Trending
Having coached thousands of business owners and professionals to formulate their business plans, strategic plans, and marketing plans , we have found that the core components of all those plans always end up centered around five elements: Where, Why, What, How, & Who; and then they activate their plan with the sixth element of Believing.
"Planning is bringing the future into the present so that you can do something about it now." ~ Alan Lakein
- Have a compelling future. Here are key questions to help you get clear. Where is your business headed over the next 3-5 years and what do you want it to look like when you get there? What will your revenues be? What business are you really in? What uniquely qualifies you to succeed? What geography, demography, market, and niche do you serve? Who is your ideal client?
- Know why your business exists. Why are you in business? What do you do better than any of your competitors and how do your ideal clients benefit from you doing so? What do you want to be known for and by who?
- Inspect what you expect. Over the next 12 months, what do you want more of in your business and what do you want less of? What are the top six things you will measure and track that must get done?
- Know how you’ll get it done. What are the specific and focused strategies you will carry out to achieve your goals and objectives?
- Know who is doing what by when to get things done. Formulate tactical action plans with roles, assignments, and accountability. Get it on your calendar and the calendars of your key people.
- Believe it & you’ll see it. Invest 5 minutes every single day to review your Business Acceleration Plan. Visualize and feel what it will feel like having already achieved your ultimate vision. Doing so will stimulate the creation of impulses that will drive your behavior to realize your goals. Tie in the "must get done" tasks and action items to your calendar. Then, with each day, work and play off your calendar, keeping at the forefront of your mind and heart, the vision of your compelling future. Doing this will create a vacuum that will pull you through any adversity.
- Taking the time to focus and get clear in these six areas will provide the clarity, certainty, and confidence needed to increase your capacity so you can grow your business with more focus and ease.For best results block a half day and unplug to create your plan. Conduct your planning in a setting that inspires you and is away from the office or your home. You will tend to have more creative thinking while enjoying the view of a beach, the majesty of the mountains, or any setting free of the encumbering familiar stacks of work, chores, possible clutter, and disrepair. Play your favorite music.Professionals that make it a habit to review their plan on a regular basis and continually calibrate it, based on what they learn and are exposed to every day, make the most rapid advances in the growth of their business. This may sound simple and it is. However, it is not all that easy with all the distractions and demands of our time.The moment the ink dries on your plan, it is obsolete. It is a dynamic organic document. You must build the habit of review and calibration."Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face." ~ Mike TysonAs important as it is to have a plan, the real benefit of having a plan is having gone through the focused and elevated strategic thinking that comes about as a result of formulating the plan. This critical thinking affects your awareness and impulses to do and not do certain things that will contribute to the growth of your practice.When you do get punched in the face with rejection, let down or disappointed, take the time to think about how to remedy it and plan for avoiding it or moving beyond it next time. The continual calibration magnifies your receptivity to what's needed to grow exponentially.
This week continue to celebrate your freedom by staying focused on what you want, creating a plan to achieve it, and celebrate the small wins along the way.
Make it up, make it fun, and get it done!
Related: Growing Your Advisory is All About Cultivating Relationships