If you follow my regular blogs, you will know that I am very passionate about business planning and how important it is for business growth. After recently shifting back into Beyond CFO full-time, I was given the opportunity to reset and work on my business planning. So, this time around, I am in the hot seat and I thought I would take the time to share how I approach my own business planning process.
I absolutely loved the journey of rediscovering and gaining clarity with my business goals. It has given me a new sense of inspiration which is so important in getting the most out of the business planning process.
Let’s get into it!
Phase 1: Business by design
First things first, I took myself out of the office, grabbed a coffee from my favourite local cafe and sat on a little park bench near the river. I always find that a new environment is a great way to think big during the planning process.
I reflected on how I have managed my workload in the past and how I want to design my working week moving forward. I wrote down how many days I want to work, what hours each day I want to work and what activities I would like to fit into my days off. Having this clarity now gives me the perfect plan for my ideal week, creating an inspiring place to start.
The reality is that we can’t fit as much as we would like to into one week and it’s easy to overflow if you dont set the boundaries from the beginning.
Phase 2: Finding my superpower
Next, I wrote down what I know I can deliver to my clients to help them grow, grouping these into packages. I reflected on the types of businesses that I can provide the most value to, and how I can best support them to grow their business sustainably.
I worked on allocating value-based pricing for each project or monthly ongoing engagement. When I talk about value-based pricing, I am referring to the idea of pricing services based on the value that I bring, rather than thinking of it as exchanging time for money. In my opinion, this is the best way to structure your pricing, to ensure that your business is profitable and your clients are getting the best value too.
Before launching my offers, I verified my packages through market research activities to confirm that there was a demand for my ideas and that they were a great fit for the businesses that I want to support.
Phase 3: Aligning targets to fit with my perfect week
I set myself some targets on what salary I would like to achieve, and then worked backwards to determine how many monthly engagements and projects I would need to deliver to reach this ideal number.
I cross-checked the number of monthly engagements/projects with my ideal week to ensure that all the work could be completed within my new dedicated working week. Once I had everything mapped out, I broke everything down into bite-sized chunks so that I could visually see how I could reach the goals over the next 12 months. This made the goal feel much more achievable and I have my first 90-day sprint of actions and goals to get me started.
Phase 4: Business Development
Once I felt like I had all my planning complete, I let it sit for a day or so to make sure I had everything covered. Sometimes, new ideas float into your mind, so having a day to rest and reset gives you the confidence that nothing has been missed.
Next, I met with a few key trusted business people in my network to talk about marketing, partnerships and promotions. These discussions made me realise that I need to focus on getting in front of the right people at the right time to build my business client base.
What I have learnt over the years is that real success comes from collaboration and supporting each other as business owners. This time, I stepped into getting help early so that I could really focus and build quickly.
Phase 5: Implementation and Growth
Now that I have a simple short-term and long-term plan, I have set goals and a process for how to achieve them, I am dedicated to making this work. This process has given me clarity and I don’t feel overwhelmed which is exactly where I want to be. I’m feeling inspired, and ready to start implementing my actions and celebrating the wins as I see growth in my business.
The best part is that I have reignited my passion for helping businesses. I can feel it shining through all my communication and enabling wonderful beginnings to my business growth. There are so many incredible things that can happen from business planning, all the way from a clear direction to a positive mindset.
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