Don’t Confuse Business Strategy With Tactics
Entrepreneurs without formal business training often begin their startup at a distinct disadvantage to their competition. With lots of practical business experience, they’ve made a long list of all the things they need to do to make their startup vision become a smashing success. They may indeed have all the ingredients to make for themselves a profitable go of it, but may not be able to tell the difference between business strategy and tactics. The difference is important when setting priorities for an effective entrepreneurial action plan. The difference between the two can be illustrated through the metaphor of planning a road trip. Your goal is to get from San Francisco, 750 miles east to Salt Lake City. So you pull out a map. You have a choice of three routes: Highway I80, the fastest but most dreary route, US50, the scenic route through Yosemite or I5, the fun but slow route to LA, then I15 through Las Vegas and north to SLC. Choosing the route and drawing it out on the map is the strategy. You ask yourself, “Do I need to get there as fast as possible or do I want to enjoy myself along the way?” Those choices are strategic because they look at the big picture, without concern for the details. Once the route is chosen, you begin considering what is the best way to get...
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