HOW TO CREATE YOUR 90-DAY ACTION PLAN
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And a very happy 2022 to you! I hope you all had a super Christmas break and feeling bright-eyed, and bushy tailed ready to slay your year ahead!
I’ve got a great episode for today, and this one is perfect to kick start 2022. We’re going to focus on 90-day planning. So, in this episode I’m going to walk you through the concept of 90-day planning, how it can help you to uplevel your business and how you can easily create a plan for your own business!
We all talk about having a plan nailed down for the whole year ahead, but have you ever considered what would happen to your business if the marketplace changes, or trends change or your client base changes during that time?
And this is where 90-day planning comes in and it’s a great way of staying on top of the shifting changes happening in and around your business. And if you incorporate 90-day planning into your business routine then it’s going to give you an advantage over everyone else, because you’ll be much more agile and able to respond to changes at shorter notice. So, when you’re scaling your business, 90-day plans really are where the magic happens!
What We Talk About In This Episode:
OK, so let’s dive right on in.
Hit the download button for the full episode transcript.
Welcome to the Scale and Skyrocket your business podcast with me, your host, Lor Bradley. If you’re looking for super smart ways to scale your business and build a business that serves you (and not the other way around) then stay with me as every week, I’ll be sharing my simple time-smart strategies on how you can scale your business by working smarter and not harder.
And a very happy 2022 to you! I hope you all had a super Christmas break and feeling bright-eyed, and bushy-tailed ready to slay your day ahead!
I’ve got a great deep dive training episode for today, and this one is perfect to kick start 2022. We’re going to focus on 90-day planning. So, in this episode I’m going to walk you through the concept of 90-day planning, how it can help you to uplevel your business and how you can easily create a plan for your own business!
We all talk about having a plan nailed down for the WHOLE year ahead, but have you ever considered what would happen to your business if the marketplace changes, or trends change, or your client-base changes during that time?
And this is where 90-day planning comes in and it’s a great way of staying on top of the shifting changes happening in and around your business. And if you incorporate 90-day planning into your business routine, then it’s going to give you an advantage over everyone else, because you’ll be much more agile and able to respond to changes at shorter notice.
So, when you’re scaling your business, 90-day plans really are where the magic happens!
I have talked to many business owners about whether they have a plan written down and I’ve had various answers. Many say they simply don’t have a plan. Some will say they have one, but it’s tucked away in their head.
And, if it’s tucked away in your head, then is that a plan? I'm not really sure that it is!.
And for those that do have a written plan, it’s usually created, then filed away, gathering dust! If it does get pulled out, it's usually right at the end of the year, or you find it again under a stack of books when you have a clear out. It’s usually the case that when they do dust their plan off to look at it, they’ve realised they’re totally off track with their original plan in some way.
I’ve always worked to a 90-day plan cycle, and it’s helped me to stay focused, productive and feeling as though I’m on top of my marketplace.
Well, a 90day plan is (in its simplest form) an action plan for your business and it has two main functions:
And I really love the 90-day duration because it aligns nicely to:
Well, it’s so easy to be diverted off track and down rabbit holes and having a plan is going to keep you focused on the way forward. Some of the ways you might go off track when you don’t have a plan are:
If your vision changes, or maybe you have an unexpected big life-changing event like getting married or going travelling for 6 months for example.
You can also tend to go off track without a plan when you get distracted by shiny new things. You tend to get distracted and throw your intentions out the window, and then you follow the shiny new thing and then you wonder why your business isn’t getting the traction you’d hoped for.
And lastly, your customers and marketplace is constantly flexing and changing. And if you don’t have a plan, or a plan that you regularly keep up to date, then you guessed it, you risk being left behind whilst the world around you changes.
And I don’t want that to happen to you – as you’re too smart for that, right? So that's why we're doing this episode.
Well, the most effective 90-day plans are simple ones! The less complex you make them, the more agile you can become in your business and that’s really important when you’re scaling right?
Now, planning your next 90 days in business doesn’t have to be terrifying or time-consuming. The secret here is to keep your plans lightweight, chunked out in small baby steps and closely aligned to the goals you want to set for your business.
Now a great plan will always be nudging you closer to your vision, because if you aren’t doing the things to bring you closer to achieving your vision, then, well, it’s going to take you longer to get there.
And worst-case scenario, you may not ever get there at all!
90-day business plans are really popular right now and for a good reason. 90-days is short enough that you don’t lose your focus, but it's long enough that you can make significant progress toward your goals. It’s really the perfect amount of time for a plan, I think.
When I consult for the corporate world, I see them creating detailed 12-month plans at the start of the year that lays out their strategies, their tactics and their tasks for the whole year ahead, they add detailed timelines all the way through to the end of that year.
They spend massive amounts of time and effort on this exercise. Usually whole teams of people are involved in this process. And then a few months, or even some weeks later, something changes and then boom, the business has to re-focus on new priorities.
Those carefully crafted plans now have to be done all over again.
That's unproductive and well, it’s just plain crazy to work that way!
Things move at a fast pace in business, so things that you decide on at the beginning of the year may become outdated a few months later. A better system when you’re in a small business is to create one high-level big picture vision and save all the juicy details for your 90-day action plans.
Focusing on 90 days at a time, it also gives you the flexibility you need to achieve your goals AND change direction if you need to, so it’s a really smart way of working.
I find that 90-day planning works really well. Its short-term focused enough that you won’t feel overwhelmed. It keeps you on track with your short-term direction AND it keeps you productive week on week.
The things on your 90-day action plan will bring you closer to your business vision!
It’s really important to have a ‘working plan’ that works for YOU, that it keeps you moving forward toward your goals. And it works to your strengths.
You still need to know, even at a high level, what you want to achieve in the longer-term in your business (which is why it’s good to also have a longer-term higher-level plan), so I always like to suggest for a higher level plan to think ahead for 3 to 5 years ideally - you dont need to go much further than that.
Also, I want you to remember, planning a whole year ahead in great detail is also not a productive use of your time. As I have already mentioned, a lot can change during your year ahead, and it is far too time-consuming to plan a whole year in detail anyway.
It’s much smarter and more productive to focus on generating as many results as you can with this shorter 90 day time-period.
So, a 90-day plan also helps you gain momentum. You don’t want to wait until the end of the year to see results, do you? No, you want to see success early in the year, and regularly thereafter, because that will keep you motivated to keep going.
If you don’t yet have a 90-day plan, then now’s the perfect time to get started one, especially in January, but you can create one at any time throughout the year.
I’m going to guide you through some questions which you’ll need to think about as you start to create your plan for the next 90 days. Now, use this podcast episode in whichever way that works for you.
You might prefer to listen in one go, scribble down notes or you can stop the audio, take time to answer each question and then come back to the podcast when you’re ready.
It really doesn’t matter.
Go with whichever works for you.
Lets get started.
STEP 1: Your Previous 90-Day Goals
Now I want you to think about the goals you had set yourself during the last 90-days. If you haven’t set yourself any clear goals over the last 90 days, then think of this part of the exercise as looking back on the things you wanted to achieve.
I do have a free training video on how to set goals, so if you’re rusty on goal setting, then I’ll leave the link for you to check that video down in the show notes.
STEP 2: Think About The Goals You Have In Progress
Think about which goals you already have in progress and you’re on-target to reach. What do you think it is about these goals that are propelling you forward to achieve them? – is it because these goals are enjoyable? Is it what you’re great at? Is it because you're working in your zone of genius?
And I say this because it’s always a savvy move to reflect on your behaviour and those personal drivers that sit behind what works well, because you’ll want to capitalise on THOSE things in your next 90-days.
For example, you know you’re going to hit your sales targets because you thrive on the buzz of selling! Focusing on what’s working well will always catapult you forward when you’re scaling up your business!
Write those things down, or circle them if you have your written plan in front of you.
Sometimes highlighting them in a different colour helps, for example, Green for on track, Amber for at risk of missing deadlines and Red for if you're running late.
STEP 3: Think About The Goals You’ve Already Completed
So, did you accomplish everything on your list? What did you achieve?
Some people like to cross things off their lists and never look back at them but, I believe celebration and reward are so important to keep you motivated! It’s easy to lose sight of how far you’ve come - until you look back.
Make sure you plan in some time for celebration, or for whatever little treats that keep you motivated.
My small treat is watching a Netflix box set or, a bigger treat for myself would be a weekend away adventure-walking.
Write your accomplishments down now.
STEP 4: Think About The Goals You're Still Struggling With
Now think about those goals where you’re still struggling. Are there any goals that you need to spend more time focusing on? What’s holding you back from achieving these things?
Again, it’s always a savvy move to reflect on your behaviour and those personal drivers sitting behind what doesn’t work so well, because, you’ll want to change your approach on these things in your next 90 days.
For example, you didn’t get your blog posts written because you hate writing!
By being aware of what’s not what’s working so well, you’ll have the opportunity to look at delegating it, or outsourcing it, or perhaps approaching the task in a different way so that it ‘feels’ different and more engaging.
So, with my last example, you might hate writing but LOVE talking. So, your obvious change of approach would be to switch over to a podcast or use an auto-transcriber tool to transcribe your speech and then quickly turn that into a blog post.
Write those things down now & how you're going to reframe that into a new way of working
STEP 5: Now think about What Else Do You Need To DO?
Think about the other things in your business you’ve noticed needs improvement.
Sometimes you’ll have major tasks which don’t necessarily support your business goals, but will still need to get actioned in your plan.
Think about those tasks now and write them down.
STEP 6: Think About What You've Learned
Now think about the learnings that have hapened in the last 90-days. This might be from the scrapes you’ve been through, client feedback you've received, or from other places. What have you learned?
I ask this because you probably will have taken notes for these things, or for the new things you’d like to try, or implement into your business. And these new things will need to be factored into your next 90-day action plan.
Write these things down now.
STEP 7: Seasonal Things To Consider
Also, there may also be seasonal things to consider in your planning. Are you going to take vacations during the next 90-day period?
If so, a small tip from me, make sure your 90-day action plan covers enough blog posts and newsletters that you can write in advance to cover the time that you are on vacation, so that you can relax and enjoy yourself.
This is where batching your content really comes into its own here.
Write these things down now.
STEP 8: Allow Yourself Time To Grow
Don’t forget about your personal development.
Being in business for yourself, you can’t afford to let your own learning slide, even when life gets really hectic. We have to wear so many hats in business, so it’s good to factor in small amounts of time to continually add to, not just your business, but your personal growth.
But, if you’re anything like me, then you could easily go down a rabbit hole spending too much time learning, too much time watching TED talks and no time actually implementing what you learn.
That’s a common trap many small business owners fall into.
And a great solution to this is to create your own mini-personal development plan. I suggest you include at least one development goal in each 90-day action plan if you can.
So, have you been meaning to start meditating before you start your day? Maybe there’s a mindset book that you’ve really wanted to get stuck into? Or a few dozen TED talks you’ve been meaning to watch?
List those development things out and schedule those in your diary, in your development plan or whatever tool works best for you.
The "HOW" you do this and where you do this is not important, more so that you’re doing it!
STEP 9: Now Choose 3 Goals (or refresh your current ones)
Now choose three big goals to focus on in your next 90-day plan. I work to three goals, or less. If you choose more than three, just be aware it will become harder to stay focused. Don’t forget you may also have things outstanding to carry over from any previous 90-day plans, so make sure you carry those things across.
If you want to be even more focused, then it’s absolutely fine to go all-in and double down your focus on just one goal for the next 90-days.
The more focused you can be, the better. Simplicity is key in scaling your business.
90-days is the perfect amount of time to focus on nailing one big project. Just think about the progress that you could make by picking ONE thing every 90-days and really giving it your all!
Make sure your goals are what’s known as SMART goals, so SMART is an acronym for:
You also want to give yourself a little stretch here, step out of your comfort zone and into personal growth, but don’t overstretch yourself into stress or by setting unrealistic targets!
STEP 10: Focus On Your Priorities
Now in this exercise, you have a good view on all of the things you are going to include in your plan, let’s move on to prioritising those things and limiting your focus.
Remember, you want to keep your next 90-days and your day-to-day working as smart as possible. You want to be working smarter and not harder.
And that means not getting too bogged down with too many things to do. I d have a free training video on how to prioritise so I will leave the link to that in the episode show notes.
So make sure you prioritise everything you've written down on your list.
STEP 11: Create Your 90-Day Action Plan
Now’s the time to start creating your next 90-day Action Plan
We know a plan without action items isn’t going to get us very far. So, after you’ve decided upon your focus areas and goals for the next 90-days, break each goal down into 3 to 5 action items. These should be major steps toward completing the goals you have set for yourself.
Remember, don’t get too detailed at this point, or you might get lost in the detail.
Then for each item, set yourself some due dates (for each action item) and include them into your preferred method for planning.
I have recently been using Asana so that’s going to be my tool of choice for 2022, but you can use planning tools such as Trello, ClickUp, AirTable or just good old-fashioned pen and paper.
The most important thing to remember is that you’re creating an action plan that works for you, the tool doesn’t really matter right now.
Don't Get Tripped Up By These Things!
When you’re creating your action plan, these things may trip you up:
Remember, your goals should be your top priorities, so that’s those projects or tasks that will really move you forward in your business and toward your big picture vision.
And there you have it! That’s how you create your 90-day plan for your business!
It’s not difficult, but I will say, it will require you to put time aside and give it some thought about what you really want to tackle in your business in the short-term.
And by using the 80/20 principle (so that’s by looking at the minimum effort you can apply for the maximum results and the maximum return) is really going to propel your business forward. So the more savvy you can be with your time, your focus and your energy then this is going to really serve you well as you scale your business.
And I cannot stress this strongly enough. Limit yourself on how many objectives and how many action items you choose to focus on in your 90-day period. The more you limit what you focus on, the more you’re going to accomplish, because you’re going to actually get things done!
So, keep it smart and keep it simple!
Have a great day, and if you have any feedback for me, then let me know and I’ll see you in the next episode!
Lor Bradley
I'm Lor Bradley 🏳️🌈
No 'je ne sais quois' to be found here! I'm a qualified business strategist, author and I show entrepreneurs exactly what they need to DO to be brilliant in business.
I'm an online business mentor & consultant, not a business coach, so unlike most coaches I have the practical experience and geek-ery to show you how to grow your business to 7-figures and beyond.
I'm a trans non-binary entrepreneur and I’m on a mission to uplevel entrepreneurs from 'spread too thin' and into the CEO of a biz they won't want to take a holiday from!
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