Decision making and running a business go hand-in-hand–even a little home-based business. It can be easy and typical to get caught up in problem-solving and make decisions based on what is best for ourselves an for our business right now or today. It takes more consideration and care to think through how our decisions today will affect the future of our businesses.
The best business leaders–on whatever scale–are those who can take care of the issues that pop up today, but who always have one eye looking toward the future. The long-term health of your business is important, and while you definitely need to make decisions in the moment that affect the moment, you also need to make sure that you are not coming up with short-term solutions that actually hurt your business in the long-term.
Running a business requires keeping all sorts of interests in mind: you need to attend to profitability and keep expenses in check, but you also need to monitor cash flow. Sometimes improving one might hurt the other. For example, boosting your short-term cash flow by selling super-aggressively could hurt the long-term profitability of your business if you alienate customers or your reputation is adversely affected. Also, if your temporary output is more than you can comfortably handle and service, you may hurt the future of your business by getting a reputation for poor service or being ill-prepared.
Even as you handle the trials and challenges of your business as it stands today, it is imperative to keep one eye gazing off into the future–try to think through how your decisions now will look 1, 5 or 10 years from now. Having a long-term business plan can help you to keep your focus on what is good and healthy for the business overall, not just what will get you through the next 24 hours.
Also: Figuring Out Why Something Failed
Do You Have Enough Information to Make a Good Decision?