Grow. Develop. Scale. Expand. Profit.
No matter what you call it, growth is probably on your goals list for this year. But to grow in the right way, without losing yourself in the process, takes some planning. If you’ve ever had an exceptionally great month or quarter, you know what I’m talking about. It’s easy to get caught up in the excitement of extra sales or additional client work.
But that’s when it happens. The overwhelm, frustration and feeling like you’re just barely treading water.
That’s why planning ahead and aligning your business for growth is so important.
Know Your Mission, Vision and Values
Without a firm handle on your mission, vision and values, it’s easy to lose sight of them as you grow. Make sure you spend some time sitting with yours and refine them along with creating a few tangible, measurable goals. Developing those goals as you sit with your mission, vision and value helps to ensure you’re moving closer to where you want to be.
Set Realistic Goals
Arbitrary goals based on what you see others doing is a thing of the past. So is that seemingly elusive 6-figure or 7-figure number.
Instead of pulling a number out of thin air, set a financial goal that’s realistic based on where you are in business right now. I like to use Todd Herman’s Good – Better – Best framework. It allows you to set a reachable goal, a stretch goal and a pie-in-the-sky goal.
For non-financial goals, it’s still important to think realistically. If you want to gain more visibility, it’s not realistic to think you’ll be on 50 podcasts or write a weekly blog post if you haven’t already been putting yourself out there.
Reassess Your Offers
It’s difficult to make headway on your goals if you have too much on your plate (Are you pricing too low?) or if you’re overwhelmed (Do you have too many offers?). The simpler, the better, in my opinion.
Narrow your offers to what you’re able to truly do well and focus on that in your business. It will help you get known faster and help you meet your goals without feeling frazzled.
Rank Your Strategic Objectives
Get really clear on what strategic objectives you need to focus on this year. I recommend creating a strategic map and choosing just a few objectives to focus on each month. These should align with your goals, so if one of your goals is to work less, you might want to focus on operations and efficiencies.
Create a Business Calendar
Many of us live and breathe by our calendars, and I’ll bet you’re no exception.
But you need to front-load it with information before you get too far into the year. Start with times you’re personally off or spending less time in your business. Block off days in the summer, your family trips, winter holidays, conferences and other events that will take you away from your business.
Then document any launches or sales that you’ll have. You might need to look back at your offers or programs you’re creating for your audience. Don’t forget to add in the days you’re going to market those offers. Will you host webinars? Offer a free challenge? Do some speaking? Appear on podcasts? Collaborate with another business owner? This gives your team great insight into what’s in your head so they can start to think and plan ahead.
Around these launches and offers, you’ll also want to plan out additional nurturing content, including blog posts, emails and videos–along with all the social media content that goes along with your marketing.
Having all of this in place is no guarantee of growth, but it will ensure that you’re ready when it comes. You’ll have a clear path and the offers and marketing to back it up, and even better your team will be on board with helping you through the rough patches.
Share with your biz bestie