Plan your business like a garden!

By Nat Tolphof

Tips to bloom over winter!

Planning....Yawn. It doesn't have to be boring!

Planning....Yawn. It doesn't have to be boring!

A business is like planting a garden. You need to plan out in seasons. To map out if you plant the runner beans over there, they will impact the tomatoes over here. If you don't space the lettuces far enough about, you have a mixed salad! Anyway, you get the picture.

Once you plant the seeds, you need to tend the garden with rich nutrients, clean, crystal-clear water and patience. And this is the missing link for many business plans - seeds never get planted, watered or pruned.

I believe the importance of having a flexi-plan. One that allows for expansion, creativity and, the best: You get to create it yourself. Not some strategist who has forgotten what it's like in the engine room. Hard work! You are the strategist. You know what kind of business you want. Just like our gardens, we only plant what we care about, can tend to and love to look at.

Having a plan, keeps your toes to the fire, stops you from pulling your offers off the table too quickly and gives you metrics over time to see areas of strength and weakness.

Let me explain.

Planning is meant to be simple. When you stick to looking at planning with a bird's eye view, you will stay out of the how, what-if's and the detail.

Plan from your soul not your ego. Or from your friends fear of failure. Plan with what you want to achieve.

Stick to only five-six key objectives for the year. (12 Newsletters, 52 blogs, Grow database by 1,000)

Take these and break them into quarterly goals.

From here you can start to plan you months in advance (1 newsletter, 4 blogs, create new programme, etc)

Each week you can choose a time and tasks to work on the strategic objectives.

A plan is meant to evoke feelings of 'I can do this!' and not be kept in the bottom drawer. If this is a reality for you, have a go at creating your own plan. Grow the seeds you want and see your business bloom!