First things first, you must have a clear vision before you can do anything else. Without it, you’re spinning your wheels. That vision gives you clarity. Your vision starts everything rolling in the direction of what you want to create and everything else is born out of your vision. This is why it’s so important. Visioning it’s a crucial part of the planning process. Once you have it, you have the key to everything.
The next step is to create your goals. Make them SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). Once you create your goals in written form, you can get to the written plan, which includes all of the details. This is when you start to think of “howâ€, and “whatâ€. I cannot stress the importance of planning. Some will say that it just takes too much time. The truth about planning is that, yes, it takes some time, but for every minute you spend planning, you actually save yourself at least 4 minutes of your time. So for those of you who might have thought that planning was a waste of time, or don’t like or want to do it, it’s time to give it up, roll up your sleeves and get your plan done.
How are you going to get there? What milestones will you cross on your way to that major accomplishment? What action steps are going to get you there? Your plan is your road map.
As you create that plan, you have to prioritize those action steps, determine what items are top priority and the level of priority of all the other steps in the process. Determine what resources you’ll need to carry things out—people, budget, tools–everything that you need. Making the time to go through the planning process also helps you identify possible obstacles that you might encounter and determine how to deal with them should they arise.
These particular things—all the fine details, are what come into play once your vision is clear. Many plans, unfortunately never get executed. This happens with many solopreneurs because they’re challenged in making the transition from the planning phase to implementation. If you see that implementation is going to be a challenge for you, part of your plan should be to have someone help you with implementation and include them in the planning process. After all, what’s the point of creating the plan if you’re not going to execute it. Planning is a two fold, very necessary process that your business won’t survive without it.
