Sometimes the shortest distance between two points is under construction… make sure you’ve got a detour to take.
This might seem like odd advice, but you do need to think of alternative ways to accomplish your goal because the shortest distance between you and achieving your goal may not happen. That’s when having a back up plan is outstanding! For example, you have an order of 300 T Shirts and your T shirt press breaks… what do you do? Who do you call? Have this information in place so in your moment of stress, you can calmly choose an alternative. It’s hard enough to plan and take the risk to move forward to then hit a “pot hole” but if you have some “what if” planning in place it will make your life easier.
One word of caution, this is not analysis paralysis! You have made the decision to move forward with a plan. This is worst case scenario planning, the “I”m already moving forward, what happens if my supplier has a 10 week backlog, who do I buy from next” type of thinking… You need to have back up plans in place.
As you are planning your alternative routes, don’t forget to break the larger project down into small pieces check out tip #3 in the article on my website at BigFishIdeas.com!
Action Step
1- Where are you vulnerable? Is it equipment breaking or suppliers not getting you raw materials. Determine where you need relationships formed with machine repair services and alternative suppliers of materials.
2-Create an emergency contact list of vendors, repair services, contractors, etc… keep it in your emergency file. Wait? What emergency file… yeah, create an emergency file, too.
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Listen to Episode #50 of the Two Minute Commute
