I was talking to a Founding 50 and Gold Member a few hours ago... and... we both agreed that so many people simply snooze through work after Thanksgiving and through December.
People are in a festive Christmas mood -- shopping, going to parties, planning their events -- the work stuff seems to take a back seat.
As business owners and entrepreneurs, we don't have such a luxury. We plow ahead regardless of the season, regardless of the time, regardless of what everyone else is doing. We have revenues to generate.
However, I do think the lull in business (unless you have a retail business) is a good opportunity to do something extremely important:
Start Planning for Next Year!
There's no better time than the present.
1. Don't forget about Q4.- Even though 2019 is coming to a close, you want to finish December and the 4th quarter of 2019 strong.
2. Review the past year - What were your strongest 2-3 things, what were the weakest 2-3 things. How can you improve?
3. Dust off your vision - Even though you're planning for the next 12 months, how does that work with you long-term goals?
4. Set your annual goal - Decide what 1-3 overarching goals are for next year. Make them quantifiable/measurable.
5. Brainstorm your strategic objectives - Come up with 3-5 strategic initiatives that would help bring you closer to achieving that goal.
6. Prioritize your initiatives - Must Do vs. Nice To Do. Put more effort in the Must Do.
7. Build accountability - Who will be accountable to following this plan and how?
8. Build a communications plan - How will you communicate the plan with your key players in a way that creates consistency and repeatability?
9. Define how you'll make adjustments - It's inevitable that your plan will need some adjusting (every plan does). Give yourself leeway to reassess and tweak.
And with this, hopefully 2020 will be your best year ever!
Until next time.
