This time of year is a great time to plan. If you are a business owner, take the time out to revise your business plan. While doing that, you can set new goals and milestones for you to work on in the New Year ahead.

Dust that business plan off once in a while and use it the way it truly is meant to be used. It is meant to help guide you along your entrepreneurial journey. Did you reach your sales goals? Did you spend more than you thought and budgeted for?

Was the market you were targeting in your business the right one?

These are key components of your business plan and now is a great time to review, revise and set a new course!

You’d be surprised by what you wrote if you are about to embark on revising your existing business plan, you might be surprised by how far you have come and as to how far off track or on track you are with respect to what you wrote in your business plan too!

Now, for those in business, that don’t have a plan…well, do one…even if it is a one page plan, or the new Business Model Canvas. (see below).

You can even draw or illustrate your plans on a cocktail napkin, but for gosh sake, put your ideas onto paper.

According to Napolean Hill (The author of Think and Grow Rich), “When you put your thoughts onto paper, you give concrete form to the abstract ideas.” In other words, the thought or ideas now become real, actionable and possible. You can organize your thoughts and ideas and set forth a course of action to follow!

 

The one key thing I love about planning, whether it is a business plan, a career plan, a health plan, a fitness plan, is that it takes some of the stress and anxiety away from life!

Think about it!  Anxiety, doubt and fear comes from the unknown. It is about a situation or issue we face now and into the future. It is usually based on a fear or worry about something, or someone in our lives.

One way to combat fear, worry and anxiety is to breathe, for sure! Breathe, meditate, relax yourself and mind, but then start to write out a plan of action, what are the steps you need to take in order to overcome your fear, doubt and worry…once you take steps to plan a course of activities and actions your anxiety will subside.

Your anxiety will become less, if you act on the plan. It will decrease further if you get results from you actions too.

The other critical piece to writing a plan or revising it is that you learn a ton along the way!

You need to do research on your goals or new initiatives. What you learn will be invaluable to your success.

Take time to assess, learn and research whatever you want to do, be or have in the New Year ahead!

Take a trip to Toronto’s reference library, to take time to research, book a librarian to help guide you in your learning.

Go to trade shows in your industry to help you see what is new and who is doing what!

Read books to help you become better at running a business, selling, marketing yourself or even giving the wisdom to make great choices in 2018

The bottom line here is…take the time to learn, research, seek ideas, new ways and opinions, from the learning you can then make a plan that will get you amazing results!

I guarantee it!

Have a great Christmas Holiday and a happy New Year ahead.

I for sure am taking a break from writing for a few weeks, I appreciate you reading these posts and success articles.

May it be a good year of peace, joy and health for us all!

David Cohen

 

Bio:

David is an author, business coach, and facilitator and was the former host/producer and creator of the Small Business Big Ideas Show heard weekly for over 9 years. David has taught thousands over the years in both the non-profit and for-profit sectors and has coached hundreds of start-ups to make those important first steps. He specializes in helping small business owners mine their strengths, get clear on their value, their markets and then begin to develop a sales and marketing game plan that gets results.

He also can be booked to do his keynote presentations; “The 8 Keys to Success, How I got to Kiss the Stanley Cup and his new keynote called “A breakthrough-through the glass”- how to overcome the fear that life and business might throw your way. He leads workshops in sales, marketing, market research, business plans, target marketing and customer service programs. David is currently with the City of Toronto, heading up an entrepreneur training program for inner city youth and adults. He has taught thousands and coached numerous clients in the area of Small Business Start-ups and business growth strategies.