Last week I discussed, "My Favorite Entrepreneurial Tool-Deciding My SWOT" and I received dozens of e-mails asking for examples of SWOT in my businesses. As a reminder, SWOT is a business acronym that stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. EVERY single company, no matter what size it is, has SWOT. Success is achieved based on how you leverage this tool. And I also told you last week that I apply SWOT to my companies by:

-Deciding what my acceptable weaknesses will be
-Predicting the threats to my business
-Capitalizing on my strengths
-and seizing opportunities

So here are some concrete examples of SWOT in my businesses to help you better understand the tool.

Strengths

1. Business model positions us as an industry leader
2. We are able to attract better partners because we are the gatekeeper to a targeted niche
3. We roll out new products and services quickly
4. We invest in tangible benefits and therefore deliver higher quality than our competitors
5. We measure our ROI consistently and act quickly when we need to shut down a program or service that isn't in high demand

Weaknesses

1. Our niche is crowded (AWE and NAWW)
2. We don't offer physical workshops anymore (NAWW)

Opportunities

1. This is a good time to establish a social media presence
2. Our target markets love "hand holding" services
3. We can invest more dollars into marketing than many of our competitors
4. We can publish more print books than our competitors and therefore generate more leads

Threats

1. Great marketing techniques are becoming saturated
2. Competitors copy product and service offerings
3. E-mail delivery is harder than it used to be due to technologies that block out "good" e-mail along with spam