A Plan For Your Business

Our ability to change is critical to being able to adapt to the variety of new circumstances we continually face. Change is in fact the foundation of evolution and it is also integral to us being able to leverage our creativity and desire to make improvements.

You probably started off with a plan for your business but then you may have never kept it up to date. It shouldn’t be a SURPRISE that your business is stuck in what it is, rather than ever becoming what you want it to be.

Why do you absolutely need a plan for your business?

• When you make a plan, it requires you to consolidate and refresh your thoughts, desires and aspirations which in turn rejuvenates your focus and your passion.
• A plan is critical to being able to share information with your customers, staff and suppliers; everyone you need to share your plan with as part of your business for filling your vision.
• Even in unpredictable times a plan helps you to stay on your path aligned with your own thinking and decision-making processes.

The elements are simple, so don’t let it get complicated. If you haven’t currently got a written plan, or if it has been a year since you updated it, this short article is a must for you. For a lot of people, this current situation is demanding all of their attention and not surprising. But setting some longer-term objectives generates hope and allows you to reset your focus. It creates a totally different mindset from just trying to get by or survive. With the current increased levels of uncertainty and now having embraced our second lockdown, it might be easy to decide it is all too hard. Some of you will say, I don’t want to own my own business anymore. But in all my time as a business consultant and coach, I haven’t heard anyone with a clear vision and a written plan ever say that.

So that is why I know for certain the key to maintaining a positive mental attitude, giving your staff hope and leading your way through this is to create a great plan for your business.
I recommend you write down the answers to these three questions, to help you get started:

• Why did I start my business and is that still relevant?
• What do I need and want from my business now and in one year’s time?
• In four years, what would I like my business to look like and to be able to do for me?

These questions are to help you reconnect with your more objective self, whilst at the same time acknowledge you also have current demands. Just around the corner is a great opportunity that you can only see if you have the right mindset to find it.

If you are having trouble accepting this advice, I suggest you get yourself a copy of Who Moved My Cheese? by Dr. Spencer Johnson. This tiny book has sold more than 28 million copies and is a simple parable that reveals profound truth. It is an amusing and enlightening story of four characters who live in a maze and look for cheese to nourish them and make them happy.

Cheese is a metaphor for what you want to have in life – whether it is a good job, a loving relationship, money or possession, health or spiritual peace of mind. The Maze is where you look for what you want – the organisation you work in, or the family or community you live in.

This incredible book will help you anticipate, adapt and enjoy change such that it will change your life.

It is worth keeping a couple of copies of this book on hand to give to a staff member or a good friend that needs a bit of help or is feeling things piling up.

Now, back to writing a plan for your business.

There are a number of free template’s that can be useful but they can be overwhelming. There are three key requirements and I strongly recommend you write them down in as much detail as possible, in this order:

• What you want your business to look like three years from now?
• What does your current business look like? (stick to the facts – no speculation of how bad it could be in three or four months)
• List everything that you need to do to move your business from your now list to your future list.

Reorder all the things on your list in order of importance and urgency. Tackle them in that order, try to limit the number of things you are working on immediately to five or six with anything more than that delegated to someone else or left to wait. It is better to get fewer things done faster and build momentum than have too many things on the go but nothing ever being finished.
Share your business plan with your staff and get good at recognising and asking for help.