Business planning for the upcoming year is no small task. It takes some dedicated time and focus to get it out of your head and detailed out.
Many of us have been guilty in the past of thinking that since we have the plan stored away in the cavernous recesses of our brains that we’re set; it’s good enough. I’ve done it myself. After all, we can download whatever we need whenever we need it, right?
Wrong.
Business Planning – The Value of Getting it Out of Your Head
The reality is that we tend to get so caught up in the day-to-day operations of our businesses, our launches, our client work, creating, marketing, and the unexpected, that the plans that are in our heads easily fall by the wayside just like the cigarette butt of a chain smoker on a road trip.
Aren’t our businesses worthy of more than that?
Then there is the other problem that results from not getting our plans out of our heads and onto paper (I like paper but I also use my trusty right-hand computer).
If you have a team implementing your business plans, that in-your-head, last-minute, throwing-spaghetti-at-the-wall-hoping-it-sticks, reactive mentality just…doesn’t…work.
Oh sure, you’ll probably have some successes but you could’ve had way more if you had a proper plan in place. And, you could’ve made more money by saving on your labor cost because of efficient execution. Aaaannd, if you have a team you want to keep, working with insufficient planning is frustrating and stressful; they may not be down for that for the long-term.
So, wouldn’t you like to have all your plans laid out and working together like the instruments in a symphony?
Business Planning – 5 Tips to Help You Get Started
Here are 5 tips to make your annual planning a little bit easier.
- Start early. Try to get it done as early as September. The last few months of the year are going to be busy. You may not get it done if you wait.
- Know yourself. Know how you like to plan. Do you like to think it through by yourself and get a framework together before you meet with team members or your business consultant? Or do you prefer doing a big creative brain dump with them in one sitting? Do what works for you.
- Set aside about 4 hours. It’ll take about 4 hours to get your year planned out in all the ways that you want. It’ll take more if you want your Business Manager or Project Manager to lay it all out to the smallest detail, like your launch plans, for example, or your speaking engagement processes. These details don’t have to put together at this time, but it surely makes launches run much smoother.
- Don’t do it all yourself. You may be able to do all this yourself, but the wisdom of the crowd can’t be undervalued.
- Keep it all together. I like to keep these types of plans in one place. It just saves time.
If you’d like some assistance in putting your annual business plan together, click here to schedule a session to get the process started or email me at: starr@starroldorff.com.