I know quite a few companies that have already put together their business and financial plans for the new year….
…And it’s only natural that they are patting themselves on the back for being so well-prepared.
But whoa!
Not so fast.
Whilst it’s really critical that you plan for next year right now, if you want to start the year off the right way….
….That doesn’t make you prepared enough for long-term future success.
This is one of the biggest (and most avoidable) mistakes lots of business owners make, especially at this time of year.
They’re putting together their plans for 2020.
But in reality, as I’ve said before, they should be thinking much further ahead than that – to 2021, 2022, 2025, even 2030!
That’s why when we invite a client to visit our office for a Just One Day business development planning session, we don’t focus too heavily on their priority goals for the coming year…
Instead, we look much further ahead – to where they’d like the company to be five or 10 years into the future.
(It doesn’t stop there – after we set your goals, there is a LOT of strategic planning, where we work out the best way to achieve your goals and all the key action steps you must take in order to turn the plan into reality.)
Creating your business plans one year at a time is like travelling from one town to another without knowing your ultimate destination.
You may be choosing the next stop each time, so you feel like you’re in control of your journey, but you have no idea where you’re actually going to end up (and any side-track or detour you take can lead to disaster).
If your company has no long-term destination, no big picture of where you plan to be years from now, you can’t ever tell if you’re moving towards your goals…
There is no room for short-term thinking in business management.
It’s a bit like the government’s approach to climate change – the deadline to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 80% is in 2050. To achieve such a big goal you have to plan decades ahead and have a big-picture view or it just won’t happen.
And if you want your business to grow by 300% over the next decade, or build an exit strategy to sell your company in 2030, or develop the next generation of experts in your field…
…then you need to know the right steps to take between now and then.
So in 2020 you’ll start laying the groundwork, and by 2025 you’ll need to have made considerable progress, otherwise by 2030 your plans won’t come to fruition.
And THAT’s why planning one year at a time does your company an enormous disservice.
I’m not suggesting that you should make a plan today and then stick to it blindly for the next 10 years. Naturally your plans will change as you review them going forward, and the further out in time your plan extends, the more chance there is that will change.
Change is part of planning, and planning is a process. So plan for the decade, not just the year, and be ready to reassess and revise your plans as you go along.
If it feels like a monumental task to tackle on your own, don’t! Work with us to get your big picture financial plan in place quickly and easily.
Until the end of the year, you can book a Just One Day business development planning session with us at half the usual cost – apply here to see if your business qualifies.
