Before You Make Another Move, Evaluate This First

In business, we love a good plan. A fresh move. A new direction. A bold pivot. But before you make another move, before you tweak your website, relaunch your offer, or change your pricing, there’s one thing you need to evaluate first.

Your business landscape.

Understanding the environment in which your business operates isn’t a luxury for large companies with strategy departments. It’s a necessity for every business owner, especially if you’re a solopreneur, juggling marketing, delivery, admin, and about six tabs open in your brain at once.

In this blog I discuss why evaluating your landscape is the real power move, and how doing so can save you time, energy, and even money. Because knowing where you stand helps you move forward with clarity and purpose, not just momentum for momentum’s sake.

Why Evaluate Your Business Landscape?

Imagine setting off on a road trip with no map. You’ve got a car full of snacks, a full tank of petrol, and a playlist queued up. Sounds fun... until you realise you’re heading in the wrong direction.

That’s what it’s like when you jump into action in your business without checking your surroundings first.

Your business landscape includes:
- Your customers: what they need, what they’re struggling with, what they value right now.
- Your competition: what’s shifting in your space, what others are doing well (or not), and how you stand out.
- Your conditions: the current trends, tools, economic shifts, and cultural changes that impact how people buy and behave.

Without evaluating these, you risk building the right offer for the wrong time or shouting into a void no one’s listening to.

The 3C Scan: Customers, Competition, Conditions

Let me introduce you to a framework I use with clients in my Joy Work Members Club and inside the 21-Day Strategy Sprint: the 3C Scan.

This simple strategy helps you slow down and look up before you race ahead. Here’s how it works:

1. Customers

What do your people really need right now?

Your customer’s world is constantly changing. The way they felt 6 months ago? Irrelevant. What they’re dealing with today matters most.

Ask yourself:
- What’s keeping them stuck right now?
- What language are they using to describe their struggles?
- What are they dreaming of?
- What objections or fears are they holding on to?

Use Instagram polls. Send a quick survey. Open up your DMs. Host a mini focus group. Or just look at what they’re saying in your comments, stories, or voice notes.

Too often, we guess what our audience needs instead of asking. But when you tune in properly, you’ll start to see the real gaps—the juicy problems you’re here to solve.

2. Competition

What else are they seeing and how are you different?

I’m not talking about copying your competitors. I’m talking about being aware of what’s going on around you.

Look at:
- What similar offers are popping up?
- What messaging is landing (and what’s feeling tired)?
- What’s missing that your audience still craves?

Competitor awareness isn’t about comparison—it’s about context. It helps you position your brand powerfully and avoid launching something that feels like more of the same.

Ask: Where does my offer fit in? And how does it stand out? What is my differentiation?

3. Conditions

What’s changing in the wider world?

This includes:
- Algorithm updates or platform trends
- Cultural shifts (hello, rising demand for accessibility, sustainability, transparency)
- Economic factors that influence buying behaviour
- Technology like AI that’s changing how people work, search, or communicate

If your business feels like it’s stuck, this might be why. Sometimes it’s not you, it’s the conditions. And when you see them clearly, you can adapt and make empowered choices, not reactive ones.

What Happens When You Skip This?

Honestly? It’s the fastest way to burnout.

You create and create… but hear crickets.

You push harder… but still feel like you’re missing the mark.

You question yourself… when actually, the problem wasn’t you. It was that the context had shifted and you hadn’t noticed.

Evaluating your landscape protects your energy, your confidence, and your growth. It keeps you grounded when things feel shaky. And most importantly, it reminds you that you are the CEO—not just the operator of your business.

Practical Ways to Evaluate the Landscape

Not sure where to start? Try this:

1. Schedule a 3C Check-In monthly or quarterly—don’t wait until you’re stuck.
2. Pick one customer insight tool (poll, DM, email reply) and use it weekly.
3. Keep a competitor folder: not to compare, but to observe.
4. Track one key trend in your industry every month—become the person who sees it coming.

This doesn’t need to be complicated. It just needs to be consistent.

Final Thoughts

You are the visionary of your business. But vision without context leads to misdirection.

Before you make another move, pause and evaluate:
- Who your customers are right now
- What else they’re seeing and buying
- What the world around them is influencing

The clarity you get from this pause? It’s what helps you move with power. With purpose. With joy.

And if you want support to do this well, that’s exactly what we dive into in the 21-Day Strategy Sprint. You’ll get guidance, prompts, and the tools to evaluate your landscape and create a strategic plan that actually works.

So take the pause. Do the scan. And build a business that moves with intention.

You’ve got this.