What are you talking about, Jon? A strategic tradie? What is that?

If you’re anything like me, you’re a bit sceptical when people start talking about being strategic. Your bullshit detector might go off. (Maybe it’s going off now…)

Maybe you’re thinking “It sounds like something a wanker might say”. Maybe you’re thinking “I’m not really sure what you mean by “strategic”, Jon.” Which would be fair.

So I’ll tell you what I mean by strategy and strategic.

A strategy is a plan. It’s as simple as that.

Sometimes you hear people making out that it’s a special sort of plan.

(I googled the difference between a strategy and a plan and got quite a lot of bullshit and a lot of people’s different opinions).

So let’s ignore that and stick to my definition which is that a strategy is a plan. I’ll get to what strategic is in a minute but the first part of being strategic is to have a strategy – or a plan.

A strategy has two parts – a goal and a plan for how to get there from where you are now. (I know I said plan, it was the best word)

So the first thing to do to be strategic is think about what your goal is for your business and for you. Part of our coaching program (the first part) is exactly that. Helping you decide what you want to achieve. 

My guide this week is the 7 Systems To Build  A Seven-Figure Trade Business. Assuming you want a bigger business with more profit and less hard work for you and systems to run it, then this is the how – the second part of the plan.

So the first part of having a strategy is deciding where you want to go (and writing it down – that’s important) and the second part is deciding how you’re going to get there. (And that’s in the guide – my advice on how to get there is in the guide).

The next part about being strategic is to make sure you implement your plan.

I know that sounds obvious but it’s easy to fail to do it. I’ve heard people say that the power lies in the planning process doing the stuff that gets the results.

The goal is the goal, the plan is what you’re going to do and you need to do it. You need to decide what you’re doing first and figure out how to do that thing and get on with it.

You need to make time for this work – it’s no use getting busy on the tools and not doing it, is it?

My coaching clients commit to setting some time aside for this work every week and we have a library of training videos to help with ‘how to’ parts.

So have a goal, have a plan, implement it, put time aside for this work and learn the new skills. We’re nearly there.

Check your strategy regularly and measure your progress.

You need to make sure you’re still doing the right work – the work that’s taking you towards your goal.

We do this quarterly at Small Fish (and with our clients).

I’ll leave you with something my first boss said to me. I was a young salesman then and he said ‘When you find yourself doing something, ask yourself; is this taking me closer to my sale?’ if it’s not, stop doing it.

Let’s change it to ‘Is this taking me closer to my goal?’ if it’s not, consider not doing it and doing something that will, instead.

You can start by grabbing the guide, can’t you?

Reply or comment 7 Systems and we’ll hook you up.