How I’m Goal Planning for my Business in 2018!

It’s the end of December already and it seems as if this year has just flown by! Truthfully, for a few reasons, 2018 has been on my mind for a few months now. The first being is that 2018 is a big year for my family, as we are expecting our second baby the end of next month! In which case, it triggered me to start planning for my business a little earlier than usual. I started mapping out my 2018 back in September and it was honestly the best decision I have ever made. I didn’t feel rushed, I could take planning and brain dumping in small stages and really be intentional about what I wanted for the new year ahead. Things that I wouldn’t have been able to do, had I waited until December to start thinking about a new year.

Here are the key elements I used to goal plan for my business in 2018:

BRAINSTORMING

I began by scheduling a day on my calendar to brainstorm. I looked at things like what worked for me this year and what changes I would like to see for next year. Both in my business and in my personal life, because let’s be honest, they do ultimately affect each other and we need to take both into consideration.

NEEDS

I mapped out all of the services I offered in 2017 and calculated what I booked the most of, plus what I ended up helping my clients with that weren’t necessarily something I was offering. I found there were two big things I was doing for over 50% of my clients that weren’t even part of my 2017 services. So, in 2018, I will be offering both Business Name Change Consulting sessions and Copy Coaching for clients. I also eliminated things that were either not serving me or serving my clients. Not being afraid to get real with what you are offering is really important when it comes to growing your business.

TRUST

This was a huge part of planning out my goals for 2018. I knew I needed to lean on trusted biz friends to help me get clear on all the ideas. My mastermind group was essential to helping me move forward with what I wanted, and I hired my Business Strategist, Nevica Vazquez (for the second time) to help me go over all the things I had mapped out. During our sessions together, we were able to get clear on my services and my content strategy to help me implement it. Nevica is someone I have known and she has known my business, so having her trusted support was essential to me in this stage of my business.

PLAN

This year, I am planning a little differently. Instead of planning for the year as a whole, I am planning quarterly. This way I can reset and adjust as I go along the way. I will likely work with my Business Strategist each quarter to ensure I am on track to hitting the big goals I have set for myself. So I have mapped out all of my content for Q1, goals, and social strategy. I already have a date on my calendar to map out Q2! Planning to plan is essential!

EXECUTE

Making space to wrap up client work so that I could spend intentional time working ON my business to prepare it for 2018 was essential. We can’t be our best for our clients if we aren’t taking time to look at our own workflows and processes along the way. These were two areas I focused a lot on this year so I feel truly confident in where I am headed for the new year.

SUPPORT

Having the support you need in order to actually do what you love and grow your business is essential. As a multiple business owner, plus a soon to be mom of two, I knew I couldn’t continue without having a more established team in place. Luckily, Nevica introduced me to the best VA Team ever who has just taken all of my ideas and ran with implementing them. This will be essential during my maternity leave, but I already know that I never want to do business without them.

ORGANIZE

Last but not least, the number one thing that saved my sanity in 2017 and has me feeling like I am going to own 2018, has been utilizing Asana for all of my organizing and task planning. I don’t know how I ever lived without this tool and I could kiss the ground that whoever created it walks on. Seriously, find a project management system that works for you and truly use it to the fullest extent. People ask me all the time how I manage two businesses and an online group coaching program, plus project manage multiple branding clients at once with ease and my answer is always Asana (no, this is not a shameless plug because I use the free version myself).

I hope that by sharing how I am goal planning for my business in 2018 has helped you with the way you think about planning for your own business.

xo,