actions (tactics) going on at roughly the same time (in parallel) so that even if some of them don’t turn out as well as you expected, you will still prosper because you have enough right actions happening.

The real aim of Strategy then, is to have a set of actions in place consistent with your view(s) of your desired future. Once you have those actions in place, with systems, processes, metrics, and exit plans (because all strategies end), you can begin to manage strategic uncertainty, overcome business cycles, and prepare your business to be the one that prospers, even in times of recession.

For businesses that can’t afford to or simply don’t want to unnecessarily spend thousands on a full-time office… we offer a physical office address, phone, fax, reception and meeting space access for a fraction of the price.  A New York Virtual Office may be just the solution for you. Find out today with our July 2009 Virtual Office Address Trial Offer for only $12.50 per month.

Within one business day you can open your New York office on Broadway in the trendy Flatiron district taking our advantage of our trial office of US$12.50 per month, for 2-months of service including a physical New York office address with reception and access to meeting facilities.  

During the trial period, you receive everything you would at the standard rate.  Mail handling is available as well as meeting rooms, phone service, fax service, and all the extras!  All the benefits of having a real staffed office (not a mailbox or a fake suite number) without the overhead or headaches.

VIRTUAL OFFICE TRIAL
$12.50 per month for 2-months of Virtual Office. Virtual Office address includes:
-Physical Office address on Broadway with reception and meeting facilities.
-Mail handling privileges including mail-forwarding
-Meeting room rental privileges

For more service details, visit:  http://manhattanvirtualoffice.com/virtualoffice.html

To apply for this offer, simply click here to access the online application.

<em>Offer valid for new approved clients only. Offer may not be combined with any other offer. Not valid on renewals or reinstatements. Applicants must order and have their completed applications approved prior to July 31, 2009. After the 2-months are up, you can opt to renew service. Renewal rates revert to standard rates.

After the web site design and the completion of the basic SEO, the next investment any business owner should consider is in search engine optimization. In order to understand SEO pricing, we have to underline the fact that the optimization process in itself is very advantageous, since presumably the traffic generated by a well-indexed page will pay for itself. In fact, the art (or science depending on who you talk to) of SEO was created with such a purpose in mind: increase leads and sales, increase conversions, and ultimately generate more money!

Several factors influence SEO pricing, and the amount of work required is first on the list. While the financial investment for good SEO varies depending on the size and the complexity of the pages , please understand that good SEO that you don’t do yourself isn’t cheap. Companies and agencies that offer SEO services often promote a free site analysis based on which the SEO quote is created. With this kind of report, you’ll learn about how competitive you’ve been, what problems you face , and what changes need to be performed on the site.

Ultimately, your goals and your budget ultimately determine the price you should pay for SEO. Sometimes, the service provider will be able to recommend the less expensive alternative substituting elements that are not necessary for the optimization and suggesting various money-wise solutions.

There are lots of steps involved in the optimization campaign, and SEO pricing can be kept under control when you know exactly what needs to be done. Thus, any good SEO company will first initiate optimization by competition and industry investigations. Next should come the keyword research and the key-phrase selection, followed by the phrases implementation. Then, the web masters will continue with building of links and their submission to search engines and directories. SEO is a constant process, and requires active monitoring and communication between the owner and SEO agency to be effective.

To give some general figures of where SEO pricing can range, the whole process could cost between $2,000 and $10,000 according to the complexity of the site and the features of the competition. Beware of too low quotes since these are generally practiced by people with little experience in the field, and who may not perform the best of job on your site. The choice is yours!

Home security involves protecting the house from all imaginable angles. Maintaining a safe, secure home environment means making sure all entry points are not damaged or compromised; for instance an overlooked area of the house that often requires serious door repair San Diego home security specialists tell us, is the back of the house where burglars often enter the home in a home invasion. To increase security at home, experts strongly recommend readers to consider the following measures.

Lights that are motion-sensitive: Prevent nighttime prowlers from breaking into your home by installing motion-sensitive lights. Installing a solar-powered light won’t even require electrical wiring — it gets all the power it needs from the sun and attaches to your home’s exterior with the screws provided. A 12-foot cable lets you position the light and the solar panel in different locations for maximum sunlight retention.

Securing Auxiliary Doors And Investing in San Diego Roll Up Door Repair For Worn-Out Garage And Roll Up Doors

For both commercial roll up doors and home garages doors, though using a case-hardened steel padlock is an effective temporary fix if you don’t have a self-locking automatic garage door, investing in fixing damaged doors is the best long-term solution in preventing break-ins of this kind.

After securing your home’s front and back doors and the windows, it’s important to look for other points of vulnerability. Homeowners often overlook safeguarding them, however, they must be aware that attached garages and sliding doors that open onto patios and balconies are favorite points of entry for burglars.

Sliding door

Locking bar: The standard locks that come with sliding doors are easy to pry open. Use a locking bar (or a wooden dowel) to keep the door from being forced open. Also be sure to seriously consider investing in San Diego glass replacements for old, damaged sliding glass doors and windows to further discourage burglars from breaking into your property.

If there is too much space between a sliding door and its upper track, the door can be picked up, tilted outward, and removed — just like a sliding shower door. Leaving just enough room for the door to slide by installing screws along the inside of the upper track prevents the door from being able to be lifted out.

Doors with knobs

Door jammer: Ideal for a hotel room or a rented apartment or house with weak locks, a door jammer is essentially a door stopper on a stick. It looks like a footed cane, with a top that hooks under the doorknob and a base that grips the floor, preventing your door from being forced inward. A door jammer is easy to use and fits in a suitcase. For more information on home security, contact your local San Diego locksmiths to learn more.

Repossessed Used Cars:

Every day thousands of Americans fail to abide by certain law or default on their car payments, which in turn cause the law enforcement agencies to seize and repossess their cars and other properties. Most of these used cars for sale/properties are repossessed from individuals or institutions with large amounts of debt and bank loans with they are unable or refuse to pay, the cars and property may also be repossessed from criminals or individuals involved in tax evasion. For this reason cars seized in these kinds of situations are quickly auctioned on non-profit basis to enable the banks and financial institutions cover losses and to minimize the cost of storage and maintenance.

Collection of new and used Japanese cars for sale:

Once these cars are repossessed by either the banks, police, IRS, customs, DEA, lending institutions etc, they are the brought together in a car auction this is usually a huge collection of all kinds of vehicles including used and new Japanese cars. These cars are then sold at highly discounted prices of up to 95% off, all this cars have clean records, low miles and in perfect condition. These is therefore a closely guarded recourse only used by car dealerships, realtors and exporters to buy and sell cars and homes due to the highly discounted prices and great car deals offered.

Car models at auction for sale:

Some of the car models at the auction are: Suzuki, GMC, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Honda, Mercury, Volkswagen, HUMMER, MINI, Volvo, Hyundai, Mitsubishi, Ferrari, Land Rover, Saab, Chrysler, Lexus, Saturn, Dodge, Lincoln, Subaru, Ford, Mazda, Acura, Infiniti, Nissan, Audi, Isuzu, Oldsmobile, BMW, Jaguar, Plymouth, Buick, Jeep, Pontiac, Cadillac, Kia, Porsche, Chevrolet, and many other models direct from Japan.

Largest variety collection of new and used Japanese cars for sale:

If you need to buy a car or would like to start a car dealership you are now in the right place, here you will be able to join Best car deals blog you will get instant access to one of the largest and the best automobile/homes auction that will save you a lot of money due to great discounts and very good irresistible deals. This is simply the perfect way for any individual be it a car dealer a realtor an exporter or even a student to get the best discounts possible.

Used cars auto auction:

Once you become a member of the auction you will get instant access to thousands of repossessed new and used cars for sale including luxury homes and other seized property, you will also get an opportunity to shop at local and online auctions all over the U.S (every U.S State). You can now become that lucky buyer and drive away with the car or home of your dreams since the site has implemented an awesome system for its members to utilize. The repossessed cars are kept in a warehouse, the homes repossessed and auctioned off in a hurry. These auctions sometimes have a few people attending and therefore the repossessed cars are sold at discounted prices.

Benefits of joining automobile auction networks:

Most people have a mentality that used cars are always in bad shape, once you become a member you will be surprised to find out that some of the repossessed cars are in brand new condition with their warranty still on them and you can also get background information of any vehicle you wish to buy, the auto auction will provide you with detailed information of any property to intend to buy plus money back guarantee incase of defaults.

Repossessed property auctions offer multiple benefits among buyers because they are being offered at low starting price and this makes it possible for you to save big money. Buyers can expect a wide range of vehicles to choose from and the quality of any vehicle is not compromised by the price. It is possible for you to find the car you have always wanted including rare models available at a price you can easily afford.

Cars for sale auction will offer you quality cars in a lot of ways, There are no pieces of junk, you will be amazed at how unbelievably good and well maintained these cars are being sold at a price that even teens can afford.

You also get full access to easy online bidding, seized car listings, dealer car auctions, bank repo vehicles, police repo vehicles, other government auctions, browse online listings or buy offline, From basic to luxury cars for sale and homes and save thousands of dollars.

In the past, only car dealers and realtors with special licenses could access these auctions, but now because of the internet, things have changed, big business has saturated the market in turn making it impossible for many of these repossessed cars and homes auction centers to get the word out. These auction centers and online Auctions need you to attend and buy because of the enormous expense to store these thousands of vehicles and homes. This is the absolute best way of attaining the car or home of your dreams for a fraction of what it would cost you otherwise. Visit best car deals blog now and become a member for you to benefit on this great discounts. (cars for sale 2009).