It’s that time again when we reflect on the past year and all that’s happened in our lives.
For business owners, it’s also when you take stock of your business‘s progress, achievements, failures, and the next steps in your business development.
Goal setting plots your path toward tremendous success.
In this post, we’ll look at the importance of annual business planning, how to create a strategic business plan, and goal ideas for your list.
Let’s get started.
I | Plan for Success: The Importance of Annual Business Planning
If you fail to plan, you’re planning to fail.
It’s a cliché, but the sentiment is always relevant. In all aspects of your life, you’ll hit unnecessary roadblocks if you approach a goal with no clear direction of what you want and how to achieve it.
Business planning doesn’t eliminate all obstacles. But a proper plan also outlines alternative routes towards your ultimate goal.
Without a backup, recovering from setbacks will take longer. The longer your business is out of service, the more ground and profit you’ll lose to competitors.
Take the year-end as an excellent opportunity to reflect on where you’re coming from and where you want to go and put together your game plan for a prosperous new year.
Pro Tip: Look at your home insurance while planning for the new year. How much does it cover your at-home business? Do you have special equipment? Inventory? Standard coverage has its limits. Protect your business with adequate protection.
II | Set Your Starting Point
It’s important to reflect on the year past. Often we get so lost in planning for the future we don’t take a minute to assess how far we’ve come. It’s a good boost for those days when you feel like you’re spinning in circles and have achieved nothing.
Planning for the new year shouldn’t overshadow what’s happened in the closing year. Your new plan is building on what you’ve already achieved to avoid repeating old mistakes.
To do this, assess what you’ve achieved so far. Ask yourself:
- What lessons have you learned over the period?
- How have you grown as a business owner?
- Where did you fall short?
- What knowledge do you need to gain?
1. Review your finances.
Start your strategic business plan by reviewing your finances for the past year. Pay close attention to cash flow, operation expenses, and variable costs. Note the dips and spikes in your company revenue caused by seasonal trends and special events.
Learning these patterns will help you plan to take advantage of or lower their adverse effects in the future.
2. Review your business plan.
Even a well-laid plan requires adjustments on the go. Circumstances change, and operational flexibility will keep your company going.
Evaluate the modifications you’ve made in your original business plan. Highlight one-offs in response to a crisis and what successful strategies you can carry into the new year.
3. What are your customers saying?
Gain insight into the hits and misses from customer testimonials. With their comments and feedback, it’s easier pinpointing areas for improvement and what additional products and services they may be interested in.
A successful business sells and markets solutions, not products. Customers have problems and are always looking for someone who can best solve them. Always seek these growth opportunities aligned with the vision of your company.
4. Time for the next step.
Apply a “student” mindset to the assessment of your failures. Don’t chase the rabbit and dwell on the things that fell through the cracks. Reframe them into life lessons.
There is more to learn from failures than from success. Reflections and re-evaluations are part of your personal and business development.
III | Declutter Your Brain
20% of your efforts account for 80% of your success.
– The Pareto Principle.
Determining that 20% starts with decluttering your mind. Create three lists:
- For the things you need to do
- The actions you should be doing
- Those you want to do.
Use the information you gathered from the steps above and expand on them.
Don’t overthink this step. You’re emptying everything swirling around in your head on paper. Think long-term goals, short-term goals, and even goals tied in with your retirement. List them all and be lofty.
While you’re at it, toss in a few that’ll help you with work-life balance. All work and no play will leave you stressed and burned out before you reach month six. Your health is a vital investment in your business. Include professional development and growth goals on your list.
In later steps, we’ll whittle down the list, determine which ones are more realistic within specific timeframes, and eliminate useless tasks.
IV | Develop a Strategic Business Plan for the New Year
1. Prioritize your list and choose your focus.
Out of the items on your need, should, and want list, highlight the following:
- Short-term priority steps that move you towards your vision. These tasks are essential and urgent, topping your list for immediate action.
- Long-term priorities that are essential for your progress. These tasks are important but not urgent and require scheduling for a later date.
- Things that aren’t important but still require attention. These tasks are not essential but urgent, and you can delegate them to someone else.
Ignore the other items on the list outside of these three.
With your prioritized list, you know the goals you need to focus on first. Start by choosing twelve you want to expand and concentrate on as you start your new-year business planning.
2. Know your ‘why’ and measure the success of your business goals.
The best goals are:
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Achievable
R – Relevant
T – Time-based
Be realistic as you set your goals and milestones. Goal setting is valuable if it relieves rather than causes your distress. Dream big, yes, but be mindful of the limits, whether they are permanent or temporary.
Often, the goals we set aren’t the problems but the unrealistic expectations we harbor.
Set your performance metrics to determine if you’re hitting your targets.
For example:
If you want to increase your email subscriber list, don’t leave it at ‘Increase emailing list.’ Attach a numbered milestone for good, better, and best results. Then your goal becomes ‘Add 100/200/300 subscribers to my email list.’
This is a measurable goal. So if at the end of the quarter you have 250 subscribers, you know you almost hit your best results, and you can celebrate. If you missed the mark of 100, then you know your original plan needs fixing.
Also, decide why you want the goals you selected. Are you striving for greater financial security? Or perhaps you want to grow your side hustle into a full-time income and leave your current job.
Consider the why, as it will help you push through the days when you require motivation.
Solid goals + measurable markers = success
3. Manage your time.
You have twelve months to achieve all you’ve set out to take your business and yourself to the next level. But you can’t do all the things all at once. Split your year into groups of three months.
- January + February + March = Quarter 1
- April + May + June = Quarter 2
- July + August + September = Quarter 3
- October + November + December = Quarter 4
Breaking down your year into three-month sections or quarters leaves you with less wiggle room to procrastinate. The less time you have to say, “meh, I’ll do it later,” the higher the chance of you getting things done. It keeps you focused and sets a little fire on the seat of your pants.
The quarters also aid you with effectively scheduling goals, projects, and tasks.
Realistically, how many goals on your master list can you complete each quarter? A nice sweet spot is aiming for three.
Big goals break down into projects, and projects break down into daily tasks. The aim is to keep things manageable and straightforward.
Let’s look at an example.
Period: January–March
1st Quarter: Add 100/200/300 subscribers to my email list.
January Goal: Build/Remodel Website + Create Opt-ins
February Goal: Blog + Social Media
March Goal: Collaborations for cross-platform expansion
Under each goal, you’ll have projects.
For January’s goal of Build/Remodel Website + Create Opt-ins, your project list may look like this:
- Create/Refresh branding
- Build/Remodel website
- Create newsletter
- Create an opt-in for newsletter sign-ups
Each of the four requires smaller actions to complete them. These are the tasks you’ll schedule in your weekly planning.
4. Make business planning a year-long habit.
Goal setting is ongoing. Those you set at the top of the year can change, along with the projects and tasks you outlined. Think of the initial plan as a draft or a starting point.
Review the initial plan at the beginning or the end of each quarter. Drop what isn’t working, strengthen what is, and brainstorm new ideas. Don’t waste time, money, and energy on things that aren’t working. Be it a service/product, business relationship, supplier, contractor, etc.
Note the goals you’ve missed from the quarter and why.
Evaluate, adjust, and plan for better results. Determine what you’ll migrate into the coming quarter and what you’ll set aside for now.
V | Business Goals for Small Businesses
1. Business Promotion and Marketing
Don’t leave building your client list to chance encounters. Your business grows with your client base. Too often, small business owners allow this task to drop to the bottom of their to-do list.
Hire out your marketing efforts or schedule the time and create a marketing plan on your own. For starters, include social media, your website, and offline strategies like business cards and fliers.
As a small business, money is always a defining factor. But it’s not an excuse not to get out there and push your business to new clients. There are many low-cost ways of promoting your business on a limited budget.
Take Control of Your Branding
And as you promote your business, remember you are the face of your brand. If you provide quality service but lack interpersonal skills, you’re losing out. Clients want to make long-term connections. It eliminates the tedious learning pains of adjusting to a new personality.
Consider yourself as a critical marketing strategy. How can you use your personality to promote the values and mission of your business? A bit of yourself should be in every marketing copy you put into the world. Clients who work with you should find your message authentic and consistent.
2. Networking
Talking to people who understand the difficulties of running a business offline or online can offer you well-needed insights. Nothing’s more motivating than hearing how others in your position overcome similar obstacles like the ones you face. They offer hope that you, too, can achieve your best.
And then there is the inspiration factor. Spark new ideas by brainstorming or chatting about your business with other business owners. Tapping into the collective knowledge base of your network is a gold mine. Take advantage of it.
Creating a network and becoming part of the business community will make finding project collaborators easier. But remember, as you take from them, give of yourself. Successful networking thrives on reciprocity and genuine connections.
3. Mental Health and Self-Care
It may sound like an odd addition to the list, but a healthy work-life balance is essential to running your small business.
Make a habit of clocking out and designating time for you, your family, and your friends. Working nonstop drains you. A tired mind is not a sharp one, and the success of your business hinges on you being on your A-Game.
4. Business Development Activities
While planning out the goal markers for your business, you’ll see where you need additional knowledge. Sometimes, you can and should outsource the task to qualified professionals, but up your skill level whenever possible.
Take free and paid courses, attend seminars, read books, and speak with a business consultant or coach. Engage your networking circle and talk to others with similar interests and experiences.
There are so many ways you can build up your skill set. Explore the ones that work best for you. Expanding your knowledge base will increase your chances of success.
VI | Your Mindset Matters for Business Success
Success begins in your mind, and it’s powered by your resolve to achieve.
If you approach your goal setting obsessing about all the things that could go wrong or seeing your dreams through a defeatist lens, it makes no sense even starting.
Honestly, if you think you will fail before you’ve started, you will. One, you won’t bother putting in the time and energy because, in the back of your mind, it’s already a waste. And two, you’ll only see problems, not solutions. What you focus on is what you empower.
Focus on failure—you empower your failure.
Focus on success—you empower your success.
It’s a simple life equation.
Conclusion
Start the New Year with an eye on taking your business to the next level. But it’s not enough to dream about it, take action. Plan. Execute. Evaluate.
- Set your starting point by reflecting on the past year and evaluating your current business strategy. Are there are any gaps and weaknesses? What did you do right?
- Declutter your mind with a brain dumping session and list the things you need to do, the things you should be doing, and the things you want to do. 20% of your efforts account for 80% of your success. Taking this step will help you determine those ‘20% tasks.’
- Develop a strategic business plan for the new year. Prioritize your list and focus on those that fuel the vision of your business. Set SMART goals and manage your time. Make planning and reevaluating a habit throughout the year.
