Do You Have a Plan?

It's hard to believe that we are already half way through April and well into the 1st quarter. Did you reach your goals for the first quarter? Are you on track for the 2nd quarter and for reaching your goals for 2014?A lot of times we start off the year with a big bang and lots of great intentions yet if we don't have a plan we often end up not reaching out goals, our sails get deflated and we end up not achieving what we want. Nothing breaks my heart more than to see others not achieve their goals due to simply forgetting to take this essential step.Whether you are just starting a business or you have been in business for years, one of the greatest keys to success is having a plan. Seriously, having a successful and profitable business isn't rocket science but it does require a plan. The simple truth is its nearly impossible to reach your goals; whatever they are (you want to make $1000/month or $100,000/month) it all starts with a plan. I'm sure you have heard the cliché, those who fail to plan, plan to fail. The reason I ask though is that I talk to folks all the time that don't have a sound plan in place to reach their business and life goals.Therefore, I wanted to give you the quick and dirty of putting together a plan so that you can reach your goals fast, with a simple plan.Step 1 - You need to know where you are going. I like to break things down into easy to follow steps and look at plans with a 90 day/30 day /weekly and daily focus. This really helps you to put your plan into action, which is step 3. Look at what you want to achieve in this time frame, do you want to launch a new program? Bring in a certain amount of additional revenue? Do a certain number of speaking gigs? What do you want to accomplish?


Step 2 - What do you need to be/do or have to complete the plan. Do you need to delegate to a team member? Outsource to an expert? What can you do? For instance, if you decide in the next 90 days you want to create a new online program, ask yourself, what do I need to have in place in order to achieve this goal? Who do I need to have on my team or engage to achieve this goal? What software or systems do I need to have in place in order to achieve this goal?Step 3 - Take action - Delegate whatever needs to be delegated and then calendar your plan for the next 90 days, all the way down to the daily level, this will ensure that you know what you are doing each day in order to reach your goals. Lets look at our example again of launching a new online program. You will want to create a list of everything you need to do, everything your team members need to do, what software you need, etc. then you need to attach time frames to these tasks. Once you have a clear plan map it out on your calendar so that you know what action step you need to take each day.