How to Create a Strategic Plan for Your Small Business: Easy 4-Step Process

All you need is a SWOT

Photo by Scott Graham on Unsplash

After a year like no other, now is the perfect time for a deep dive into the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats your small business will face in 2021.

Using the 4 Steps of a SWOT Analysis makes strategic planning easy, even if you’ve never done it before. I often conduct a SWOT with my clients and the results always yield actionable results.

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The 4 Quadrants

As you can see, a SWOT comprises four quadrants.

Strengths and Weaknesses are the internal factors you have control over and can change, while Opportunities and Threats are external forces which can’t be changed, but must be adapted to.

When finished, the goal is to optimize the strengths, minimize or eliminate the weaknesses, while taking advantage of the opportunities yet understanding and preparing for the threats.

Here’s how to create the SWOT:

Strengths

What are the internal strengths of the organization?