It’s that time of year when we are coming up towards New Year’s and everything you hear is about resolutions, planning ahead, goal setting, etc.
Because of that, I thought today I’d just talk about how do you plan. Now I am going to assume that you do plan because you need to be.
I have read lots and lots about successful people and it is very helpful to read and be inspired by successful people. Don’t get envious of what they have done. Don’t think, “Oh I can’t do that”.
They all started somewhere but they have certain traits, certain little attitudes, certain qualities and you probably have these.
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Now, one of them, and I have never seen anything else, is that successful people not only have goals but they have written goals and they have a specific system for achieving goals and for tracking goals and for coming up with new goals.
So, that’s the thing I would love is for you to get more interested in planning.
But how do you do it? I can only tell you how I do it and trust me I have tried lots of lots of ways and I have read lots of books on it and I have heard lots of advice, podcast and other things from people far smarter than me on how to do it.
But I have then applied and perfected it down to what works for me at the moment. Of course that will change over time but it’s working very well at the moment. So, this is what I do.
First of all I have long term goals. I know what I want in life and I mean long term, for the rest of my life. And No, it’s not to be a millionaire, win the lottery, or anything like that.
They are very specific. For instance money — I would like to be able to earn more than I need for spending.
Now that’s not very specific because how can I know how much that will be? I don’t have expensive taste. I have had a boat, I have had new cars, I have had a home abroad but I don’t need a yacht and things like that.
I know what I need and as long as the amount I earn is more than goes out, so therefore it continues to grow and whether I am working or not by the way then that’s good enough for me.
Also I want my children to be proud of me and to remember me for making a difference in lives of others. Things like that.
There are a couple of others. You’d be bored with them. But that’s lifetime goals. From that, I work back to three years.
So what would I need, where would I need to be in three years’ time to get to those lifetime goals? So, I write down five specific goals.
Now personally I only record business goals. A lot of people record personal goals, health goals, spiritual goals, there are many things, you can go into a lot of detail but I find a lot of other things fall into place once I am happy in business.
Now fortunately for me I work a lot. I have more than one business and they are in a growth phase so I work a lot to get to the point where I don’t have to.
I think that will work out eventually. So I have three year goals then I have one year goals.
Now those one year goals are reverse engineered from three years. They would be where do I need to be in one year to get to the three year ones.
By the way — I go in calendar years January to December it’s just easier to track.
Once I have those, I then set ninety day, three months or quarterly goals. So I will have goals for January to March, from April to June, July to September etc. and anything more is not worth worrying about.
The ones that one year and three year are less specific but everything is geared towards reaching those.
Then I write down one major project, for a quarter there’s three months (90 days), per month.
Some of these projects may take two weeks. It may be possible that after six weeks I have actually completed all three if so I’ll add another one on.
But I don’t over load it at the start. Now these are my business goals. These are major projects, they could be anything from a new line of products in our fire safety business to other things.
We added a full range of fire alarm products because customers demanded it and we are finally giving it.
It is a major addition, needs a lot of marketing, a lot of updates, stock room, investments etc. But that’s a major project.
It will be made up with lots of little mini projects: getting them onto the website, sourcing suppliers, finding room in the stock- in the warehouse etc.
But that’s a major project that then gets broken down into the tasks that other people can manage.
But those goals, the reason that we will be heading, the way that goal forms something towards my annual project, my one year goal is that there will be a sales growth goal and that will be participating towards that goal.
That’s how it fits in. Now I would have a list of projects as long as my arm. They are on a hidden list so they don’t overwhelm me every day and those major ones are taken from that.
At the end of those ninety days, I will find more major projects and take them from that list and then I will add more and I will add them as things vary.
I will add something else and something else and something else from that long list but only as room appears.
But the important thing is writing them down. Now that’s how it works for me. Anything could work for you. But all I would encourage you is to think about planning. Plan, make, and set goals but don’t make them too difficult.
Make them things that produce significance in your business. Don’t just have goals for instance of hitting 10,000 twitter followers or something like that because they don’t necessarily help your business.
That’s just numbers –what’s it going to do? Have something more significant. Something like, say an engagement rate with your twitter followers, something like that, if that’s what you need.
But go off, go on, sit down, have a think. We’ll be back talking about something more about it tomorrow.
I won’t go on too much about it because a lot of people do it to death. But I want you to just get into the mindset.
Monday Book Recommendation
Now, this is Monday so it’s time for the book for the week. Yes, it’s the holiday season but it’s no different.
Today I have got a book by a British author — a lady called Dee Blick. Now the book is called “The Ultimate Small Business Marketing Guide”.
The reason I like this book is because it covers all aspects of marketing that any small business can use. Dee Blick is a very respected lady.
She’s been around for a while but she has been in the trenches so she explains all about it.
For instance leaflets and fliers and things and projects that she did and implemented for clients and the success that they had and what worked and what didn’t worked and she has examples of them.
It’s like an instructional course on business marketing in same way that Duct Tape Marketing is also one.
But that one is more of an online type than this one. This one covers all aspects of offline. It’s thorough. It’s very very digestible, chapter by chapter.
It’s got to be the best. Well, I don’t know how much it costs like $10, but it will be the best $10 you have spent for your business.
You should have it and you should make sure quite a few of your staff read it. Go read, see what you think.
Now, if you like to get this book for free, here’s an idea — go to iTunes and give an honest review on iTunes.
I would love it if it’s five stars, a lot of them are but I don’t mind — I just need it to be honest. I like feedback.
Once you have done that, if you go back to the website to www.marketingforowners.com/freebook, then we have a little prize for you.
Go see what it says. Go see what that says, then go off to iTunes, give your rating. The links are all there go find. It’s a good Idea, you can get that book for free. I’ll speak to you tomorrow.
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What plans are you making?
