The second list every business owner wishes they could get finished

The 'imagine if' list that lives in your head, and why it's the most important place to start.

What's on your “Imagine if…” list?

Most business owners I meet are carrying around two lists in their heads.

The first is the To-Do list. Customers to speak to, decisions to make, problems to resolve and all the other things that need attention today, this week or this month.

They're all important. They keep the business moving and, quite rightly, demand your attention.

The second is what I call the “Imagine if…” list.

You might never have written it down. You might not even think of it as a list. It's made up of those thoughts you have when you lift your head up from the day-to-day and think about how the business could work better.

I explain a little more about the two lists, and why the “Imagine If” list matters in this short video.

For a manufacturer, it might be: Imagine if we could reduce the downtime on this production line. Everyone has become used to losing a few hours each week, but nobody has really stopped to understand why it's happening or what it's costing.

For another business, it could be: Imagine if it didn't take us this long to process an order. The process works, but perhaps it involves six different steps, three spreadsheets and far too much of somebody's time.

Or it could be a bigger opportunity: Imagine if we could take what we do into a new overseas market. It's been talked about for a couple of years, but the day-to-day keeps getting in the way of actually making it happen.

That's the "Imagine if.." list.

It doesn't mean something is wrong

Many of the businesses I work with are already successful. They work well, they're profitable and, from the outside, there may be no obvious reason for anything to change.

But there are usually niggles. Areas of the business that aren't quite as sharp as they could be. Opportunities that haven't been explored. Processes that take too long. Parts of the business that depend too heavily on one person. Or areas where you know you could be getting more from the time, people and resources you're already investing in.

These aren't necessarily problems that need fixing. Very often, they're opportunities to make a good business better.

The trouble is that they rarely shout as loudly as the To-Do list, so they stay in your head while everyone gets on with running the business.

Turning “Imagine if…” into action

This is where the work I do often starts.

I'll help you get those thoughts out of your head and crystallise the real issues and opportunities.

We'll look across the business, ask questions and get underneath what's really going on, because what first appears to be the problem isn't always where the real issue lies.

Then we can decide what would make the biggest difference and put a plan around it. I might be able to help directly. The right person might already be within your business. Or we might need to bring in specialist expertise.

My role is to help work out what needs to change and then get stuck in with you to make it happen.

Better before bigger

For me, that's what better before bigger is all about.

Making a business bigger doesn't automatically make it better. In fact, growth can magnify the things that aren't working particularly well already.

If you identify and turn the right opportunities on your “Imagine If” list into action, you start making meaningful improvements to the business.

Keep doing that week by week, month by month and quarter by quarter, and over time it can lead to a business that's more profitable, more resilient and, if growth is where you want to take it, in a much stronger position to become bigger too.

So, alongside everything that's on your To-Do list, perhaps it's worth giving some thought to the other one.

And if you need some help getting it out of your head, working out where to start and turning it into action, that's exactly the sort of conversation I enjoy having with business owners.

What's on your “Imagine if…” list?