As you may know, I am a huge proponent of strategic planning.
Strategic planning translates to knowing what projects you will focus on when,
why they are important and then how you will implement each one of the ideas to
bring it into reality. Your strategic plan will help
you get to your vision faster, it will allow you to be more profitable and it
also maintains your sanity in the process of growing your business.
Recently, I reflected that with three businesses to manage, it was time to do
some strategic planning for my own companies…I brought in 2 key team members in
for 2 days of strategic planning, which allowed me to identify some brand new
insights. Here are five of ten insights I gained during this session:
And, oh, by the way, these planning tips work whether for a team of 1 or 100
or whether or your sales goals ranging from 10 thousand to 10 million—these
apply to every entrepreneur’s path.
This week, I am sharing the first three insights, here they are:
- Choose an environment that supports you in being creative,
comfortable and abundant. Make yourself comfortable and surrounded by
abundance. What do you need to create in your world to be comfortable when you
are doing strategic planning?
- Get support. Whether you’re an entrepreneur with a team or
a solo-preneuers doing it on your own, you can get the support you need. If you
do not have a team, find an accountability partner to do your strategic planning
together. If you have a team, and you can afford it, bring them in—having them
physically in the room with you (or even via Skype) it helps your team to have
more ownership and allows them to implement with greater ease.
- Begin with a clear sense of who you are. One of the most
valuable hours of our two days of planning was the very first hour. We took
that time to talk about what was important to us individually and as a team. We
found commonalities and then drew up our list of Corporate Values. I encourage
you to create a “top 10 List of Values” for you personally and in your company.
Commit to getting in action on your strategic plan this week:
- Set up your environment to support you in being creative, comfortable and
abundant.
- Get support—reach out for that accountability partner or get your team
scheduled to gather for your strategic planning session.
- Start with what is important to you…identify your values and those for your
company.