A lot of businesses don’t bother with a business plan because things change and they’re out of date almost as soon as they are written.
I sympathise.
Although I do like to have a 12 month budget to check that I have enough money to pay the team and to reinvest in the business we rely mainly on a 90 day planning cycle. Things are usually fairly predictable for the next 90 days so we get together as a team. It’s the only thing we try to do in person as we all work remotely the rest of the time.
We loosely follow this agenda:
- Review KPIs for last period
- Check actions from the previous meeting
- Discuss any issues and solutions
- I share my plans to move the business forward for the next 90 days and we all agree what needs to be done step by step, and by whom.
After the meeting
- My PA, Kate, emails me with a summary and the detailed action lists for each of us
- I add my actions to my to do list.
- If necessary I allocate slots in my diary.
- Kate works through all her actions (much more efficiently than me!) and gently reminds/nags me to get on with mine
The result is that, over the next 90 days, we make a lot of progress. Even if we don’t quite get around to everything the business has moved forward a lot from last quarter.
It’s like my running – CONSTANT FORWARD MOTION, no matter how slow.
If you’d like a copy of our budget workbook you can purchase a copy here or drop me a line if you’re interested in group or individual coaching to improve your own business.