I was asked recently what plan I had to keep my business moving forward. I explained to the inquirer that I take a section of my plan each quarter and review it. My schedule is:

first – services offered,
second – financial planning,
third – marketing and promotion and
fourth – education plan.

However, it is not that I revise my plan; it is that I have a game plan to do so. These are the five tasks I include when updating and revising my business plan.

1. Write it out –You are more accountable when your goals are on paper. It is hard to forget what your goals are when in black and white. Also, post them somewhere prominent where you will be forced to look at them daily.
2. Make realistic –Nothing will give you failure faster than being unrealistic. This year my goal is to increase clients by adding 2 retainer accounts to my business. This may seem small to some however, I just added my second and now I am on to achieve my third. By being realistic, this allowed me to have met and now exceed my goal.
3. Make specific – Pick a number or date, something that you can actually vision. When I reviewed my marketing plan, my goal was to become a better blogger.  I strive to write and post two articles per week. Without a concrete number I was sporadic in posting and had no direction to achieving constancy.
4. Be flexible (willing to change scope) – The best way to achieve a goal is to be able to adapt to your surroundings. My education goal was to take a class on writing. However, the class was not offered.  I then took advantage of another class that was geared to a new service I will be offering. I flipped my goals to hone my new service skills and will take the writing course later on.
5. Consult with experts/colleagues for input – This year I decided that I would also take advantage of the great seminars and workshops in my area. I talked with some colleagues to see what offerings were being scheduled and if they were topics I could benefit from. I am surrounded by these wonderful, knowledgeable people why not take advantage of it.

You do not need to have 50 pages, but you should have a plan of action in writing.  This will hold you accountable to keep you on task and on time to achieving your goals.

All the best,

Lee Drozak ~ My Office Assistant