Entrepreneurialism Information

By Melanie Strick

I'm in a room of 100 entrepreneurs. It's time to ask the dreaded "four letter word" questions. The questions about how you PLAN for your business.

• How many of you have a written plan for your business? (1/2 the hands go up.)
• How many of you follow your plan during the week? (Only a few hands remain.)

Hmm. No wonder distractions run rampant and results are less than desirable. You don't know what to focus on if your plan is hiding out in the folder you scribbled some notes on.

Maybe you can relate to some of these thoughts on planning:

• The thought of sitting down to plan is like going to the dentist for a root canal - avoid at all costs until pain is overwhelming.
• Your idea of a plan is scribbled notes on a cocktail napkin or a post it note.
• If you do write up a plan it gets buried underneath your mail.
• You let your daily focus get dictated by who calls you first for help.
• You think planning is the arch enemy of money making and have labeled it "admin stuff."

Here is the reality. Planning is a critical component to your success. If you fail to plan you might as well plan to fail. I know for some people it doesn't feel fun to plan. Or it seems impossible to carve out the time to focus on planning. When you neglect to plan out your business goals and projects, you are wasting time, money, resources and your sanity! Here is the truth. One of the secrets to six and seven figure success is "doing what works." Planning works.

Here is another reality. When you don't have a plan, you aren't going to be clear on how to use your time. So the result is: wasted time. What is your time worth? $100/hour? $200/hour? $300/hour? If you waste five hours a week on things that aren't important, it could be costing you over $1,500. Add that up and it's over $72,000 a year. That's not even including what you could be losing in poor productivity in your team. What if you could not only get that back but double your productivity? Sounds like planning really is a high-payoff activity.

Here are a couple of tips to planning that could help you make it a high payoff activity.

First, make planning a regular part of your routine. If you are trying to add something into your life that is new, it can be difficult to find time. If planning is done regularly, then it becomes a habit. Here are a few ways you can make planning a habit.

>> Have a weekly review of your plan with your team.
>> Once a quarter, review your strategies and see where you are on (or off) track.
>> Make a rule. No new project gets launched without a project plan.
>> Always incorporate your action plan tasks into your daily calendar system.

Second, change your mind about planning. If you think of planning as an unpleasant administrative task, you will never spend time on it. If you see planning as a powerful way to get things accomplished, save money and create more sanity, then you will see it as important and make time for it. Planning is so critical and so often people don't make time. That why its one of the techniques we teach you at the ULTIMATE Business Breakthrough Intensive. To find out more about all the super-powered strategies you will learn at the UBBI, visit www.ultimatebusinessbreakthrough.com.

To wrap up, here is a formula I use a lot in coaching:

Planning = Freedom.

If you want more freedom to do what you love, then start planning for it!

Melanie Benson Strick, The Entrepreneur's Success Coach, teaches entrepreneurs how to stop feeling overwhelmed so they can create more money, more freedom and more prestige. Co-author of Visionary Women Inspiring the World: 12 Paths to Personal Power and contributing author to Entrepreneurial Spirits , Melanie is co-creator of The Unstoppable Goals Method: How To Turn Your Ideas into Income in 90 Days. If you are ready to experience a breakthrough in your business, sign up for a 25-minute personalized "Business Breakthrough" at http://www.successconnections.com/breakthrough.html.