What Does Your Business Canvas Look Like And Why Should You Care?

Every business is based on a business model. You can debate whether the model is well defined or undefined or whether it is realistic or crazy but every business has a business model. This model sets the high level direction for how the business functions and interacts with its stakeholders and, consequently, the business model determines the level of success that the business will achieve.

I was recently assisting a non-profit organization with some business related issues and uncovered that they had not spent any time defining their business model. They definitely had a model, or more accurately, they had a number of models all mashed together. To say that they were not operating very efficiently or effectively is an understatement. What they failed to realize is that their mashed up business model was a lid on their success.

As business owners and leaders it is critical for us to understand all components of our business model and how each component of the model interacts with and impacts the other components and the organization’s stakeholders.

How One Simple Tool Can Transform Your Business

Without a clearly defined business strategy, your business is destined for decline and failure. By business strategy, I am not referring to the behemoth, 10,000 page business strategy document that takes years to write and now just collects dust on a shelf in your office. I am talking about a simple, concise, focused, nimble plan that you constantly refer to and measure progress against.

When I first moved from a technical role into a business leadership role, I created a strategic business plan masterpiece that covered all areas of our business including marketing, sales, proposals, project execution, competitive analysis and even customer analysis. This document took quite a few months to put together and was very impressive. I still keep a copy of it in my office as a reminder . . . of its futility!