The first half of the year has likely been a wild ride for most, if not all, of you. With the global pandemic upending the first half of the year, you may still be figuring out which direction is up. Whether your business is exploding, coasting, or barely floating, midyear is a critical time to take a “timeout” and evaluate. You have time to make adjustments, course correct, and position yourself for greatness the rest of the year.
Follow along as our Founder and CEO, Linda McLean, walks you through the steps!
Your first half of the year is wrapping up. How are you progressing?
Whether you started the year with a formal business plan or not, you likely set some sort of goal for what you wanted to achieve. With the data of those first six months to evaluate, are you on pace with, ahead of, or behind where you wanted to be?
Let’s walk through three important steps to ensure your second half moves with purpose and direction to the outcome you desire.
1. Start with Vision
Your Vision is your statement of how you picture the business, as if it has already occurred. If you haven’t established a vision for your business, you would be wise to start here. Literally write down, “It is December 31, 2020, and I am so happy and grateful now that…” It’s up to you to then define what follows those three little dots. Focus on what you really want. Explain it in great detail.
If, in fact, you did write one, hopefully you’ve been revisiting it periodically. Stop and read it now. Based on your current results, what do you want to change?
2. Check Your Wheel
Even if your production numbers are looking good, you may be experiencing a feeling of unrest related to other areas of your business. One tool our clients take advantage of to address this is the Wheel of Business. You can request it here.
This visual representation is a quick way to check in with your satisfaction in each of the eight critical facets of your business.
On your Wheel of Business, ask yourself, “How satisfied am I in each area?” You might be extremely happy, for example, with your Marketing facet. However, you might feel you’re lacking in your Client Retention facet. Whatever your current condition, determine in which facet you have the least satisfaction.
Ask these clarifying questions:
- What is working and what is not working?
- What is one step I/we can take to improve this facet?
- Who will help me/us accomplish it?
- By when do we want to complete that?
3. Adjust Your Plan
You’re now building your scorecard for success. For each facet where you decide you want growth, repeat the process using the clarifying questions.
Now that you have clarity on where to focus first, return to your business plan and make adjustments. When we work with our coaching clients during VIP Planning, we set goals in each facet, and then we review all those goals and identify what their Top 6 Goals will be. If you did this part of the process, either with us onsite or by following the Snapshot Business Planning book (pick up your copy in print or on audio here), then check in with your progress on those original Top 6. If you’ve achieved some, or even all, of those goals, identify a new Top 6 for your second half of the year!
Adjust your course and redirect yourself for a successful second half. And reach out if you’d like support in mapping out your plan!
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