A Wish
Wanting to accomplish something, but never taking action towards it is not a goal. A goal without a plan is merely a wish. I have always preached this, and yesterday I took the time to sit down and do some planning.
I have been working on a marketing business since January. This marketing firm has already built a few websites and helped a few clients gain more customers through online and traditional marketing tactics. In a sense, I’m coaching small businesses about their marketing but I’m also performing services at the same time.
Yesterday I blocked off an hour to plan this business out for the year. It’s been scaring me to death that it won’t work and that I’m not doing the correct thing with my life. But that’s just because I couldn’t see where I was headed with my eyes looking down.
The Goal
The first thing I did was pick up my eyes and picture where I wanted to be (financially) at the end of this year. This was my goal and I put that on the bottom of my whiteboard in my office aka living/dining room.
I put it at the bottom because that’s where I want to get to. At the top I put down my current clients and what I’ve made so far. This was my starting point. 
The Plan
Finally, I connected the dots from the top (where I am today) to the bottom (where I want to be at the end of the year) to come up with a rough sketch of how I am going to get to my goal.
I have a few current clients already as well as a few prospects that I can count on for a small amount out of the gates. I counted that as “future income” that I don’t have to prospect for.
Next began the prospecting for new clients. By my calculations I need 15 new clients to work with (through website re/building and content marketing packages) in order to achieve my goal by the end of the year.
The four ideas I came up with for growth are listed below. I came to the conclusion that I will need a combination of all these ideas to get to my final goal of 15 new clients. If When I get all those clients in line my business will be where I want it for the short-term. The long-term still remains to be seen and planned thoroughly.
- More of the same
- Networking events
- Personal outreach
- Hire a Sales Person
- Paid commission on new business they bring in
- I have plenty of these in mind, even if they work part time
- Whatever sales script I write, I can use myself
- Hire a Designer
- Never done this, I need to find some designers (possibly interns) that are looking to branch out
- They must be familiar with WordPress
- Makes the most sense for me to sell & them to design with my guidance
- Use online marketing tactics
- Drive customers to my new site and use an online sales funnel
- Largest and most tedious project
- Will require a little bit of work every day and will constantly be a WIP (work in progress)
The minute I walked away from this I felt relieved that I had a plan in place. Most of these thoughts were swirling around in my brain, but I had never put them ALL in one place. It was a relief to step back and see the big picture from far away and know that I could zoom on each individual piece when needed.
Speaking of which, I have a meeting with my first prospective sales person today 🙂
Do you have a goal without a plan? What’s stopping you from putting your thoughts together to form one?
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Leave a comment below or chat with me on Twitter, I’d love to hear your feedback on my business plan.
Have a great day!
