Every business needs a plan
Ghouls and ghosts have got nothing on the spookiest thing that happens each Halloween: The Holiday Time Warp begins. You know the feeling – one day you’re carving pumpkins, then before you know it you’re swearing off sugar and peering into the daunting abyss of the New Year.
If you run a consumer-facing business, the holiday season is a great time to rake in the sales while your customer celebrates and indulges, but it’s easy to fall behind on behind-the-scenes work. By the time you’ve tallied up year-end financials and are starting to think about what to accomplish for the year, it’s already 20% gone!
You need a plan, and you need it soon
Planning is an essential skill for business, whether you’re in the throes of an early start-up or aiming for another year of profitable growth. However, it can be challenging to find the time, with the daily operation constantly elbowing its way in. There will always be some task or to-do clamoring for your immediate attention, luring you into putting off planning for another day. But here’s the secret: planning actually saves time. So, take control of your business by proactively integrating planning into your priorities this quarter.
What do we mean by “business planning?”
While there are various levels and cycles of planning, the one we’re focused on here is your annual planning process. Once a year, you should reflect on your business’s performance in relation to the long-term vision, assess developments in the external landscape, reevaluate your business strategy, and set your direction and goals for the coming year. I’ll cover more details on what’s included and how to approach this process in a later post.
Why planning beats winging it
Improvising is lovely if you’re playing jazz, cooking Friday night dinner, or chatting with a friend. However, it will ultimately hurt your business to operate without a structured plan. The main reason is, you’ve got limited resources! Whether that’s capital to invest, physical space, cash to pay employees and suppliers, or most importantly, your own precious time, you can’t afford to waste these valuable resources.
You might be thinking, “how is doing extra work going to help me do less work?” Because you want to pick the RIGHT work. Rather than just being busy all day long, responding to whatever phone call or broken piece of equipment presents itself, you need clarity on what’s most important for your business. This way, you can plot the critical steps to get where you need to be, and allocate your time and attention accordingly. Making these tough choices up front offers several benefits:
Smart resource allocation: Make sure your time, money, and people-power are put to the most effective uses.
Improved decision-making and team engagement: A clear plan and effective communication around it will help everyone make aligned decisions with less back-and-forth. This is the key to freeing up founders or COOs from entanglement in daily tasks that should ultimately be owned by other team members.
Long-term stability and growth: Regular planning, reflecting, and adjusting will create greater consistency and stability in your business, reducing chaos and helping you achieve financial success that is sustainable.
A good plan sets you up to be more flexible
“Wait, but won’t that pin me in?” A plan is simply a hypothesis, not an inviolable commitment. A good plan will actually INCREASE your flexibility, because it makes you specify your expectations – if you know how you think things should go, then something different happens, you’re more likely to notice. A good plan provides the framework for making thoughtful adjustments when unforeseen challenges arise. They key is planning at the right level – you’re not going to script your every move for the year, but you are going to be clear on the outcomes you want, and the indicators that will help you see that you’re making progress.
Don’t wait until January to lay the groundwork for a successful 2024 plan. Start this fall to allow for more reflection, team involvement, and iteration, so you feel prepared when that giant, glittery ball drops.
Contact Growing Wild today to learn how we can guide you through a less painful, more effective annual planning process!