Samson Adepoju — January 29, 2017 Follow @salonyourwayAre you stressing out because you haven’t planned 2017 yet? Don’t worry, you’re not alone. I like planning, and every entrepreneur should seek to embrace planning. Those who are ahead of the game were thinking about 2017 in 2016. The third quarter is a great time to do this, around October. You need to plan out all four quarters to visualize what’s to come and to keep yourself accountable at a later date.
But have no fair, if you didn’t do this, it’s not too late. Those that did are not too far ahead of you. It’s still the first quarter. Rather than lament on the fact that you are too late, it’s better to focus on things you can do now to improve the way your year unfolds.
So take action now. It makes no sense to wait because you have missed a certain date. We already know that people that make New Year’s resolutions don’t keep them past the end of January in most cases.
Why wait until January 1st in the first place? You can start before, or even after. You just have to start taking action to work towards your goals right away.
You can begin with a business brain dump, and I mean write down everything. Do it on any piece of paper that you can find. It’s very easy to get bottled up on what you should use. Is it Evernote or a fancy planner? Or something else? Forget all of that. I’m not saying that apps aren’t great for this process but it’s easy to waste more time looking for the perfect product. If you really want to, go out and get yourself a journal or a notepad. Your handwriting will thank you. I recently discovered that my former abilities to write in perfect cursive and calligraphy have disappeared. So I’m going to try writing by hand more.
Using a low tech planner with your bullet points that you can carry with you anywhere, charger free, is excellent. And I’m not saying you need to switch from what you are comfortable with. If Google is your thing, go ahead. All I’m saying is that you do not need anything special. Feel free to print out the monthly calendar sheets so that you can have it right in front of you. Remember, you want to keep yourself accountable right?
Next thing in your planning would be to actually go through your brain dump and pick something to focus on each month. How will you promote your service or product or company every month? And if you haven’t created something already, pick something and create it! It could be something different every month or the same thing over and over again if that particular strategy is really working for you. If something is working for you, max it out. Don’t spread yourself thin. Make sure you put these items on your calendar or planner or notepad that you previously selected.
As I said, some may prefer to use a Google calendar so that they can print it. Just remember to keep in mind that you are planning for every month.
You will be picking what you want to promote but a few ideas include a lead magnet, your main opt-in, a video, blog post, or something that people can download in exchange for their email address.
Picking one thing you are going to focus on each month is very important for your list building and your list is important to whatever you are promoting. Whatever it is you are promoting should help you decide how you are going to bring potential customers in.
Don’t forget cross-promotion as a promotion doesn’t have to be something that you’re getting a commission for. It is good to align yourself with people who are doing great things also. And if their audience is willing to get to know you too, even better. It’s always good to network.
And in the spirit of continual growth, also pick something you feel that you can improve on every quarter. Whether you feel like it could be better or it’s not working well, focus on improving that. Maybe it’s your blog, or newsletter content and the way it’s delivered. It could be your videos or your presentations or webinars. Just make that part of your action plan.
Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Hiring someone to help you with certain aspects of your business like admin can really help you to focus and you’ll be extremely thankful that you did.
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