Copyright  by Janis Pettit

At the end of each year, we look forward to relaxing over the holidays. This is an ideal time to put together a dynamic plan for your small business to get big results in the new year. Many small business owners are so busy they don’t take time to visualize, create and plan their path forward. Lack of planning is proven to lead to stagnation, burn out or failure. Do you want to be the CEO or your business or self-employed and overwhelmed? Take the time to answer this question carefully--if everything goes well for your business in coming year, ideally what would your life look like at this time next year?

Right now, block out several hours. Here’s what you need to do during that time.

Start by going to http://www.smartrack.net/BigVisionTool1.htm and follow the instructions for the Big Vision inner focus techniques through Day One. This exercise will clear away stress, calm your mind, create focus, and guide you through a powerful visioning process to help you see where you want to go nest year. For maximum results repeat this process often. This will prepare you to build your grand plan for next year.

Before you begin planning, look back carefully at this year. As Dr. Phil might say, "did it work for you"? Be brutally honest about what’s working and what’s not, in your life and business. Admit to habits and patterns that need to change. Look at areas like this year's gross sales, cost of sales, profit margin, business growth, your income, hours worked, business problems and challenges, financial planning and accounting, life balance, use of resources and employees, budget, expenses, marketing, personal skills, current products and services.

Now you’re ready to start planning. If you’ve done the visioning techniques above, write down in detail how you hope your ideal business and life will look in a year. Then begin planning how you’ll get there. If your plan includes well thought out strategies and actions, you’ll be able to focus on those specific activities which will make your business soar. Here are a few suggested areas to explore:

Visiting your accountant once a year is not financial planning! Financial planning includes:

• projecting your gross sales and cost of sales

• projecting all expenses

• deciding what will sell and what your pricing strategy will be

• projecting what kind of capital you’ll need to grow your business where you’ll get it. This would include your marketing budget, payroll, technology, office rental and utilities, taxes, consultants and training, etc.—everything you’ll need to spend to reach your profit goals.

Often the most overlooked area in a small business planning, financial planning doesn’t need to be complicated or overwhelming. An experienced accountant or financial consultant can help you if you’re having difficulty.

The only way experience significant small business growth is to start with a detailed marketing strategy and plan. A reasonable percentage of next year’s budget must be earmarked for marketing activities. If your small or solo business is fairly new, this budget needs to be more than when you are more established. Include all marketing expenses such as advertising, website development, maintenance and hosting, printing expense, networking, trade shows, giveaways and gifts, etc. As information streams faster to everyone, new marketing strategies are emerging to align with this information explosion. To compete you need to carefully rethink and update your marketing strategy regularly.

Start now to act as if you’ve already reached your Biggest Vision for your small business. What systems need to be in place to run your business at that level? Think about putting those systems into place now. Define each function that needs to be fulfilled to run your business like a well oiled machine and begin developing systems for each. By understanding each function, who will handle it and how it fits into the big picture, growth will happen without a lot of upheaval and confusion.

As your small business grows, you’ll need help. Decide if you’ll need to hire employees, or if you’re getting the most productivity out of the employees you already have. Maybe you’ll need outside help, a business coach, financial consultant, sales person, web designer, graphic designer, virtual assistant etc. Perhaps developing new skills and researching appropriate training options is important. Contemplate each detail of your Big Vision and try to imagine what your needs will be.

If you’re letting yourself off the hook because you think you don’t have time to plan, you’re only fooling yourself. How do I know? Because I was guilty of doing the same thing! I’d see the big picture, but detailed planning seemed too time consuming. Once I started following my own advice I saw a dramatic increase in profits, I had more free time and more fun. This happened in my second business and I’ve been doing it ever since.

I wish you nothing but the best next year for your small business. Make it the year you challenge yourself to reach heights you never thought possible!