Today we welcomed a new President. He won with a message of hope and change. Hope is always important but even more so when there is a lot of fear or discontent. Change is based on the view that the status quo is broken and that something drastically different is required to get things accomplished.
Today, or sometime soon, there will be a reality check. The President is not powerful enough to change the tide of the economy and undue the millions of decisions that are made every day. We’re not going to get as much change as the hope says we will. Will some change happen? Absolutely. Will it be enough? Time will tell.
One thing that I have learned over time is that a small business can generally only handle one major innovation. Don’t try to take on to many things this year. Chances are that you won’t do them all well.
Hope is a wonderful thing but not when it is for something that is unrealistic. Are you hoping that you’ll be able to double your gross profit this year so you can survive? Have you ever accomplished that before? How much of a factor will the macro-economic enviroment or access to capital impact that goal?
One of the problems with big goals is that they’re likely to fail. If failure occurs it will errode hope and undermine the positive things that you’ve accopmlished. Be realistic and have backup plans. Practice doing the right things. Don’t try to change to much.
