OH NO-- ANOTHER store is moving in down the street!

     The turn around in the economy has allowed many new businesses to open.  In the oil field plays of the Bakken, Eagle Ford and Permian Basin, this is especially true.  Competition for workers is heating up at a feverish pace.  The question that many existing businesses ask, sometimes silently, most times out loud is, "How can we survive" with another competing business.
       OK, the answer is simple.  Out think them! Now, that sounds simple, but how do we operationalize that?
       Well, let's go back to the basic premise of why you are in business.  What does your mission statement say?  What is the mission of your business?  Oh, you don't have a mission statement?  Well, now is the time to develop one.  Why are you in business?  What do you do for your customers?  Who are your customers?  Knowing the answers to these questions will allow you to focus your business so that competition is never a factor.
        Panic sets in when the vision statement is either undeveloped or unclear.  Really, what are we all about?  Why are we here?  What do we do, why do we do it?  These are not rhetorical, "stump the dummy" questions-- these are salient, focused questions that really determine the path of your business.
        In most cases, the sharper focus you have on your mission and vision statements, the sharper the business performs and the more money you make.  In some instances, you will not want to take a piece of work because that work fails to comport with your business mission/vision.  There is nothing at all wrong with saying, "that is work that is not within our mission."  We have done that on occasion when the proposed engagement was not what  our firms expertise and talents were not uniquely skilled at.
         Before getting all worried about the new business, put some time and focus into your business--especially the mission and vision statements.  You will see that having those statements well focused will bound your business, provide greater clarity of purpose and allow you to increase your business operations.