Planning, I bang on about it all the time. So here are my 4 top tips.

Yet it is a bit of an art and it has taken quite a long time to finally find a method that works for me.  But if you run a business, no matter what it is, you must take time to plan.  If you do, you will achieve more, be more productive and ultimately reach your goals simply because you have given it some thought.

It is tempting when we are rushed off our feet to neglect this part of our business.  We often spend too little time working on it because we are so involved in working in it.  But if you do take the time to review and plan for moving forward it will be worth it.

So, I thought I would provide some pointers on effective planning:

1. Choose your planning system – whatever it is find what works for you, whether it is one of the numerous apps that are available, a planner of some description or a simple notebook and pen to make a variety of lists. I use a combination of all three and it works for me.  But it doesn’t really matter.  The point is, the system you use needs to work!  Otherwise you can plan all you want but it won’t make a difference.
2. Make sure you schedule in regular reflection time each month. Use this time to review your business and ponder where you would like to go next.  It is important to know.  If you don’t know where you are going how will you know what to do next. I am sure that as a small business owner you have been told to set out your vision for where you would like your business to go and how you would like to your life to look in 1 year, 3 years, 5 years and 10 years.  If you have not done this, it is so worth it.  It will help you break down your goals into more manageable chunks. Once you know where you are going you can use your review time to make sure that you are heading in the right direction. Are the things that you are doing getting you nearer to that point?  You will only know if you review.
3. Look ahead – when you are reviewing what has worked and what has not, make sure you look ahead. Are there national days coming up that reflect your business, are you attending events or running one that you want to promote, what promotions to do you want to run throughout the year, what blogs do you want to write, what are your targets and how are you going to achieve them?  If you think about all these things at the beginning of the year and create and plan for them moving forward when the time comes they are all ready to go.  It is a huge time saving tip and worth the effort initially.
4. The key to planning is to be realistic about what you can achieve. If you have an already busy day and you then put in 10 extra tasks in the diary you will more than likely not be able to achieve the goal you have set for yourself.  So, whilst I am all for pushing yourself and making sure that things get done, don’t set yourself up to fail.   Add two or three tasks from that to do list each day and they will then get done.  If you know a job is going to take longer book it in for when you have more time.  But get it booked in, make sure it is in the diary.  That way as you plan the rest of the week/month ahead you know this will be done and you can forget about it until then.

The point is planning may take time and you may not be earning money directly from it but if you do it you will only see benefits.  Not only in the long run will you be able to bring in more business, but you will find that your stress levels reduce, and you will feel more in control of where you are going and how you are going to get there.

Check out my blog on Time Management that you may find useful or visit www.theumbrellatree.co.uk for more information and please do get in touch at emma@theumbrellatree.co.uk to find out more on how to plan for your business.