Lesson 4: Kick-off
Up-dating and reviewing your plans
Now you're in business and are actually doing business. To build up your business in a structured way you have to define goals. When you decided to start your own small business, you had some general goals in mind. Now that you can see how the business runs and what kind of orders you are getting, you need to refine those goals, put them in terms of how your business is operating and adjust them so that they are realistic.
Think of your goals in terms of your operations. What will it take to reach those goals. Can the goals be expressed in terms of revenue, profit, number of customers, time spent or anything else to do with your business? Once your goals are clear in your mind and you can see what it will take to reach those goals, go further and outline specific steps you can take which will result in those goals being achieved.
Let's say your goal is to achieve a certain profit by the end of the first year. Now that you have some operating experience, you'll be able to estimate what revenue you will need to achieve that profit. You'll also be able to say how many orders that will be and how many customers you will need. You can look at your target groups and decide how many customers you will be able to get from each one and you'll be able to decide exactly what combination of customers will get you to your goal.
Then you can look at how to get those customers. Do you already have names and leads which will get you the customers you need? Or will you have to make some calls, send out some material or call some old contacts? You've got some customers - look for more just like them. Ask your existing customers for referrals or ask them for names of people who they think might be interested.
Once you know how you're going to get those customers who will give you the orders for the revenue and the profit to meet your goals, you're down to the last level of planning - scheduling when to make those calls or send out that material. Break down those goals into little steps, working backwards until you get to something you can do right away. Then, schedule it. Then you've got a detailed plan of how to reach your goals and, if you stick to it, you'll reach them.
