Personal SWOT

Right now I am studying SWOT Analysis as it has to do with a business organization. SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. As I was finishing my paper I realized that we should all take a moment, every once in a while, and inventory our own SWOT in our own personal and professional lives.

What are my strengths?
· Strong Work Ethic
· Driven
· Always on time
· Loyal friend
· Loving Mother
· Not afraid of anything
· Love to take risks
· Tons of energy
· Always up for a challenge
· Love working with new and interesting people

What are my Weaknesses?
· Zero patience
· Talk too much
· Want to do too much at once
· Horrible writing skills
· Spend money frivolously
· Procrastinate with my school work

Opportunities
· I can always find a better way to do things
· I can start a new business
· I can start a new organization
· I can find new ways to improve my weaknesses
· I can find a new adventure
· I can empower others to do better
· I can learn to prioritize better

Threats
· I will get myself into debt
· I will lose focus on the task at hand because I will be working on too many things at once
· I will bore and lose interest
· I will trust too much

It is funny because when you sit down and take SWOT inventory of yourself like this, it makes you appreciate the good things about yourself that you can bank on. It also lists the things that you need to really look at improving on.
If you are interested in creating a SWOT analysis of your business I highly recommend the following:
http://www.markintell.com/swot-analysis-tools-templates/

http://www.marketware.biz/swot_analysis_chart.htm

http://www.rapidbi.com/created/SWOTanalysis.html

Meanwhile, I am going to go look for a Project Management or Budgeting class!

Mistakes Happen

When someone new comes to work for me I will go over with them my three simple rules:
1. Do not be late (this is my pet peeve!)
2. Try to figure it out before you ask me
3. If you make a mistake try to fix it - if you can't then tell me

Here are my philosophies about my rules:

1. Do not be late: I will not even go into this because I have no patience for it.

2. Try to figure it out before you ask me: I hate it when people just wait for me to give them the answer. If I have to give you a list of things to do before you do anything I will lose patience fast. If you don't know how to do something and you come to me and ask me how to do it and you haven't even tried - I lose patience fast. Just TRY to figure it out and then come to me and tell me you tried and I will appreciate the fact that you TRIED.

3. If you make a mistake then try to fix it. If you find a solution don't even tell me. What's the point? You fixed it. But if you can't find a way to fix it you better come to me for help. Trying to hide it just makes it worse.

Everyone makes mistakes - everyone. I truly believe that if you don't make mistakes you will never learn. But if you try to ignore that mistake or cover that mistake things only get worse for you.

I cannot tell you how many HUGE mistakes I have made. But I am not afraid to make them. I am cautious. But I am not afraid of mistakes. If I was then I would have never succeeded.

Take this to heart in business and your personal life. Put yourself out there. Try your best. Take initiative. Learn from your mistakes. And for gods sakes..... if you make a mistake own it - do not try to blame someone else. It will just make you look bad. Mistakes happen.