How To Prepare Your Business For A Kick-A$$ 2008
While most people are winding down for the holidays, you should be making December an action-packed month to build your business so that you hit the ground running in 2008. Here are 5 great tips that will put you ahead of the competition on January 1 - and beyond.
Tip #1 - Plan Out Your Yearly Goals in December, and Look At Them Every Freakin’ Day.
Here’s a tip: “Do better this year” doesn’t count. If you want to tear into 2008 and take what’s yours, you need to be absolutely clear on what it is. Don’t settle for weak goals like “I want to make more money” (an extra quarter would fulfill that, but I doubt that’s what you really want). Get specific on dollar values. On number of customers. On list size, or RSS subscribers, etc. … in short, anything you can actually measure, rather than get warm fuzzies about. Then look at them every day to keep yourself focused and on track.
Tip #2 - Define Monthly Milestones For Those Goals In December, and Look At Them Every Freakin’ Day.
This may sound like a no-brainer, but for too many people, it’s a “never-get-to”er. It’s easy to get clear on your priorities from 30,000 feet … it’s breaking them down into measurable along-the-way checkpoints that throws people. Don’t start this in January - flesh it out in December. And while you can’t get 100% specific on everything throughout the year, there’s no reason you can’t get incredibly specific about how you’re going to hit that first milestone. Leave the details for the other milestones ’till you get to them, but have the stats for milestone #1 in front of you every day, nagging at you to take massive action towards it.
Tip #3 - Break Out A Week-By-Week Plan For January, and Look At It Every Freakin’ Day.
Again, don’t wait until January to get started planning … start now. Give yourself concrete actions that will take you to your January milestone, week by week and step by step, so that when the new year comes there’s no second guessing on what you should be working on. Having an established game plan is a vaccine against overwhelm and a killer way to keep a rock-solid focus. And when you know the actions you’ll take will get you to your milestone, you’ll boost your motivation since you know that every action matters. Review them every day to remind yourself to kick a$$.
Tip #4 - Have A Business Accountability Partner Who Will Hold You To Your Goals
It’s easy to slack off when nobody’s watching - especially when you’re building your own business. The antidote to that is to connect with someone who you don’t want to look weak in front of, maybe someone one rung up on the ladder from you as it were. Hanging around people more successful than you does wonders for keeping your feet moving. Check in with them regularly enough (weekly is good) that you won’t have room to coast along. (And if you do the same for someone else, you’ll be giving them a boost as well.)
Tip #5 - Start All This A$$-Kicking 2 Weeks Early
If you want to really get momentum, get ahead as much as you can before January actually starts. It’s a great way to condition yourself to knowing you mean business and to taking massive action to support your goals. While everyone else is sleeping off the festive cheer, cheer yourself with the knowledge that you’re building a better business for yourself in 2008. You’ll thank yourself for it.
Bonus Tip #6 - Share Your Own A$$-Kicking Tip Here, And Profit From Reading The Tips Of Others
What’s your personal secret to making your business easier to build? Share your tip here, and if you’ve written a post about it, share it with us as well. And when you’re done with that, feast on the rest of the conversation below to learn and grow rich(er). ;-)
Keep it rocking,
Dave
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Dave Navarro is all about helping you get more done faster. Pick up your free “More Time” kit at your30hourday.com.
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14 Rockin' Comments
November 26th, 2007 at 11:09 am
I wanted to let you know that I wrote a post about Freelance Folder in my blog. I think you have a great site here and wanted to share with others. You can find the post here http://www.kellybax.com/2007/1.....s-for.html
Thanks,
Kelly
November 26th, 2007 at 3:51 pm
I tend to disagree with tip 3 because looking at your stats everyday can cause emotional awe. I look at my stats every weekend - 1 week, this gives me time to overlook everything and see what were my strong points as a whole. looking at your stats daily does not show you anything relative on how to improve, maybe what to do at 12.30 since that might be the time u have the most traffic, but looking at your stats as a whole is much better than always looking at your stats consistently and finding nothing for comparison
November 26th, 2007 at 4:24 pm
Ian -
Tip #3 isn’t talking about stats - it’s talking about checking in on your game plan, on your list of actions you need to execute to stay on track.
It’s definitely not about hitting refresh to look at stats :-) It’s about staying real with your level of follow through on a daily basis, instead of weekly or monthly (or not at all, like too many people do). It’s not “Did I get 15 new subscribers today?”, but, “Did I follow through on the things I said I’d have done by now so I’ll get more subscribers?”
A huge key to success is to consistently execute on your plan, and that’s what this tip was all about. Hope that clears it up -
Dave
November 26th, 2007 at 4:57 pm
Because I do (some) freelance work and blogging, I hadn’t thought about getting a business accountability partner. There’s my husband, of course, and he helps with this but I think he’s too close to help me really buckle down on my goals. He doesn’t want to make me feel bad.
Overall a helpful post–I shall go and ponder.
November 26th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
Great kick ass plan to prepare for 2008. Here are more tips:
1. Hire an independent contractor to work for you as an assistant on a commission based pay rate. Use this assistant to do things you dont’ want to do. I.E. Cold calls, marketing, follow up or whatever it is you don’t like doing.
2. Incorporate your business and stop making it a hobby if you’ve been treating it that way. You don’t need a lawyer to do it. You can do it online through your State’s Secretary of State’s office. I just incorporated my speaking business as an LLC for only $125 versus thousands through a lawyer who will do the same thing for you.
3. Open a business checking account and keep your business money separate from your personal (I’m assuming you’ve been operating as a sole propriotor where you mixed business and pleasure together).
Great article!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:07 am
Dave, I have to say these are the best freakin’ tips for 2008 business planning I’ve read yet, great post!
November 27th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Bro,
I don’t know why you ever left Jane’s Addiction…
November 27th, 2007 at 12:22 pm
Seriously good post, but don’t wait until december. October is the time to think about it a bit, then november to get it all ready. Action for 2008 starts in 2007. After all, look at your sales cycle, if you want projects in jan of 2008, you have to start looking for them in the last quarter of 2007.
Wrote out our 2008 goals a few weeks ago and posted them on the blog.
November 30th, 2007 at 4:38 pm
Im with Shane this post is fantastic!
Its all about getting specific and clearly defining your wants and needs. This has really energized me to get started on my 2008 goals, which is going to be a pretty hefty list because im aiming for quite a big year!
December 3rd, 2007 at 2:56 am
Dave…. You freakin’ rock. I love this post.
December 19th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
A real motivator, Dave! I have now set out my financial, project, staffing and training goals for 2008, and have made a good start to them. I’ve scheduled weekly accountability meetings with my business guru (husband), who is also responsible for my accounts - he’s been a bit slack, so the meeting is equally a good follow-up opportunity ;)
Formerly, my strategy had been quantity over quality, but with some experience behind me, I’m shifting my focus towards building a high-quality portfolio. Honestly, I’m very excited about the coming year.
Thanks for the kick up the a$$.
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