Did you know you can plan your way out of business? Sounds stupid, right? Well, it’s not – believe me I know. I’m an EXPERT Business Planner!!!! Problem is, I haven’t always been great at the execution.
If I could add up every moment I spent ‘planning’ and not ‘doing’ and got paid $1 for every planning minute – I’d probably be able to retire.
Not anymore. I’m a reformed Business Planner.
What does that mean???????
Well, it means I now plan, but I also action.
Some people Action themselves to success and others Plan themselves to failure. The art is in the balance.
Can you create a successful business without planning? Sometimes, but as we’ve all heard before – you have to know where you are going in order to get there.
I believe you must have a Business Plan of some kind. I’m not talking the 500 page tomb that we were taught to create in Business School. These usually took us months to create, looked really fancy pants, and then sat on a bookshelf never to be looked at again.
These days I teach my clients the Smart Not Hard Business Plan. It’s only a couple of pages and it covers things like your short term and long term goals and business vision.
You need to allow your Business Plan to change as you and your business does. It can also change when family and social stuff means you want to – you might not want to take over the world in the next 6 months, when you discover you’re pregnant for example.
This is what I currently have in my plan……
- a BHAG that fits with my vision
- 12 month goals
- 6 month goals
- 3 month goals
- 1 month goals
- 1 week goals
- tasks that fit with each goal, assigned to someone in my team (or me)
- a master calendar that has all the projects, tasks, goals, availability etc
- a financial table that gets checked off each week, to see how on target we are
Within the Smart Not Hard Business Plan, I also have allowances for education, seminars, travel etc. It’s like my Show Stopping Business and Life Bible (oops will I get in trouble for saying that?).
I suggest re-visting your business plan whenever there is a hiccup, if you change your mind about something or if an opportunity comes your way. For example, I have added something into my plan for the next 6 months, because a business opportunity came my way this morning after speaking to another business…….don’t shut the door on opportunity if you can fit it in and it aligns with your big vision. Slam the door really hard though, if it’s just a distraction!!!!
Have fun planning, but don’t forget, as Michelle Bridges says ‘J.F.D.I’!!!! If you need a translation it’s Just F’ing Do It….its my new motto.