With 2007 almost over and 2008 waiting behind the door – are you prepared? Have you planned for this new year? Do you know what you’d like to achieve? Both in your personal life and with your business? Did you write it down?
Let’s talk a little about your business plan….(’cause your personal life is just that – personal!).
How did you make the decisions on which next years plan is based? Did you evaluate your business up until now, to see what’s working for you and what’s not? Or are you arbitrarily deciding what you’ll do next year? I hope you are basing it on previous performance of your business plan, coupled with research into what might be a good addition to your current mix – depending on your business goals; from Marketing and Advertising, to Client Follow-up & Retention, Customer Service, Financial Aspects, Expansion and more.
If you haven’t started on your 2008 business plan – now is the time to set it up – to begin the year well prepared, ready to move forward – and not stay in place, repeating last years plan.
Decide what your overall goals are for this coming year – be it income, size, products, services etc. Then break them down into manageable monthly and weekly goals. Decide what you’ll need in order to achieve these goals, what it will take (resources – employees – financial – etc) to implement and what qualifies as short- and what as long-term goal. Then assign the action a place in your plan.
By having your big goals broken down into smaller goals – they become achievable.
What’s that saying? How do you eat an Elephant? One bite at a time.
More info on Business Plans…
SBA - Plan, Start, Manage your Business
Business Plan Guide- by Planware (I have not used this site personally – so input would be appreciated. Thanks.)
Writing a business plan - Bplans
Not sure when and how to get started? See….
10 Ways to Find Time to Plan- by Thinking Business – Doug Platts
Added on to original post on January 1, 2008: Check out the followng post for great info on how to get started and design a workable plan!
The New Year’s Countdown — The 5 Steps to real New Year Resolution Planning - By Matson Breakey
Filed under: Attitude, Business Tips, Client Appreciation, Goals, Small Business Owner | Tagged: Attitude, Business Plans, Goals, Small Business
Excellent Advice. I wrote an article on quickplanner.blogspot.com about looking at resolutions as only a small part of strategic life planning. At QuickPlanner Plus, we have helped our clients use our software to create simple and effective strategic life plans, resulting in a year of completed and achieved resolutions, not repeated regrets.
Matson,
Great post – I added the link in the above post. It is worth starting with and helps to get things done! Thanks!
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