Strategic Plan - Minimize Grit, Gruel, and Grind | LAYC 97

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Welcome back.

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I'm Isabel Alexander and we're continuing our series on strategic planning.

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If you have been following along the last, I don't know, four episodes, maybe

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five, I talked about why you should have a strategic plan as a woman business owner,

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as a solopreneur, small to medium sized business enterprise, and how to and I'm

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sharing my own journey, my own education, my evolution was falling in love with the

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process of having a strategic plan that is real, that works, that is something

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more than a piece of paper that gets shoved in a binder and collects dust.

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Recapping.

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We've talked in episodes about the importance of having a strategic plan,

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and I've been summarizing the steps that I went through personally learning

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about strategic planning when I hired a very expensive business consultant

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who brought a book to my boardroom called Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

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The book is written by Verne Harnish.

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I'll link to that book, but before you get distracted and think, oh my god,

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another fucking book I have to read, I'm going to break it down for you.

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I'm going to continue to break down the steps, because I would

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like you to have the advantage.

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Thinking about percolating, as I say, why these steps are important

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and get your stuff collected in your head before you tackle it.

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And if tackling creating a strategic plan for your company is a little more than

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you're ready for the first time, or maybe you've created one in the past using

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a different methodology and it didn't prove to be worthwhile, reach out to me.

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I'd be very happy to talk to you about doing that because I have personal

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evidence on how AMAZING the results are, the impact is, when you know where you're

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going, and you have a map ahead of you, and you have measurable signposts along

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the way, that really mean something to you, and your team, and your stakeholders.

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So we've talked about core values, and the importance of that is a

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foundational piece and strategic plan, creating from those core values, your

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purpose and your mission, big, hairy, audacious goals, objectives, primary

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long term, medium term, short term, and way out there in the future.

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And we talked about creating measurability in terms of focus around monthly,

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quarterly, annually, whatever the cadence is that works for your business.

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I didn't mention before, but of course that means knowing how to create

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really implementable, successful goals.

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And that's a structure that is often called SMART goals.

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I've learned over time to modify that acronym and make it even more relevant.

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to our kind of business and success and our personalities

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as women business owners.

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I touched a little bit on KPIs and critical numbers, but I want to talk

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a little bit more about those again today because I don't think I gave them

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enough importance in the last episode.

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I cannot begin to stress how vitally, essentially, important it is to know

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your numbers as a business owner!

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You have to!

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As, as yucky as it may feel, as annoyingly irritating, time consuming,

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oh, I don't want to face the truth.

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You have to know your numbers, and you have to know the critical

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numbers for growth going forward.

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What are the things that are most important for your business?

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number of transactions, number of customers, dollars per sale

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lifetime value of customers.

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It's all very specific to your business and so I can't talk

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about that in generalities.

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I'd have to talk to you about what's most important, what's most relevant for you to

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measure, but what I can say is, you have to measure because if you don't know where

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you're going, you will not get there.

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And then one day you may find yourself at a place that is very unpleasant.

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Establishing metrics is very important and it makes it a lot more rewarding.

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Moving to today's content, the focus here is in terms of following this process or

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at least my modified methodology, the next steps are to learn about SWOT analysis.

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I don't know why my Zoom is making thumbs up here, so hopefully that made you smile,

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but thumbs up because SWOT analysis is extremely important in this process of

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creating a realistic strategic plan.

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The term SWOT is like I don't know, so old, it's grown a beard,

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but it's still very important.

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And that is to do a really honest assessment of what are your

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organization's strengths, what makes you different, unique, special, more

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valuable than anybody else similar?

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What are your weaknesses?

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Oh my God, what are your Achille's Heels?

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Where can circumstances, market whatever conditions Bite You In The Ass?

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Where Are The Opportunities That You Have Not yet explored but are possibilities?

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What are the threats to exploring those opportunities?

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And that's almost a full day, at least a couple of hours, session

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that I go through with my clients.

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Because the more you peel back the layers and The more you dig into those areas,

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the more there is to explore and consider.

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And so it's very important that you are guided through that process because

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you can't see what you don't see, when your nose is too close to the screen.

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So having somebody else be the facilitator of that conversation for you and be the

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scribe so that you're in flow and they're capturing it is extremely important.

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That's a tip I learned.

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So helpful to me.

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The next part of this beautiful formula with Verne Harnish's plan is

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setting up action plans and incentives, because there have to be rewards.

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Otherwise, it's just grueling and grind.

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Establishing for yourself and your team and your company, Milestones and

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celebrations are extremely important.

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I can't tell you how much fun I have with that and the currency return on

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that is with your team, with yourself.

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Because if we're just only ever working, and we're never celebrating,

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you know what happens with that!

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establishing who is going to be the captain of

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that particular accountability;

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and it's tough if you are a solopreneur, cause you think, you

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have to be the only one and you have to be responsible for everything.

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That isn't going to work, sister.

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I got to tell you, you've got to appoint some other people to be

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captain of that particular squad.

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So if you don't have a team, you don't have employees or staff or

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contractors working for you, then think about who are the subcontractors, the

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service providers the technologies.

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That you can put in charge and be accountable for that

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particular goal, rock, process.

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Communication rhythm.

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That's another aspect of this process that really makes it work is establishing

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the rhythm of reviewing progress, addressing the issues, and making sure

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you're on track, ensuring alignment to your values, and why you established

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that goal, and do you still feel aligned with that, is that the right

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thing, or have circumstances changed?

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Oh my gosh, there's some great processes for small companies!

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One of my favorite memories when I think back to my company was our daily stand

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ups and the haka that we developed to get everybody pumped and energized for that.

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More on that when we talk in person

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The final part of all of this is It wouldn't be worth doing if it wasn't

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worth celebrating, because after all, if you're planning, that means that

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you have an intention to arrive at a destination, and when you arrive at that,

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you must celebrate it with all your might!

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Otherwise, you just don't have the energy, the propulsion, to keep going

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to the next level, the next summit.

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I believe that all of this put together, all of these points create a very

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successful formula and a how to create a meaningful and result oriented strategic

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plan for any company of any size, and I really encourage you to embrace this

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thinking and try it on for yourself.

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I look forward to hearing about your success and celebrating because I want

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to buy the dress for the gala where I'm showing up to celebrate your success.

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I am all about lifting and climbing and building success

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ladders for others and woohoo.

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I love a good party.

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Thanks.

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Talk to you soon.