Do you have a powerful, detailed program in location for your business? Have you planned ahead, realizing what your finish of year targets are? Never worry for those who have not pretty got the strategy worked out – support is at hand! The guidelines within this report should really provide you with extra clarity.

Several compact organization owners might be a little reactive with regards to deciding what to perform next. We often look at the brief term and what is correct in front of us. And frequently, even if we make a program, it ends up gathering dust on a shelf and we never revisit it.  I’ll be honest with you – I used to fall into this category! I was really good in the year end objectives and having a weekly plan, but I wasn’t looking in the six monthly, quarterly and monthly picture. And just as importantly I didn’t look far enough ahead.

When you want a compelling vision for your business enterprise that will pull you forward, then looking further into the future to three and five years is vital. A spell of a year simply isn’t long enough to get you thinking “out of the box”. The danger here is that unless you go for a longer term vision, this year could end up looking like a carbon copy of last year.

Once you’ve worked out your year finish program it pays to do six monthly, quarterly and monthly plans to break things into bite sized, manageable chunks.

It’s sounds simple – but it’s not easy! It takes discipline and planning to remember to revisit you plan! So to save time – try using the one I’ve developed:

Appear further ahead than just this year – where do you want to be in three years time? Or even in 5 years’ time? This longer stretch of time can really assist you to think bigger. Never be concerned too much about the “how” within this longer term vision – use long term planning to let you see what might be possible for the enterprise.

Get really clear on your year end ambitions. Make them realistic and measurable yet a bit of a stretch. Your longer term vision may  aid you develop brand new objectives.

Devise headings that work for the small business – for instance: earnings, number of new clients, new products developed, networking events attended, speaking engagements booked etc. The main thing is to create measurable targets.

Take a examine your current enterprise model – is it still working for you or are there changes you want to make this year? For instance, maybe you want to accomplish less traveling , or you want to add new products or services. Perhaps like me you are planning to make your business much more virtual this year by doing a lot more work by telephone and on the web. Maybe you want to make a day a week when you work “on” your business and devote time to enterprise development and marketing strategies – these vital tasks that get pushed into the background when we’re busy. Take some time to really think about what you want your typical working week and month to appear like.

Once you’re happy with your year finish objectives, start to work backwards. “Reverse engineer” your year. What needs to happen at the six month point of the year for your strategy to succeed? Then do the same exercise for each quarter. Carve your year up into manageable project chunks.

Then you’re ready for the monthly targets and more detailed plans. You can take this planning proper down to the weekly and finally, the daily level. However – never overwhelm yourself by trying to perform weekly plans too far ahead. Just remember to revisit your strategy regularly – even diary in appointments with yourself to work on it so it gets done.

I once heard this about planning and it’s so true: “We overestimate what we can get done in a week and we underestimate what we can get done in a year!”

Make regular planning a priority and you’ll end the year closer to your ambitions and much more productive.