Business owners always start with the intention of doing effective business planning, but here’s the honest truth I see time and time again when working with micro-business owners.
Effective business planning doesn’t fail because people don’t try. It fails because they try to plan everything at once, without a clear focus.
This is the first in a series of three articles. In this article I want to help you get the mindset right before you touch spreadsheets, templates, or targets.
In the second article, “Practical Business Planning: 4 Essential tips to ensure business growth” I talk about how you can break your business down into clear areas that enable you focus on achieving the main goal.
In the final article of the series “How to use 90-day planning to achieve your business goals“, I give practical advice on how you break your goals down into bite sized strategic and tactical chunks.
Tip 1: Effective business planning starts with 1 main goal
Before you think about marketing plans, new services, or shiny ideas, stop and ask yourself:
What is the single most important outcome I want from my business this year?
For many people, this could be:
- A sales growth target
- A revenue figure
- A consistent monthly income
- Or even freeing up more time while maintaining income
This is your anchor goal. Everything else you plan should support this one outcome. because you are measuring it, you’ll directly see the impact of the improvements you are making.
Tip 2: Break your business into clear areas
Next, take a step back and look at your business as a whole. Most micro-businesses can be broken into areas such as:
- Sales
- Revenue
- Marketing
- Operations & Processes
- Time
When planning feels overwhelming, it’s often because everything is mixed together.
Separating your business into clear areas helps to bring clarity.
Tip 3: Make every goal support the main Anchor Goal
Here’s the part most people miss.
For each area of your business, ask: “What needs to improve here to help me achieve my main goal?”
If your main goal is revenue growth:
- Sales goals should focus on conversion and confidence
- Marketing goals should focus on visibility and leads
- Operations goals should focus on freeing up your time
If a goal doesn’t support the main goal, it’s a distraction — not a priority.
Business Boost Academy training
If you found this article useful, you could access the full training on business planning we have on Business Boost Academy. Click here for your 7-day free trial.
Also, if you’d like to find out more about business planning, have a look at the business planning page on the website.
And if you’d like to hear more from small business owners, we have a free podcast you can access through our YouTube channel
Finally, if you’re planning a business and you’d like a conversation, send me an email at steve@businessboostacademy.co.uk and we can arrange a chat.