By keeping your eye on the 3 Prime Directives: Getting, Keeping, Making... your never ending role is to develop highly innovative plans for getting more customers... keeping them coming back for more... and making lots of money in the process.

It is also true that from the moment your company started business, things began to change — sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse.

"It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." ~ Charles Darwin

Your business almost never unfolds exactly as planned.

Some things go much better than expected. Sometimes the market and your business environment propels you into the exactly right place... at exactly the right time... and your business shoots way beyond where you had hoped and planned.

Other times, expectations tank with no success at all because the market, the weather, your team of people, government regulations and/or your competition all conspire against you.

Adaptation is Key.

Business Cycle Management is all about ADAPTING to and addressing both the difficulties and the new-found opportunities that come your way as your company evolves over time from one business stage to another.

The Business Cycle Management Function requires you to continuously assess where you are in each stage of your business, and determine/recommit to the big WHY behind your Strategic Plan. In other words, should you continue the current mission, or redeploy your time, money, assets and people differently — maybe in a related enterprise — or do something entirely different.

The key is to know WHERE you are on this business cycle continuum, and WHAT new opportunities to pursue... in good times and bad.

To answer this, you must, no less than once a quarter, CLARIFY both your Mission and Vision Statements in light of your CURRENT business success... or lack thereof.

In other words, if you are only at Stage 1 Sustainability after 3 years of hard work, it's up to this Business Cycle Management Function to determine if you should continue on or change direction.

If you have quickly turned your business into a Stage 2, highly Profitable cash cow, then management needs to make the executive decision to either take the money and do something else... or push forward to Stage 3 and GROW your business further and faster.

If you are in Stage 3, with the marketplace begging for your products and services, and your traditional sources for financing your growth dries up overnight — should you continue to spend available resources on expanding as planned or should you put on the brakes and call it good enough?

Huge questions, right?

These are decisions that will change the destiny of your company.

The answer lies in reviewing, reenergizing and rewriting your Mission and Vision Statements BEFORE making critical changes to your Strategic Plan.

As we said before, your MISSION statement describes the company's business overall vision, including the unchanging values and purpose of the firm... together with forward-looking visionary goals that guide the pursuit of all future opportunities.

Guided by the business' VISION, your leaders, team members and stakeholders can define measurable financial and strategic objectives... making certain your Strategic Plan reflects the current reality of business conditions together with managements ability to maximize cash flow, profits and ultimately, shareholder value.

"The only true measure of success is the ratio between what we might have done and what we might have been on the one hand, and the thing we have made and the things we have made of ourselves on the other." ~ H.G. Wells

No question, Business Cycle Management is all about achieving your MISSION by keeping ahead of the ball... responding (not reacting) to changes in the competitive landscape... and ultimately, surviving the long term economic cycles.

Put simply, you are either growing or you are dying.

Constantly working your Strategic Plan to continue moving up from one business stage to the next while constantly adjusting to the current business cycles — vs. simply trying to maintain the status quo — is what separates those who PLAY TO WIN the game of business and those who stay mired in a slowly depleting business.

You Are Your Business...

If your business has been a success, you've probably had to pour most of your time, energy, and money into it for what may seem like forever. You may see your company as an extension of yourself, and it may be hard to even imagine life without it.

On the other hand, your business may be only marginally successful, and something you can't wait to get rid of.

Or, perhaps you entered into the business with the idea that it would be a short-term opportunity and that you would sell out whenever you got a decent offer.

Clearly, the end-game must always be kept forefront as you navigate the highly unforgiving, hyper-competitive global economy and move your business from stage to stage.

As Ralph Waldo Emerson put it, "This time, like all times, is a very good one, if we but know what to do with it."

Excellence At This Function Means You Can Say...

• We have a sharp eye on the economy at every point in time and are able to scale accordingly — FAST. We do GREAT in any economy... good... bad... or simply mediocre. We are built to last, and our competitors weep when we come after their market share, because they know we will get it... fair and square.
• We believe that running a business is like riding a bicycle: When the wind tries to blow you off, you respond to the wind... when you fall off, you get back on... when going up hill, you keep your focus on the destination not the increased effort... when rolling downhill, you enjoy the ride and remain in control.
• We believe in Thomas Jefferson's first rule of success, "The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." We also believe that the price of LIQUIDITY is eternal vigilance! We are eternally vigilant and Manage On Purpose... not by the surprise of the day.
• We believe that you must always PLAN TO WIN.
• We believe that you must always PLAY TO WIN.