Christian Business Checkup

You hung out your shingle and started your own business.  You had an idea, a vision actually, and you wanted to see if it had traction.  You started selling.  A year later you are still in business.  Awesome!

When you slow down to contemplate your success, you might be thinking, “Where do I go from here?”

If you are a small business you probably don’t have a team of people to come and give you a “state of the business” review every month or even quarterly.  Most of us don’t have that financial guy to provide a power point presentation of the financial health of the business with cool charts and graphs and words of wisdom for next steps.

We probably don’t have slick marketing team to unveil the new communication strategy, award winning look, or cutting edge strategic direction.

And we most certainly are missing the sales manager giving us the list of key account prospects getting ready to close along with new product initiatives about to launch.

Sometimes it is just us.

I know for me it is.  As a solopreneur I still believe in business reviews, just on a slightly more casual level.

Here is a list I use with my clients and in my own business.

This helps us step back and assess where we currently are:

1. Do you feel like the vision and mission for your organization is aligned with God’s Will?
2. Can you clearly communicate your company’s vision and mission?
3. Do the important stakeholders of your business have a clear understanding of the vision and mission.
4. Does your team match the culture that you want for your organization?
5. Do you feel like you have the right people at the right time for the organizational needs of the business?
6. Is your team equipped with the tools that they need to be successful in fulfilling their role in the organization?
7. Do you have business policies and procedures in place for the operations of your business today and in the intermediate future?
8. Do you have a system in place to monitor those policies and procedures and ensure consistent and effective execution?
9. Are you consistently evaluating your processes and procedures and continuing to build on your foundation?
10. Do you have the systems in place to track the key indicators for your business?
11. Do you have effective strategies in place to market and sell your products and services?
12. Are you consistently achieving the sales results required and projected to sustain the viability and health of your business?
13. Do you feel like you are effectively leading your organization to the achievement of your business vision and mission?

This is a checklist of questions to ask yourself regularly.

As leaders of dynamic businesses we can not rest on the state of our organization at any one point and time.  Change is inevitable and we need to maintain our leadership of the organization on a continuous basis.

A great example of this is Paul’s ministry.  He would go to cities and teach, preach and share the good news.  Then he would follow-up with future visits or letters.  He was constrained slightly as he was imprisoned, making it more difficult for repeat visits, but he followed up with future letters or sending one of his disciples to checkup on things for him.

His mission – the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

His strategy – go out and share the gospel to Jews and Gentiles!

His process – go, preach, move-on, follow-up with letters or visits, send people to check on progress…..

Things will change.  Whether by design or by reaction to the world around us.  That’s why you want to revisit this list regularly.  Re-focus when needed.  Stay true to your vision and mission!

What other areas do you review to stay in good business health?