Tale Means Business: 5 Steps to Being B.A.E with Your Business

Nigerian columnist, foremost Business expert, and strategist with an expertise in guiding business owners and professionals to up-level their business and revenues, has written an interesting piece which budding entrepreneurs will find very helpful.

Tale Alimi

 

Every time I attend a high value conference like the recently held WIMBIZ conference, I am inspired by the thought process of some of the speakers and panelists.

 

As I listened to their ideas and interpretation of concepts, I looked to find out what they had in common. As inspiring as their success stories were, I realized that what made them stand out was not the novelty of their ideas, but the fact that they were brilliant at execution.

 

That is when the acronym b.a.e took a new meaning for me!

 

If you have read some of my previous articles, you know I love acronyms because they make learning easier. B.A.E has suddenly taken on a more intellectually stimulating meaning to me and in this context it means to be brilliant at execution and not before anyone else….

 

If you want to become b.a.e, here are 5 steps to follow:

 

1. Have clear articulation

 

Most goal setting books, and even the Bible, clearly state that we need to write the vision and make it plain. I have met a few people who have told me they don’t need to write things down since they already have it in their head. From my experience, I have found out that concepts and ideas become clearer when they are written down.

 

You can even take it a step further by explaining it to someone else because as you do that, you even get more insight into your own idea and you can articulate it clearly.

 

2. Create a plan

 

Once you are clear about your idea, you have to create a plan to execute the idea. An idea without a plan is just a dream. So you need to have a plan of action. Your plan should consider what, when and how you want to execute the idea. I often hear people say, I want to raise money for my business or I want to expand my business and my question always is: what is the plan? So create a plan of action.

 

3. Break it down into milestones

 

Often times when you create a very detailed plan, it can be quite overwhelming, so you need to break it down further into milestones. Breaking down your plan is like taking a big lump of pounded yam and breaking it down into smaller more palatable lumps.

 

Your plan becomes more reachable when it is broken down and you can celebrate small victories at every milestone. For example if you want to open a new store, you plan can be broken down to milestones like; decide the location, decide the budget, contact an agent, scout for locations, settle on a location, pay for it, renovation, furnishing etc. each item can be a milestone and the whole plan might take months to execute.

 

4. Have a realistic estimation of resources

 

One of my favorite scriptures on planning is the one about counting the cost. I have seen good plans stall because of lack of resources or inadequate resources because proper estimation was not done.

 

As entrepreneurs, we have a tendency to be optimistic about what we can achieve with little resources and this is nice because it shows we have faith; but I have learned that most times, it might cost more and take more time, so include a contingency or miscellaneous estimate as you plan the required resources. You will execute brilliantly when you can efficiently utilize resources to achieve an optimal outcome.

 

5. Simulate likely outcomes

 

Simulation is an important aspect of planning that people ignore but it is quite necessary to prepare you for likely outcomes. When you are simulating, you need to consider various scenarios: best case, worst case and average. You want to do this so that you will know if it will still be worth your while to go ahead even with the worst case scenario. In the past, I have been disappointed by outcomes when I did not plan for the worst case scenario so I was not prepared to respond to it accordingly.

 

Simulating likely outcomes is not in a bid to discourage you, it actually guides you to be brilliant at execution.

 

Being b.a.e takes work, so do the work! And after doing the work, execute passionately and course correct responsively.

 

About the Author:

Tale Alimi is an Entrepreneurial thought leader, foremost Business expert, coach & strategist with an expertise in guiding business owners and professionals to up-level their business and revenues.