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End-of-the-Year Planning Made Easy – Part 2

The end of the year is busy, both personally and in your business, but you should still set aside some time to review and plan for next year. In Part 1, I shared the first 3 steps in a simple end-of-the-year planning process. This article concludes with the final 2 steps.

Step 4 – Next Year’s Goals

Where do you want to be this time next year? What sort of business do you want to have? What revenues? What products/services, etc? What sort of growth do you desire? Make a list of concrete targets – dollars of profit or revenue, numbers of clients or prospects on your list, units of products sold, etc. Also add things you want to have completed – for instance, an information product or book. Feel free to add other goals such as winning an industry award or having a media appearance. The key is to have an obvious way to determine accomplishment.

Brainstorm ways you can take steps toward accomplishing those goals. Have a few different strategies for each. List obvious steps and actions for each goal.

Step 5 – Draft a Month-by-Month Overview Plan

Now that you have a pretty good idea about what you have done and where you want to go, you can create an outline for next year. Start by making a list of all the months with 10 blank lines underneath each month.

Consider your goals. Determine 3-5 actions you could complete each month of next year to accomplish your goals. List them underneath the appropriate months.

Look back at your list of needed business basics that you made in Step 3. Commit to those you plan to complete next year and add appropriate actions to the various months.

Now go back to the list of “Leftovers” from Step 2. Evaluate each one, in light of your new goals and plans. Do you still want to complete these projects? Have they been supplanted by new, better ones? Are they now obsolete for your business? Do they still fit your business plan? Can any of them be delegated or just eliminated as unnecessary? For any that you would still like to pursue, add action steps to available slots in your plan to complete them.

Next Year: Implementation

A plan is pretty useless if you don’t actually follow it. Keep your plan handy as you go through next year.

Each week, review the actions you have listed for the month. Check off those you have completed, and schedule time during the week to work on those still on the list.

At the end of each month, look back and decide whether tasks need to be moved forward or not. Also look ahead and evaluate not only the next upcoming month, but the rest of the year. If your priorities change or you are planning to pursue a new goal, make sure to adjust your plan so there is space for it to be accomplished.

Come the end of next year, you can go through the same process to evaluate how realistic your goals were, what issues you faced, and what your next goals and steps will be.

If you can continue to follow this simple planning process, you will be able to make substantial progress with your business every year and create the lifestyle of your dreams.

Web Action Steps

  • Complete the process outlined above
  • Decide where you will keep your Month-by-Month plan so you can refer to it easily throughout the year
  • Schedule time to review your plan each week and each month

Next week, I will share the final steps in the process so you will be prepared to meet the New Year with confidence, and end it with success. If one of the things on your plan for next year is a website or blog, get in touch with me soon so I can help you plan for the completion of that project.