The planning process. As a business owner, you know how important it is to set short- and long-term goals and determine how to actually reach those goals with confidence.
Part of that planning comes down to WHAT are your main personal and business goals and WHY? WHAT results do you want to see? WHY and HOW will these goals impact your business?
A good example of planning is what I’ve been in the midst of right now, which is keeping black widow spiders out of my house.
Trimming bushes, keeping leaves away from the foundation, pressure washing and treating the outside and inside of the house are all necessary for the best protection against the spiders. Each step is an important part of the end goal and they all work together. Some things have to be done first, second, third, etc. and each one requires time, equipment, knowledge and maybe even support.
While you might not be dealing with spiders, you are certainly dealing with a web of tasks, each strand taking you to a different goal for your business. Each step builds upon the other to create a cohesive and solid structure and just like my spider process, goals and planning requires time, equipment (software/tech), knowledge (training/classes) and maybe even support (coaches/team.)
Here are four things you can do today to help you in your planning process for the rest of the year and the coming year ahead.
- Revisit your mission and vision. Hey, these change and evolve and they should be your driver for everything. The mission at Done4U™ is helping business owners simplify and automate their systems and processes so they can spend more time on growth. Simple, to the point and effective. If your mission isn’t specific, why? What is missing? How can you reframe it?
- List your top three goals for the year ahead. You can only focus and implement one new goal with its key objectives, strategies and tasks at a time, so prioritizing is a big one here. You can have multiple goals in the process, but your time needs to be allocated to the most urgent items first. While I would love to bake every single day, that isn’t always possible, and when my adult son asks me to bake him ginger cookies, I toss any other things I want to do out the window (at least for the moment) and make ginger cookies! My goal for that day is simple: make my son smile. Your goals are complex, but when you break them down into quarterly objectives and tasks, you and your team can focus on implementation step-by-step until done. A crumbled cookie ends up tasting just as good in the end as the one you eat completely whole.
- Establish a plan. This plan includes your timelines, systems, processes, team, financials, marketing – all of it! Plan in the way that works best for you. There is no wrong answer. I prefer to type out my plan and see it on the screen, but many of my clients prefer to write it in a notebook. As long as the plan is created, it doesn’t matter how you get there.
- Examine your existing services, offers and operations. What is here to stay and what needs to go? I am organizing my house (aren’t we all) and the process of what to keep, what to donate, what to sell and what to trash works for your business, too. Keep the processes that work. Donate/delegate work to your team that needs to get off your plate. Sell the services that benefit your clients and net the best results. Trash whatever is no longer working for you.
If you need support in planning 2023 with more ease, reach out to me anytime.