Most business owners are looking for opportunities to grow their businesses, their brand, and make more money. That is why most of us are in business. As you become better at marketing more and more opportunities will show up. Then what?

You have to decide which opportunities are worth pursuing and fit into your strategic plan. But you need to make sure your business is ready to take advantage of these opportunities when they do show up. It is a dream for many to get their business featured on Oprah but when they finally get that opportunity it turns into a nightmare. Why? Well, for some their business is dependent on them and they don’t have any systems in place for growth, especially the massive growth that a spot on Oprah would bring.

One of my clients is struggling with this right now; he is literally paralyzed by all of the opportunities in front of him. TV shows, radio shows, endorsement deals, not to mention 2 different companies that have offered him 50% ownership in complementary businesses.

This all sounds good. In fact many entrepreneurs have been working diligently to have this happen for their business and would be thrilled to be in this position. So why is he paralyzed by all of these great opportunities?

He is running at full capacity in his business and has no time to pursue anything else. He is doing all of the work himself and spending no time working on his business, and he has no systems in place. So what is the answer?

First, we have taken a closer look at his time management and created structured time for him to work on improving his systems. Second, we are creating a strategic plan for this year so he knows what his focus is each quarter, and that way he can easily see how each opportunity fits into his plan. He feels much better already knowing that he is now taking action and creating a real business instead of a one man shop.

Here are the action steps for you to follow in your own business:

1. Go through your calendar and determine how much time you are spending working in your business (making the doughnuts) and how much time you are spending working on your business (marketing your doughnuts, creating systems, etc). Now look at the non-essential stuff that you can delegate and schedule that time for working on the business. Mark it in your agenda and keep that time written in stone. This is not time for doctor appointments or checking your e-mail!

2. Look at all of the opportunities or ideas that you want to implement and put them into your strategic plan. You can’t do everything this quarter so go ahead put each item you want to implement into the appropriate quarter.