Mid-year – time to pull out the business plan and review if we are on track for our goals this year.
What? Don’t have a written plan? Then my question is – are you in business for yourself or are you pretending your hobby is a business? Yes, I’m ilty of this too. Many solo-preneurs don’t think they need a business plan, never mind that they should review it at mid year.
A review doesn’t have to be complex or take 50 hours. Simply block some time out on your calendar and make time to get clear on some of the fundamentals of your business.
- what kind of business do you want – earn a salary, grow and hire, build an international empire?
- what is the purpose of your business – as in why are you in business (beyond earning money)?
- who is your ideal client (s) ? are you currently serving them? if not, what do you need to do differently?
- what are the list of services or products you provide and their prices? is the list aligned to your clients needs?
- what are the steps in the client’s journey with you? from getting, to keeping, to selling more to them
- what are your fixed costs and what are your variable costs?
- how much money do you have to earn? how much do you want to earn?
- what promotional / marketing activities do you need to do to hit your targets?
What do you need to do during the last half of this year to achieve your goals for your clients, your staff, your family and your earnings?
A few of the things that I realized as part of my own mid year review:
- Most of my clients email me their requests, so having an online support ticket system is not helpful to them and adds extra steps for them and me. So, I got ride of my support ticket system.
- I’ve been procrastinating on fixing some things on my own website! So busy working on other people’s priorities that I’m no longer in love with my own web presence.
- I’ve been less methodical in my approach to admin tasks in the last 6 months and if I get on top of things now, tax season will go much better.
Your own mid-year review doesn’t need to be a three day retreat, although you might want to do that of course! At the very least, I challenge you to ask yourself:
What do you need to do during the last half of this year to achieve your goals for your clients, your staff, your family and your earnings?
If you have realized that you don’t have a plan, or need someone to ask you the tough questions that you won’t ask yourself, book a time with one of us to discuss your needs and get some coaching that will move you forward.
(This article was previously published at Online Web Admin, which is now Mindset Marketing Services)
