Without deciding where you want to go – how can you get there?
Getting some clarity around your business and what you want out of it, means that you’ll be focussed on achieving these things. By being focussed, the tasks you need to do become more clear.
Let’s start big picture!
Create a vision board
Collate images that represent your desires in every area of your life: health, family, relationships, business, faith, travel, serving, style, learning … whatever is important to you.
Think BIG! Nothing is off limits. Put your biggest, wildest, crazy dreams here.
My real version is hard copy with torn out magazine pictures. This might be the way you want to have yours too – so you can add to it and have it up on the wall without having to print it. Entirely up to you!!
OK now, let’s put some words around this.
Words that describe your business and your life
List down a whole heap of words that are aligned with the life and business you want to lead.
Examples of mine are: joyful, energetic, generous, impact, integrity
Brainstorm and pull together as many words as you think are needed to encapsulate all you want your business and life to stand for.
Now from these, let’s narrow them down to your values, your WHY.
Your Why and Values
Choose a handful of words 3-5 that really define your values. The things that are non-negotiable and that you’d want everyone to know about you when they encounter you and your brand.
Great. Now we’re going to get practical!
Your ideal week
Alright, we’ve thought big picture, and now we’re going to start seeing what that looks like on a practical level.
Get a blank weekly calendar, like the one below.
Now forget everything you currently do, and imagine the sky is the limit (because it is!)
Fill in the calendar with what your IDEAL week would look like. Not your current week and responsibilities – but your dream week.
Schedule in time for yourself, time for your family, time for friends, work time, exercise time … whatever it is that your perfect week entails. Remember though that it’s not a holiday week, so it’s unlikely you’ll be spending 18 hours a day 7 days a week lounging by the pool with a pina colada in hand. What does the perfect ‘normal’ week look like?
Exciting huh?! To think about what’s possible and realise that you can design and craft your life to be all you want it to be.
Don’t get me wrong, the path to the ideal week is not immediate. It takes consistent, strategic action. But if you’re serious and dedicated to achieving it, there’s no reason why you can’t.
What do you want to get out of it?
Alright, the last step of planning here is to get clarity around what it is that you want to get out of your business.
Do you want $2K a month, or $20K a month?
Do you want your business to pay for school fees?
Do you want your business to pay for holidays?
Do you want your business to totally support you and your family so your hubby/partner doesn’t have to go to work?
What do you want from your business financially?
Getting clarity here from a broad level, matched with your ideal week, will help you start to think about the structure of your business, and lead into the next step – which is getting super super specific with your numbers.
Even if you’re years in to your business – it’s great to have a review and do the tasks above to see if your business is meeting all the needs you’d like it to.
Now, once that’s done – we can get into the numbers. See our next blog post for exactly how to do that!
Annelise xo