Personal Business Planning to keep you on track and in control

Last summer I worked with business coach and marketing consultant Claire Habel to get some clarity about my business. She helped me find a new direction and really sharpened my thinking, and today shares with you one of the personal business processes we went through. A timely reminder that I could do with repeating it! Here she is:

When running your own business, it’s so important to ensure you stay focused and on track. This can be particularly difficult when working from home, on your own. Personal Business Planning is a great way to do this. Read on to find out how to go about it…

Personal Business Planning isn’t about producing a business plan but setting your personal vision for your business and planning back from there.

So, follow these simple steps to find out how to take control of your business through what is essentially goal setting and good planning:

1. Set Personal Business Objectives

This is about deciding what you really want from your business. This may be a mix of financial targets along with anything from an ideal work-life balance, working hours, type of work, type of client, location etc. Your objectives should be really clear measurable, specific and motivating. Remember the acronym:

SMARTER
Specific
Measurable
Achievable
Realistic
Time based
Excitement
Relevance

Remember that only by defining and owning your objectives will you get where you want to go.

2. Personal Business Planning

Plans are made up of ideas, frameworks and methods to enable effective action towards objectives.

We’ve all heard the adage ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’. On a slightly more positive note, plan for success and make a plan. A good plan based on your personal objectives keeps you focused, accountable and heading in the right direction.

After setting your objectives, go through the following 3 activities:

• ‘What are the perceived challenges for me going forward?’ The answers to those questions give you a list of things to address.
• ‘What other key factors do I need to consider?’ E.g. budget, time, resources, seasonality?
• Where am I now in relation to my goal/objectives? This is where you can start to add a lot of detail and set priorities for action:

On a scale of 0 – 10, imagine your goal as 10 and 0, as low as you can imagine being on the scale (i.e. you might not have even started your business). Plot where you currently sit on the scale.

Consider what the next step on the scale would look e.g. what would need to have happened for you to move up from 4 to 5 ad what you could do to get there?

Continue on in this way and you’ll soon have a personal business plan with a clearly defined objective, interim targets and ideas and solutions focused on getting you there.

If you found this helpful and would like further assistance in planning effectively for your business – visit www.inspiringfutures.biz

Claire Habel is the founder of Inspiring Futures through which she helps her clients develop personal business plans and winning marketing strategies for their businesses.

Enjoyed this? Read more by Claire Habel on marketing strategies and personal business planning for your home business.