Planning is EVERYTHING in Business

I totally was not a planner!

For real, I like to “wing it” and “plan as I go”. I’m kinda like that with a lot of life. Renovations, vacations, raising kids ha ha. So far it’s been ok. I figure I have common sense and I’m smart (sometimes), I know what I like and I am open to not being firm in my plans, “go with it” etc. “I’ve got this” is what I always told myself.

I did ok.

Seriously, I built a business (and raised those kids ha ha) it was successful – but I was always working and always finding myself saying “next year I will….do this or that”. I missed large events that snuck up on me (um hello Thanksgiving 2014 where did you come from?), I ran out of Holiday merchandise and had to order more at the last minute, I realized I needed more staff at one point but, it was too late so, I just worked more hours. Oh, shoot “next year” I will go to that cool Holiday Concert and take a little time off for fun. But first I’ll paint these pieces.  “Next year…” I will get myself organized. lol.”Next year” I will cut off accepting custom work a little earlier than Dec 24th. “Next year” I’ll have a plan!

“Next year” I’ll have a plan! Why if I had a dollar for every time I said that….hahaha

Business WAS booming. It was all awesome. But I was stressed and working pretty hard. But I knew I had to stop saying “next year I’ll” and take action.

I got a kick in the butt from my coach and my need to stop working 24/7, and started PLANNING!

I started planning 3 months out for everything.

I started planning in August for the Holidays and found myself with DOUBLE my SALES and WORKSHOP revenue during the Holidays. WHAT? This planning thing was kinda working.

I had time off last Christmas AND I wasn’t stressed. Hmm…there is something to this planning thing.

If you are a paint retailer, a store owner, a craftsperson, an entrepreneur in any field  – NOW IS THE TIME to start planning! 

No matter what type of business you are in, this seems like a no brainer – but we’re BUSY PEOPLE – can I get an AMEN? We don’t have time to plan. RIGHT?

Trust me, and consider this your kick in the butt to print up a calendar, mark in big events, mark down what DAYS OFF you want, what goals you have and move backward from there.

It’s a great thing to do now, sitting on your deck sipping a cold ice tea, instead of rushing around DURING the Holidays!

I hope this helps you in your business. I didn’t have anyone to kick me in the butt when I was starting out, so learn from my “misguided” steps and take a little time to plan.

Have a fantastic and amazing day friends,

Wendy

ps…I wrote a blog post about burnout and overwhelm that kinda crashed my website (it appears there are a few people out there trying to do it all also) it was the wake-up call I needed to start planning. Life has been WAY smoother since then because of planning in advance. You can read that post here if you are interested.

pps…I was printing up my Holiday “to-do” list for myself, my coaching clients and my Moncton team, and thought maybe it would help you too. My Kickstart The Holidays Sales Planner can be found here if you think it might help. It’s a FREE  month by month “to do list” for all you procrastinators and what I use to plan my Holiday sales. Hope it helps

If you want to level up your business and have a solid plan in place for the Holidays – JOIN MY 4 WEEK KICKSTART YOUR HOLIDAY SALES BOOTCAMP – next course starts SEP 21st  – MORE info HERE! Limited spots available