Mid Year Reality Check

It is hard to believe that we are in August already? Where did the last seven months go? If you are like me, the last seven months seem like to be a blur of business and personal activity.

Now is the perfect time to evaluate how the first six months have gone. I would argue that being reflective and honest with yourself about how your business’ performance over the last six months is critical to your future success.

To assist you in this self-evaluation of your life over the last six months, I have developed the Mid Year Reality Checkup, which is designed for the entrepreneur of any business. This checkup will identify areas for improvement that will assist you in planning for the remainder of the year.

The statements below should be rated on a scale of 1 to 5. Here is an explanation of the rating scale:

  • 5 = Always
  • 4 = Mostly
  • 3 = Average
  • 2 = Sometimes
  • 1 = Never

Your Balance of Life:

  1. I effectively balance my personal and business life.
  2. My family and close friends believe that I have a balanced life.
  3. I am passionate about my business.
  4. I enjoy this business just as much as the day I started it.
  5. I have the time to enjoy the benefits of living in the Okanagan.

Your Business Strategy:

  1. I have a business plan that I proactively use to manage my business.
  2. I update my business strategy regularly and adjust where necessary.
  3. I work mainly ON my business rather than being consumed with the day to day activities of working IN my business.
  4. Customers have critical input into my business strategy.
  5. I have clear goals and objectives for the next six months.

Your Marketing Strategy:

  1. I know who my target market(s) are, how to reach them, how they making purchase decisions and why they purchase from me.
  2. I regularly survey my customers and partners to determine their needs, wants, expectations and areas for improvement and I act quickly on their feedback.
  3. I have the right product mix that meets my customers’ needs.
  4. I am doing business with customers that fit my ideal customer profile.
  5. I have a loyal customer base and I know why they keep coming back.

Your Human Resource Strategy:

  1. I have the right skills, capacities and abilities on my team.
  2. My team members are very satisfied with their jobs.
  3. I have spent time with each team member to obtain their feedback on our business’ performance and how I can improve my leadership of the team.
  4. My team members are both empowered and accountable.
  5. I have an up to date human resources policies and procedures manual that is clear and concise.

Your Business Process/Information Technology Strategy:

  1. I have identified the most critical processes in my business.
  2. I use performance measures to measure, monitor and improve my business processes.
  3. My business is successful because I actively manage the performance of every process in my business.
  4. I use information technology to help me manage and grow my business.
  5. I have identified the top three business processes that require the most improvement in the next six months.

Your Financial Strategy:

  1. I have established specific and measurable financial goals for my business.
  2. I understand my business model in detail and how my business makes money.
  3. I have performed a product profitability analysis to determine the optimum product mix.
  4. I use financial ratios and key performance indicators to measure and monitor the financial performance of my business.
  5. My business is ready to sell as it runs independent of me.

Here are the score ranges:

120 to 150 Outstanding! Keep on track for the next six months.
90 to 119 Very good. Pick one thing to improve over the next six months.
60 to 89 Improvement desired – develop a plan for how you will address the major issues in your business.
30 to 59 You have major business development work ahead. You need to develop a comprehensive action plan for your business that will prioritize the issues to be addressed over the next six months.

Thanks for taking the time to do your Mid Year Checkup. My hope is that this checkup will assist you in establishing your priorities for the next six months as you continue to grow your business.

Steve Burns, CA, CMC, CFP, is the president and CEO of Burns Innovation Group Inc. (www.burnsinnovation.com) and Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant (www.steveburns.ca), which provide consulting and accounting services to entrepreneurs. You can reach Steve at 763-4716 or via e-mail at: steve@burnsinnovation.com or steve@steveburns.ca.

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Copyright © 2005. Steve Burns Inc. Chartered Accountant. All rights Reserved.