Welcome to the August 2014 edition of Pathways to Success. This month's articles remind us that it's an opportune time to reflect on how our businesses are doing. August is the middle of the 3rd Quarter and a great time to take stock. Reflect on what is going well and what might be in need of a change as you go into the 2015 business planning cycle.
The first article reintroduces the elements of the Dashboard Survey as we capture the trends and results of 2014. It's also time to break-out the SWOT Analysis, revisit and adjust our value proposition if future trends in the marketplace are shifting.
The second article offers Five (5) Best Practices that we should all be considering whatever the state of the macroeconomic environment, or wherever we are in our business planning cycle. These are simple reminders of what to keep in front of us to ensure our business success.
Please forward this email to colleagues and friends. And, if you haven't done so already, please sign up on my website to receive continuing editions. Thanks for your continued support and interest. Enjoy reading! Enjoy reading!
Steve
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August - A Great Time To Take Stock
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 It's August and the calendar year is quickly approaching the end of the 3rd Quarter at the end of September. It's a great time to take stock of your business, particularly if your business is one that has a slowdown in activity when employees are out on vacations, and clients and vendors are also out similarly. August is a great time to assess where you are in 2014 and start the planning cycle for 2015.
2014 has offered its own unique twists and turns. The first Quarter had negative GDP growth, with some attributing it to the extremely harsh winter that most of the country experienced. The first reporting on 2nd Quarter GDP has indicated a significant increase over the Federal Reserve's expectations making the year-to-date for the 2014 in the positive.
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Five Best Practices to Help You in Good Times and Bad
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 There are times when the economy is roaring, and others when we've been in deep recession. We seem to be in a slow but steady recovery after the last deep recession of 2008-2009. However, stock prices can still be volatile as we experienced at the end of July; interest rates have been low but forecasted to increase at some undetermined point in the future; and although unemployment ticked up a notch, total employment gains are consistent. Future indicators can and do go in opposite directions; and more often than not, it is very difficult to read the "tea leaves."
What it does mean is that there will continue to be dips, sometimes deep, along the way. The question is: Are you positioned to take advantage of the good times and navigate the bad? You have to expect one as well as the other. Fortunately, there are some "best practices" that you can take that will serve you well during both. Continue reading ...
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