Happy New Year! Welcome to 2014! This is the time of year when we set goals, make resolutions, and chart out our plans for the upcoming year. In doing so, we examine the past to see what we want to hold onto, what we want to improve upon, and what we want to change.

There’s a cool little tool called a SWOT Analysis that I find very helpful in getting a quick snapshot into a business’s performance.

SWOT it!

A SWOT is an analysis of your business for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats. (You can download a free SWOT guide to this from yesteryear here.) I find it helpful to create a SWOT analysis every year (if not every 6 months).

Let’s do one! Quick-n-easy!

wikipedia creative commons

wikipedia creative commons

STRENGTHS

Identify 5-10 strengths within your business. What are the characteristics, events, achievements that are advantages in your business? These are generally things that you have control over.

Now think of how you can build off those strengths.

WEAKNESSES

Identify 5-10 weaknesses within your business. What are the characteristics, challenges, and soft spots that are harmful to your business? These are generally things that you have control over.

Now think of how you can work with or past these challenges.

OPPORTUNITIES

What opportunities are there for your business? List 5 things that you can capitalize on for the benefit of your business. Typically, opportunities are external factors that you have little control over. However, you can decide how you want to take advantage of such opportunities.

An example of an opportunity might be: “The destination wedding segment is experiencing huge growth. I will take advantage of this opportunity by marketing my extensive knowledge of Mexican beach cities and booking 3 destination weddings in 2014.”

THREATS

What threats are there to your business? List 5 things that can be harmful to your business. Threats are external factors that you have little control over. By identifying them you can adjust your business accordingly.

An example of a threat is: “The increasing competition from new wedding pros entering my trade is a threat to my business. I will work around this challenge by introducing innovative services and communicating my differences. This will help me stand out and compete more effectively.”

The big picture

See that little matrix up there? That’s a really helpful little chart that will help you see how the pieces interrelate. Strengths and opportunities are helpful to your business. Weaknesses and threats are harmful. Strengths and weaknesses are within your control… how will you augment your strengths? How will you minimize your weaknesses? Opportunities and threats are out of your control. (Often they are reflections of the economy or the market.) How will you position your business to take advantage of opportunities? How will you work around threats?

So… what do you think? How does your business look?

Want more planning tools? Check out our 2014 Action Plan.