A (probably ancient) Chinese proverb says that the best time to plant a tree is twenty years ago.  The second best time is right now.

Growing or even surviving in a flat market will be only through growing market share - taking someone else's lunch.  Many of us are being forced to take stock of our strategies and approaches to the market and really take on our competitors, old and new.  

Things I've looked at with members over the last few weeks include looking at product lines they had previously discarded, re-discovering things they did well and just forgot about over time.  Or thinking about new markets or new products that they're only looking at because the well is currently running dry with little prospect of rain.  

Sometimes these sessions yield initiatives which are so good that we want to kick ourselves for not thinking of before.  And sometimes a good strategy emerges from doing something that we thought would probably be a waste of time.  I recently went into a particular market only because of a commitment to an important relationship partner.  It generated unexpected opportunities, and looking back I can see it's actually a logical strategy (in the advisory trade this is called an "emergent" strategy as opposed to our "declared" strategy.  I just call it one that works).

When we contemplate executing these new initiatives, we can feel like we're starting from a long way back, and that can put us off.  This "fact" fits into the category of things that are true but useless.  The best time to enter that market/launch that product/move into that sector was two years ago.  That's no longer available.  So the next best time is right now. 

Mike Ashby