SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats. Using a SWOT provides you with an opportunity to be open and honest with yourself and to invite people, who you respect to help you make those all-important decisions.

Do you think that just one person has the best ideas? Neither do I, so, I always invite people to help me generate and evaluate my thoughts and ideas. People often think that other people will not help, but more often than not,you will get the most effective ideas once you have spoken with a handful of people. I don’t always take everyone’s thoughts on board but it does give me a balanced view.

Strengths

A strength is an aspect of you, your product or your services. A strength is something that sets you apart from everyone else and therefore it’s marketable. I am very good at Excel (no challenges please I am just using this as an example), but who knows about it? Unless I tell people, then no one will ever know. Lesson learned – tell everyone your strengths and why they should buy your products or services.

The important thing to remember is that everyone has strengths. You may think that your knowledge, skills or aspects of your product or products are common place, but they may be worth a lot more. Do not shy away from your strengths, in fact shout about them.
Read the rest of this entry »