Business strategies. Business strategies consist of special insights to match your resources, values and policies into a harmonious plan for carrying out your mission effectively and efficiently in your target market environment. Although developing a business strategy may appear overwhelming, don’t be discouraged. By asking question of others who are successful, you can gradually gain insights to guide your own enterprise. This is an ongoing process and you don’t have to be perfect at first, but you can gain satisfaction as you do better and better. As explained below, these strategies may pertain to administration of resources, production of goods, providing services, or marketing of goods and services. SWOT Analysis. One analytical technique often used for developing business strategies is the S.W.O.T. method. This involves identifying Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats related to your organization. If we do this analysis for BookWise & Company, we might find: Strengths: No inventory, great corporate leaders, inspiring mission statement, good products, reasonable enrollment fee, affordable investment, products worth promoting. Weaknesses: New organization, no track record, technical troubles getting started, limited book offering. Opportunities: Potential for many niche markets, chance to work with family, friends, and neighbor in promoting literacy using the best books. Threats: False and misleading rumors, offering of mediocre or degrading books, deviation from stated mission or core values. Examples. In terms of administration of resources, one strategy might be to “fund all future growth with cash flow of the enterprise” (pay as you go); another strategy for administration of resources might be to “follow the profit”. Profit, from the Latin means "to make progress". As a business strategy, following the profit means to understand and effectively and efficiently employ each “value-adding” step for achieving a positive return on an investment of your time, talent, and financial resources. [Following the Prophet is also extremely good advice as evidenced by the history of ancient and modern cultures]. In terms of production of goods, one strategy might be “to produce goods on demand” rather than maintaining an expensive inventory; in terms of providing services to clients, one strategy might be “to reduce response time from 12 hours down to 4 hours”; and a strategy for marketing might be “to provide free community services to attract potential customers” as an alternative to costly media advertising. In subsequent blogs we will discuss how to define enabling tasks, establish the schedule, and create the budget necessary to accomplish your desired goals and objectives. As you define specific tasks, and allocate resources to them, it may be necessary to provide special training for employees, upgrade equipment, or invoke quality assurance procedures--all interesting topics for discussion.