Tip #3: Know Your Business Environment

In going through the four boxes of the SWOT analysis, we've already looked at the external environment.

Today I'd like to direct you to one of the all-time most respected business scholars, the late Peter Drucker.

This link to a publication called The encyclopedia of leadership: a practical guide to popular leadership ..., by Murray Hiebert, Bruce Klatt, should open at section 3.3, on page 76, "SWOT". From here to page 78 it's somewhat technical but even if you just take the passage at face value, I hope it will give you ideas about what to look at in your own external environment.

Remember, focus mainly on the Opportunities. Look at Threats if their impacts are likely to be very serious, and consider how you can guard against the risks they present.

The main purpose of this exercise is to try different ways of discovering opportunities. You may come away with a generic idea, e.g. that new media is in need of fresh content. That tells you where to do further research, which we will talk about in greater detail in another post.

Tip #1. Get The Money

The first rule of business is Get The Money. If you don't think this way, what you're doing may be worthwhile, but it's not business.

Business by definition is an activity carried on with a view to making a profit.

Image: Shuttle Endeavour Blastoff, by jurvetson, on Flickr.com. Shared under Creative Commons Attribution License. Thank you!


So while I encourage people to contribute to worthy causes, make sure you understand that your business is not a charity.

My Dad told me, and his Dad told him, what I'm telling you:

Get The Money.