Have you ever thought of SWOTing your way to success, or at least to a plan for heading that direction? SWOT is a method for evaluating your Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats, as part of your business planning process. Thinking about strengths and weaknesses helps you focus internally on what you can and maybe can’t do. Threats and opportunities is a look at the external factors that influence y our business that you may or may not have control over. Taking the time to identify these factors in your business will also help you identify where your strengths and opportunities intersect to increase your chances of success as well as things you should avoid.
When working through this process, involve the people that are most directly involved with your business, including spouses, family members that work in the business with you and hired employees. Consider asking for input from outside advisors like your attorney, banker, a farm planner, or accountant.
To help you get started thinking strategically about where you’re headed, I put together two different SWOT worksheets with prompts to assist you in assessing your strengths and weaknesses and what’s happening around you. Print them out and take a run at it. You might like the results!
