The Power of Planning
As many of you know, Business Coaches like to ask a lot of questions. So as we approach the title of this month’s article for Keys to Business Success, I will be asking some questions for you to think about.
What determines the success or failure of a business? How many of you believe that the reason that the businesses in our community are closing is because of the economy? How many of those businesses planned for this economic downturn? How many of those businesses had a business plan? How many of those businesses had a budget and volume projections? How many of those businesses depended on the housing segment for a high percentage of their revenue?
A recent US Department of Commerce study found that overall only 6% of US business owners said they had a business plan. (My hat off to you if you are in that group that plans!) However, since only 4% of new businesses in the US survive over 10 years, wouldn’t it be great to know what they do differently? According to the Department of Commerce, 80 % of this so called 4% club of business owners said they have a business plan and regularly follow it.
The first step of planning is to believe that it will make a difference in your time management. We teach our clients to first start with a realistic daily calendar that has ‘default’ areas to work on various important but not urgent tasks. What are the three core tasks that you could complete today that would drive your business forward? What is the highest and best use of your personal time? Are you still picking up supplies from the office supply store? What is it that only you can accomplish? Do you still believe that there are many things that only you can do? What is it that you do really well and that would make a difference in your business right now? If you are the craftsman or relationship salesperson of your business get out there and do it!
Having a plan and executing that plan and measuring the results is the single biggest difference in highly successful businesses.
Studies have shown that by having a plan it is easier to overcome procrastination. One minute of planning will save you up to 10 minutes in execution of the plan. Imagine what it would feel like if each day when you arrive at work, you would know exactly what you were supposed to do? So if you spent a minimum of four hours to work on your business say in a Quarterly Planning session with a business professional, you could save 2,400 minutes of your life. That’s 160 hours per year! What would you do with that time away from your business?
If you would like to learn more about how this might apply to your business, let’s talk:
