I really, truly love a good plan. I’m a systems and processes person. I make a living helping entrepreneurs create forecasts (just a financial plan) for their growing businesses. So it was beyond me why I couldn’t make myself sit down and write out my goals for next year and put numbers to them. 

After hemming and hawing for a couple of weeks, I finally figured out that it was a mindset issue and snapped myself out of it. 

If you’re struggling like I was to set your goals for next year and create a plan for how you’re going to achieve them, just know that you’re not alone. 

The underlying issue for procrastination is almost always fear. 

Maybe you have a bad case of imposter syndrome like I did. Even after several years of owning my own business, it still pops up and rears its ugly head every once in a while. I don’t think it ever goes away, but we can learn to be scared and do it anyway. 

Maybe it’s not imposter syndrome, but you’re stuck in analysis paralysis. Just know that there’s no such thing as a wrong decision. (It does help to put numbers to any decision you’re considering…just saying). 

Maybe you’re a perfectionist and you want to make sure the plan is perfect before you execute.

Whatever is creating the fear, you can work past it. Just start small and the plan will start coming to you. Here’s a list of questions I like to use to get the ball rolling with annual planning:

1. What do you want your annual revenues to be this year?
2. How many packages do you need to sell, appointments do you need to book, new clients do you need to serve, etc. to hit that revenue goal?
3. Are there any new products or services that you want to offer?
4. Will you need to hire anyone in the next twelve months?
5. How much do you need to invest in marketing to hit your revenue target?
6. What systems and processes do you need to improve this year and will there be an investment for that?
7. Are there any other additional costs or investments that you’ll need to make to hit that revenue target?

Answering these questions will give you a great start to your strategic plan for the year and will also help give you a basis to create a forecast, so that you know your plan is profitable. You’ll have the confidence you need to execute.

Need help with your annual planning and forecasting? We’re here for it! Schedule a discovery call.