Personal motives and leverage:
By beginning the strategic planning process with examining what is happening, your reasons for doing what you are doing, and your long-term objectives, you set your planning ladder on a good site. Taking steps up the ladder by planning for growth will be fruitless if the ladder stands on an unstable place or leads to a place you don’t really want to go.
Where am I today?
Where do I want to be by when?
Why am I in business? This business?
What are my personal reasons for being self-employed?
What are my ego reasons?
What am I getting out of this business on a personal level? Enjoyment? Money only?
How much money do I want to take out of this business in 2013? 2014? 2018?
What are my skills, experience and core competencies?
How well am I using them in this business?
Where do I see myself 5 yrs from now?
What am I doing now that I don’t want to be doing in 5 yrs?
Will I retire here?
When will I get out?