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Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats: SWOT

The best thinkers know how to ask themselves questions. Business leaders are often faced with the problem of how to evaluate their business. A powerful self-evaluation technique is this...

1. On a piece of paper or in a computer drawing program, create 4 branches, and label them "Strengths", "Weaknesses", "Opportunities, and "Threats".
2. Create a sub-branch of "Strengths" with this question in it... "What are my business strengths?" and another sub branch "What do we do better than any other competitor?"
3. Create a sub-branch of "Weaknesses" called "What are we terrible at?" and a subbranch "What should we improve?"
4. Create a sub-branch of "Opportunities" called "What trends are happening today that will help my business grow?" and "What is the most obvious opportunity that I'm not paying close attention to?"
5. Create a sub-branch of "Threats" called "What trends could threaten my business?", and a good question " What competitors have solutions that solve the same problem as our product/service solves?"

To understand this last question consider... if you want to hang a picture on the wall, a nail manufacturer will sell you a nail. A glue manufacturer will sell you glue and a screw manufacturer will sell you a screw. All three are solutions...therefore if the nail manufacturer doesn't realize that the glue and screw manufacturer are competitors... they may be shocked the next time they advance a new product.

Now... answer all the questions you just created by brainstorming them underneath each question's branch...write down every new idea. Let your brain flow with it, have fun with it...since this is an exercise in SELF development. Ultimately, you should you discover many new things about your business and your company.