What I’m reading: Les Miserables
What’s on the iPod: All At Once by The Airborne Toxic Event
Oh, happy day!
I love it when you want to post your thoughts here. It’s especially wonderful when someone with Cathy Miller’s background asks. Cathy is a former career corporate type who hung out her shingle a few years back and has been kicking freelance ass and taking names ever since.
Cathy wanted to expand on the SWOT idea. Since she’s a master at it, how could I refuse?
Answer to Your Business Plan?
by Cathy Miller
When I saw Lori’s post, Business
Planning: SWOT It Out, it was like running into an old friend you had not
seen in a long time.
like to say I was in pre-school, but let’s be real. The fact that Lori is
writing about the technique today lends credibility to its effectiveness.
one, then why am I not using it today? You probably do not want to hear an
explanation for that one. Let’s just say I need to practice what I preach.
business plan. There I go again. Biting off more than I can chew. I quickly
discovered that I needed a smaller bite for my SWOT analysis. Well, that and
the fact that I still have not finished my 2013 business plan.
a few years – landing public speaking gigs.
SWOT is an acronym for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.
Let’s review how I can use the method for developing my public speaking goal.
strength when it comes to public speaking is my experience. At least 25 of my
30+ years in my corporate career included public speaking. I discovered I have a
bit of a ham inside me and am comfortable on stage. Go figure. Besides my
speaking experience, I have other strengths, like I know a lot of stuff.
Finally, a benefit to being older.
obvious – my healthcare niche, such as the following.
management, HR-related activity
· Writing skills, storytelling, creativity,
PowerPoint skills
·
Communication skills, ability to make the
complex simple
·
My sense of humor, people skills
area is what’s been stopping me from moving forward with this goal. The
following are a few of the weaknesses that keep me from pursuing a public
speaking platform.
- Lack of a
hook – I need to zero in on what service would offer me the best
opportunity - Procrastination
– Have I mentioned that I wanted to move on this for years? - Lack of
visibility – While I have a modest following, Casper-like visibility will
not get the gigs.
healthcare niche (from 30+ years in the industry) or venture into some other
area that capitalizes on the strength of my communications skills. That lack of
identity is a major weakness.
found this part of the analysis helped me define my “hook.” Here is a partial
list.
- Broad network from healthcare/insurance industry
offers opportunity for my niche - Health care reform is a huge unknown with lots
of opportunity - Consumer education on wellness, health insurance
exchanges could use simplicity - Many in the brokerage community are redefining
how they do business – it’s a new world for them - The breadth of required content in today’s
marketing can be overwhelming to businesses – they need a simple solution to
managing it all
The trick is converting those opportunities into something
of value that businesses would pay for.
not the only one standing in my way for achieving my goal of public speaking.
- Everybody and their brother (and sister) is an expert
- Building content for “speaking cred” takes time
– and a lot of it - Family commitments could limit engagements
illusiveness of dreams and lines them with reality. Start with one dream and
build on that. Discover what you need to star in your own reality.
get started.
could benefit from a visit from SWOT?
health care blog at Simply stated health care
and her personal bog, millercathy: A Baby Boomer’s Second
Life.
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