If you have your own tradie business, you’ve probably heard of a SWOT analysis. If you’ve never done one before, it’s definitely time to get one sorted! A SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats) is a fantastic tool to keep on top of your business’ performance and figure out your goals. Given all of the ups and downs we’ve had recently, it’s a great idea to give this a go ASAP.

First, look at your Strengths

What does your business do well? What do clients say made them choose you over someone else? These are questions you can ask when mapping out this part. You might have great people in your team who have a tonne of experience, or you might offer a service that others don’t. Look for what valuable assets you have and what you’re doing right.

Next, check out your Weaknesses

When you were going through the list of your strengths, you might have thought of some weaknesses too. This is the part where you note those down. These don’t have to be things you’ve done ‘badly’, they can just be where you might be under-resourced, or where you need to branch out into other areas more. Do you need to have a better invoicing process so you can get paid on time? What kinds of negative feedback have you had from clients before?

Then move on to your Opportunities

This is where you want to take a look at where you can grow, and how you can maximise your earning potential. Look over your strengths and see where you might be able to make those work in your favour. If you’ve had great client feedback, are you using that in your marketing and communications? Could you set up a referral programme based on that? Review your client feedback about how you could improve and list those as opportunities for improvement too.

And finally, what Threats are you facing?

Mapping out your threats is a pretty important part of this process, particularly given the environment we’re all living and working in at the moment. This part covers your competitors and what they’re doing that might affect your business, but also the economic environment during good ol’ COVID-19. Identifying the threats you face will help you put plans in place to mitigate these as much as possible.