BL112: Plan and Review. Give Your Brand Gumption. [PT. 3]

Part of being an entrepreneur or solopreneur and maintaining your empire requires PROGRESSION. If you don’t create goals, develop and execute your strategic plan, and measure the accomplishments and failures, your empire will never advance beyond the beginning or middle stage. In addition, you can suffer burnout from doing too many things—especially unnecessary things that may not lead you one bit closer to the Ultimate Vision for your business. Doing the unnecessary can be like running in a hamster wheel that never stops. This is why setting goals, developing a plan of action, and reviewing those goals are critical to every business.

This is part three of The Entrepreneur and Burnout Series. If you haven’t checked out the first two parts, see BL110: The Entrepreneur and Burnout and BL111: The Unsexy Part of Building Your Empire. They’re definitely worth the time spent reading them.

It’s hard to believe that a new year is just around the corner and it’s time to think about strategic planning. I just wrapped up my review of this year and my plan for the new, upcoming year. While I have always been a goal setter and have completed ongoing evaluations of my goals, before 2016, I never created and reviewed goals that would link directly to my business’s strategic planning and the Ultimate Vision I had for it. I am so glad that I started this ritual back then because it has opened my eyes to some things that I missed like identifying milestones. It’s important to establish milestones in your business because:

1. They build confidence that you are capable of setting goals and following through with them
2. They show you where you may need to improve
3. They help you execute your plan efficiently and succinctly because you know where the blind spot(s) or problems are and where you need to focus
4. They lead you closer to the Ultimate Vision for your empire

As we wrap up this year, review the goals that you did as well as did not accomplish.

So, you may be thinking, ‘Crap, I didn’t achieve everything that I wanted this year.’ If you didn’t accomplish everything, it’s okay. You’re not a failure! Heck, I didn’t accomplish everything that I wanted to do. So to counteract the fact that our brains have been programmed to think from a negative point of view, FIRST focus on what you did accomplish. This is a biggie because much of the success of our entrepreneurial journey is positioned by our mindset.

Here are a few things you can do to help you with your planning and review. Completing the following simple, five-part exercise is imperative in achieving a healthy balance while building your empire.

1. Grab two sheets of paper.
2. On the first sheet, write down what you achieved this year.
3. After you’ve written down your achievements, on the second sheet, review what you didn’t complete and write down those items.
4. Look at both of your lists—your accomplishments and those things that you didn’t accomplish. Rejoice in the things that you did achieve.
5. For those things that you didn’t complete, just keep moving forward. Perhaps the reason you didn’t attain everything that you wanted, could have been attributed to the fact that your goal list was a little overambitious (like mine!). Perhaps life threw you a curve ball. Or perhaps your mindset was off (like mine also!). Whatever the reason, be sure to be open and honest with yourself and determine why you weren’t able to achieve those goals. This exercise may be an eye opener for you and can help you get and stay on track for the upcoming year. Visit post BL110: The Entrepreneur and Burnout to find out if the reason(s) could possibly have been fear, mindset, or loss.

Planning For Each Year.
At the end of every year, I do an overall review for the current year and then plan out the upcoming year. Our Grand Gumption Initiative Action Plan™ (GGIAP) has been an efficient and successful tool in my strategic planning and has helped me get closer to the Ultimate Vision for my business. Because I use this tool to plan and review my year, I rarely get side-tracked or fall prey to the “shiny object (or tactic) syndrome.” I accomplished 90% of my goals for this year. That’s right, you heard it—90%! This is the second year I have been using the GGIAP™ and I totally stand by it. Because the Grand Gumption Intiative Action Plan™ tool is so helpful, I want to give it to you for free. Yup, that’s right, for free!

Using the GGIAP™, I always start off refreshing my memory with my Ultimate Vision. Reminding yourself of the Ultimate Vision is an important step because you want to create plans that will get you the results that you want. After I remind myself of the Ultimate Vision for my business, I go straight into planning mode. If you don’t have an Ultimate Vision, stop here and see post BL106: Why You’ll Be Mediocre In Your Brand and Business. You’ll need to know where you’re going in order to develop a strategic plan and the action steps to get you there. Download the “Vision & The Journey Blueprint” from post BL106 and, when you’re ready, click the image below to download our free “GGIAP Workbook”. For those of you who are ready, just click away for your Grand Gumption Initiative Action Plan™.

One of our passions is to make the planning and execution of your strategy easeful, approachable, and achievable for you. Because we firmly believe that in order for any business to be successful, there needs to be an inside-out focus and approach. When your business is aligned internally, it makes it easier for you to be consistent, relevant, and successful in delivering your brand’s promise to the people you’re called to serve.

The Grand Gumption Initiative Action Plan™ Workbook helps you break down and develop your yearly plan in bite-sized chunks. The workbook consists of templates that will guide you through setting up your plan and review for the year to help you stay on track. If you want to see the free workbook in action, click the image below or the red button to grab it.