– Why Strategy Must Come First When Building a Business –
A lot of small-business owners think tactically. They think about “how” they’re going to do something, but they’re not thinking strategically about the “what.”
There’s a big difference between “what” you’re going to do and “how” you’re going to do something.
It’s important for business owners to step back and really look at the big picture of their objective. What are the costs versus benefits? What are the best practices? What’s market research saying? What’s your competition doing?
Once you can answer these questions, you’ve got a good solid frame to define your strategy. It’s only when you have your strategy that you can clearly have an idea of how you’re going to accomplish it, which is where tactics come in.
Think of your strategy as your business blueprint. It’s your long-term plan, or “the big picture.”
Once you have that in mind, you can consider the necessary steps or tactics to secure that end goal. Successful business owners know that the difference between “tactics” and “strategy” really comes down to the difference between “doing things right” and “doing the right things.”
And both are equally important.
When you stack up strategy against tactics, you may think strategy is more important – it’s not. It’s just the first step, an important step to get right. Once you figure out the right thing to do, you can then go about a plan of action to secure mini-milestones toward a greater goal.
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