My fave new business system that I made up but love (soundbite)
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We know planning isn’t everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s super important if you want to grow your business. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, how can you expect to end up where you want to?
That’s why in this week’s episode of Marketing + Margaritas, Jade goes over how she tackles business planning. If you’re in a hurry and want the Cliffs Notes, we’ve popped them below:
Create a plan – Figure out where you want to go + what goals/objectives are going to get you there!
Purpose – Why do you exist, what makes you want to have a business? What would you like to achieve as a business owner?
Identify – What’s happening in your industry? What issues are your clients facing that you can help with?
Product/Services – What are your key products or services?
People – What strengths do we have as a team? Who are your suppliers + are you making the most of these professional relationships?
Profit – Is what we’re doing financially viable?
Plan – Jot down your goals on a timeline. Short term goals help with momentum but it’s good to add a couple of long term goals as well. Need to find that balance!
Organise your strategy – Once you have thought out strategy, commit it to paper. Get it all down in a document, and file it accordingly. Jade’s preference is simple – in her “Management” folder, there is a “Strategy” folder – and each year also gets a folder, which includes the annual business plan doc. Plus, any ongoing work around your strategy – eg launch plans for new products, setting up your marketing plan etc – can all live in that folder as well. Easy to find, easy to use.
List out your goals – Now that you have your plan + everything is all organised, it’s time to put it into action. Pick your first priorities for the year and break them down into smaller steps – what do you want to accomplish in the first quarter, to achieve that bigger goal? Jade writes these onto separate sticky notes and puts them up in her office in a kanban style under three headings – Upcoming, WIP and Done. The more granular the steps the better. Constantly ticking things off helps you build momentum to achieve more!
Regular check-ins – So you’ve got your plan, it’s all laid out and you’ve delegated things out for the short + long term. Next, you have to hold yourself accountable. Schedule weekly + monthly check ins with yourself to see how you’re progressing. Do some goals need to be changed/reprioritised? Are some tasks not working as you thought they would? These check-ins are what keep you on track + allow for course corrections if things do go off book.
What do you think? Has this inspired you to create/update your business plan? If you have implemented some or all of the above steps, we’d love to hear from you.
Alternatively, if you want to know more about how Jade tackles business planning, please let us know! That goes for any topics for Marketing + Margaritas – if there’s something you want to know more about, send it through.