Is It Too Late To Plan?

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In This Episode

When we get to this time of year, folks will often ask us if it’s too late to plan since this year is almost finished and the next one is about to start.  While this isn’t the ideal time to start your planning for next year, it certainly isn’t too late to start.  In fact, it’s never too late to start your planning.

It’s funny, for the first several years of our coaching practice we would avoid the “P” word.  We knew so many small business owners didn’t like that “plan” word and often didn’t have plans that went beyond today or this week.  What we’ve discovered over the years is that most small business owners want to have a plan, they just aren’t sure how to do it.

You’ve probably seen some business plan templates.  Perhaps you’ve even been given one by your banker or advisor.  It can be pretty intimidating to fill out these forms that create a 30+ page business plan for your business.  The resulting plan itself can also be overwhelming and unwieldy to use.

Instead we’ve created our 7 Keys to Success to help guide small business owners how to plan their and also use that plan to run their business.  It’s a lot easier to utilize your plans that are user-friendly and focused on activities.  If you’re looking to jump start your planning for next year, start with the following pieces of the Profit Plan:

  • Review the current year-to-date Profit & Loss Statement and Balance Sheet;
  • Set Revenue and Profit goals for next year (just pick these two numbers to start);
  • Lay out some key activities for the first 30, 60, and 90 days of next year to get that plan jump started.

Yes, it can be as simple as this to get started with your plans.  If this is your first time planning it can start simple and small.  As the years go by chances are your planning will become more detailed but don’t start there.  If you’re feeling frisky, try downloading our Sales Forecasting Spreadsheet by clicking here.  It includes an instruction tab to help you get started!

Click Here to download a copy of our Sales Forecasting Worksheet

People, Companies and Resources We Mentioned in the Show

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