Everyday people are evaluating their business and personal goals and challenges. Depending if it is immediate, like getting credit card spending under control or if it is long term, like saving for a down payment on a cottage, we all have a goal either for today or five years down the road. Before determining a goal, you should run the same analysis every time. In business, we call it a SWOT analysis. This means analyzing your strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. The first two are your own: your internal strengths and weaknesses. The last two refer to outside forces of threats or opportunities that come your way.
Let’s run this scenario using Bob Smith, budding graphic designer as an example... something that is close to our heart. If you are a creative, but quiet person, your strength can be your artistic or creative ability and your weakness could be the failure to ‘toot your own horn.' The opportunity may be to design ads for businesses because others admire your creative ability and the threat is that there are many established graphic design and ad firms in the market. To find the challenge for Bob is to identify businesses that want to work with Bob as a home-based designer. He may also need the services of an agent or a larger ad agency that gives him leads for small design jobs they would usually refer to home-based designers.
As soon as Bob has more experience, he can move beyond the introductory business card and develop a website with examples of ad designs he has completed. Now he is exposed to a larger audience and can send links to his site to account managers of ad agencies. His challenge used to be how to get business and now his challenge is what to do with all the business he is receiving. Does he grow and add an employee or does he accept fewer jobs and remain a 1 person business?
With every business type and model, the challenges are different, yet oddly enough, the same. Everyone wants to earn a living, prosper and grow and one day, retire with resources at their fingertips.
Everyday some element of change creeps into your business life. It’s difficult to move forward when you think that you must change everything in order to succeed. Changing everything is too difficult. Just try changing one thing in order to meet a challenge. Keep your customers, but change what you sell to them. Keep your reputation, but apply it to a different industry.
So, what is your challenge? The key to mastering the challenge is the more research and knowledge you have and the more prepared you are to meet the challenge will determine your success.

At Edge, we work everyday with clients that are relying on us to help them beat their toughest business challenges. We wouldn't give it up for anything!