Have you ever gone to the grocery store and forgot to bring your grocery list? You come to the realization that you can’t “wing” the specific recipe you want to cook tonight but you are going to go for it anyway. Can you imagine how this dinner is going to taste? I bet it will taste a lot like your business will run without a solid business plan. Research shows that not having a business plan is one of the biggest reasons businesses fail. Research also shows that having a business plan makes your business about twice as likely to grow. You need a great business plan.I’m going to show you how a proper grocery list will help you win big with your business plan in 3 easy steps.
Keep it Short
Distractions can put you out of business very quickly. Remember the time you went to the grocery store and forgot the ingredient you needed most? Oh, of course you grabbed something else you could’ve probably done without. I’ve seen some very intricate business plans. If your business plan is 40 to 50 pages, how often are you going to review it? If you bring a grocery list with 100 items on it, there is a great chance you may leave an important item at the store.
These 40 to 50 page business plans are set up in the beginning of the year and often never looked at again until next year. What good does that do? What are the odds that you will actually get everything on your grocery list and nothing that wasn’t on it? My motto is simple; if it doesn’t fit on ONE page then you’re not focused enough. I’ve been using the “The One Page Business Plan” by Jim Horan for the last 8 years.
It has completely changed how well I’m able to accomplish the most important goals for my businesses. It’s an easy step by step process for creating a short business plan. Grocery list, check! Having everything down on one page makes it much easier to make sure you’re not leaving anything out and you are laser focused. Your business plan does NOT have to be long for it to be good.
Schedule Reviews
Stop trying to memorize your grocery list. Most of us need to go back and check things off to be sure that we got what was needed. You should be reviewing your business plan regularly. How often should you take a look at your business plan? I have tried weekly, monthly and quarterly and I can tell you that it’s different depending on many factors. Are you just starting out? Is your business mature? A good habit for you to use is start out monthly and see how fast things change in business. If you’re not changing or adjusting anything each time you review your plan, then push it out quarterly.
If you find you are rapidly achieving goals and need to update it more often, increase how often you’re reviewing your plan. A word of caution; it’s a waste of time to look at your business plan every day. I mean, you don’t go to the grocery store every day do you? The most important factor is that you put regular time in your calendar to review it. I usually spend between 30 minutes to one (1) hour reviewing my business plans.
What are you doing during these reviews? Asking yourself the following questions and adjusting accordingly:
Are you doing the activities it takes to reach your goals by the dates listed?
Is there something we’ve been working on that is not productive and needs to be removed? Or something that you believe productive that should be added?
Are there daily/weekly/monthly processes in place for each of my objectives and strategies? Who is going to create them and when if they are not?
Now that we are checking off items from our grocery list, there is an even greater chance that when the stove is turned on, we will have everything we need to make dinner a success!
Show and Tell
Even the people who forget their grocery list remember some of the items that someone else told them was important. “Be sure to pick up the milk for cereal tomorrow morning or I won’t have any breakfast!” You may forget many things without the grocery list but odds are you will remember to at least pick up the milk!
Tell people about your plans. Tell your team, assistant, family and friends. Research says that these people will act as a support group and help with accountability. They will be asking you every now and then about the goals you told them you were working on. It’s the worst feeling telling someone that you’re not trying to reach a goal anymore that you were so excited about at one time. You may need this push when challenges arise in your business.
Get your grocery list together today. It’s vital to your business success. If you are business planning and struggling use the book I mentioned above or contact me and I will help get you on track to business planning success!
Are you a great business planner? What are your business planning successes? Comment below!