Are you a reactive or proactive business owner?

How do you cope when things don't go to plan in business, are you calm collected and prepared or are you all panic stations alerted?!😬 Usually, the strategy you have in place determines your reaction to the situation. This is known as a proactive and reactive business strategy. You may have heard of fight or flight, it's very similar but let me explain in simple terms below.

Proactive Strategy You anticipate the possible challenges you may come up against in business and have a plan, even if it's a little rough around the edges, of what to do in any given situation. I say any, but we can't anticipate every single situation, Covid is a prime example and as such sometimes you have to act reactively but you then create a proactive strategy for the future.

Reactive Strategy

You respond only when something unanticipated has happened. You might know what to do in the given situation but you don't have any protocol or plan to follow in such an event. Take Covid as the example again for this, some of you will have drastically had to change your business overnight to minimise loss and save the business - this is reactive.

As you can see a reactive strategy isn't always a bad one but only in certain situations. If your strategy for every challenge is a reactive one it will likely cost you a lot of stress and potentially your business.

With the current cost of living crisis and impending recession, it's the worst time to be reactive as a small business owner, if you wait it might be too late for you and your business.

Being proactive isn't about being rigid with your business. It's about anticipation. If you can anticipate potential outcomes and prepare a plan for it you will rarely be blindsided. You can stay calm in most situations because you have prepared for this.

Think fire safety drills in schools/workplaces, nothing worse than having to stand in the rain for no reason but it's a proactive strategy you would be grateful for should a fire ever occur.

Benefits of being Proactive

• It gives you time and space to make decisions instead of acting irrationally.

• Helps you identify and prepare for challenges in advance.

• You will be able to deal with challenges with little disruption to the business.

• You are focused on the end goal and can easily steer back on track.

How to become more Proactive as a small business owner

• Start by having a basic business strategy. If you have your eyes on your business you're already being more proactive instead of just winging your decisions.

• Set Goals. If you know what you are aiming for when reactive situations happen you will know where you steering the ship back to.

• Review Often. If you are reviewing your business, you can spot potential challenges before they've gone too far.

• Plan. Know why you are doing what you are doing as a business owner. If you don't know how can you expect your team to know.

Things to remember:

• You can't always be proactive and reactive isn't always bad.

• Good planning will solve most of your problems

• Burying your head will get you nowhere

Need to get a business strategy in place? You're in the right place come and book a free 30 minute consultation with me. Let's understand where your business is at and give you some action steps you can go away and start working on. Book a free 30-minute consultation. No this is not a sales call in disguise, it's genuine free support. Should you want more information on how to work with me in a 1:1 capacity we can chat about it after the 30 minutes is up otherwise you can go away with your action steps. Nothing pisses me off more than a sales call in disguise so it will never happen here! 😠