Making a Plan

With the new year comes new resolutions or commitments such as losing weight, staying more organized, worrying less, or spending more time with the family. These are all great resolutions but are void without a plan. They are more of a hope than a resolution unless there is a specific plan for implementation.

Have you ever thought about how many things in our day-to-day life require a plan? These are things that you do all the time. Here are a few examples:

• Brushing your teeth: Dentists recommend brushing for at least two minutes after every meal. Two minutes can be a very long time without a plan of action. An example is to brush your teeth in a pattern. Do this by segmenting your mouth into four segments and brushing for 30 seconds each segment. If you do, it makes your brushing far more effective than just randomness which leaves certain teeth out.
• Laundry: If you took all your dirty laundry and just started throwing it into the washer, what would happen? Your colors would be bleached, your pants would have towel lint all over them and your underwear would turn pink most likely. I know because my kids do the laundry most of the time. However, if you sort your laundry in advance (plan it out), then you will have all the whites together, all the towels together and all the colors together, which makes for a much more successful turnout.

Another important part of a plan is measuring it. My daughter recently informed me she was dieting with her friends to see who could lose the most weight. I asked, “Did everyone weight themselves in front of each other”. She replied, “No, we don’t need to weigh ourselves to see who loses the most weight, we’ll just be able to tell by looking at each other”. Little does she know, that’s not quite how it works. If she doesn’t know where she started, she won’t know where she’s going to end up.

The same concept applies in business. We must set reasonable, achievable goals with due dates and people in charge. You’ve probably heard of keeping goals SMART – which is an acronym for:

S – specific

M – measurable

A – attainable

R – realistic

T – timely

So many times, small businesses want to make more money or grow their customer base, but don’t plan to do so. Instead of proactively marketing based on a plan, they react to industry slow-downs and economic downturns. Business drops down or the economy takes a hit and the business is ready to market. It’s tough to market when times are good because your time is limited. A well thought out plan will take care of your business whether times are good or bad.