Not knowing what to do as a business owner is the SINGLE most frustrating thing an entrepreneur can experience in the beginning of their ventures. (Not to mention costly!) A business start-up can stand to lose a LOT of money if they don’t correctly outline a strategic plan or roadmap to lead them to success.
But what if I said you have everything you need to create an effective strategic plan right now. In fact, you simply need the knowledge
But what is a strategic plan, and is it really that important? In short, this one tool could be the difference between success and failure for your business. So you’re definitely going to want to keep reading.
This blog post is all about the 6 simple steps to developing an effective strategic plan for your business in 2024.
What is a Strategic Plan?
It’s 2024. . . you don’t need a fancy business degree or old money wealth to become a self-made multi-millionaire. The first quarter of 2024 was one of the MOST productive and profitable quarters of my life and it’s all thanks to the implementation of one important business tool: The Strategic Plan.
So what exactly is it?
A Strategic Plan is the process of defining the vision for the future of a business and identifying its goals and objectives.
In essence, it’s goal planning . . . on another level.
Large and established companies may produce these large complex documents of a strategic plan that include things like market research,
At the beginning of this year, I sat down with a notebook, pen, and calendar to come up with exactly where I wanted to be by the end of this year and how I planned to get there.
The following are the exact steps I made that you can use to have your best business year yet.
Above all, you’ll only get out what you put into your business, so while I can give you all the steps, it’s up to you to apply the actions.
Step One: Write out the Vision
One of my favorite parts about being a business owner is being able to allocate time to envision all the things you want your business to produce.
For you to build your business you have to have a clear understanding of where you’re going, so you can tell how far you’ve come.
I can’t tell you how many times I started something without clearly defining my goals, only to lose motivation halfway through because I felt like I wasn’t making progress.
This can cause a dangerous cycle of starting and stopping that some aspiring entrepreneurs stay stuck in for years.
Instead, we need to write out the goals that are achievable within a time frame where we can analyze our results and adjust as necessary. To accomplish this, I suggest starting with creating 2 lists. A One Year List and a Three Year List.
In your One Year List, focus on all that you’d like to accomplish in 2024. Whether it’s a certain number of clients, a revenue goal, securing partnerships, or launching X amount of product, you’ll want to write down everything you feel you can accomplish in the next year.
Anything else that feels a little too big to do within the next 12 months can spill over into your Three Year List. This list should reflect where you plan to take your business in the coming years.
Step Two: Identify Your Revenue Streams
Most businesses have a couple of different revenue streams they need to maintain in order to sustain and scale.
When I started my blog, I spent weeks researching every possible way it could generate revenue, looked up case studies on how others did this and decided which ones would fit where I wanted to take my brand.
Not every revenue stream will work for your business, so it’s important to find ones that make sense for where you are an where you’re going.
Some examples of revenue streams are:
- Running Ads
- Digital Products
- Books
- Services
- Physical Products
- Events
- Affiliate Marketing
- Partnerships and Sponsorships
- Membership Programs
- and more!
Step Three: Research Your Monthly Earning Potential
Knowing your monthly earning potential can help you create a more effective strategic plan and waste less time pouring into strategies that don’t work.
It’s a HUGE time saver.
PRO TIP: While it’s important to know how much you’d like to make, you also need to know how much is possible too!
This is why I suggest you research your monthly earning potential. As a blogger, I know that my business’s revenue depends on factors like, how many people visit my website, how big my email list is, or how many people are buying my digital products.
Based on this information, I can easily determine where I need to focus my research. I spent over a MONTH researching the earning potential of running ads and launching digital products.
From my search, I was able to determine just how much I could make in each revenue stream per month, and determine where my focus needed to be in order to accomplish it.
For example,
Running Ads (revenue stream) X $25,000/mo (monthly earning potential) = 1 Million Blog Visitors
This isn’t an exact number my blog has made just yet, however, based on my research if my focus is building a certain amount of traffic and starting to run ads my earning potential can be uncovered.
These three values are connected. So no matter how you set the equation, they still some together to give you an idea of where your focus should be while building your business.
Step Four: Set Specific Goals
Now that you have an idea of your monthly earning potential by the end of your 1st year, you need to set goals!
If you can’t tell by now, I LOVE goal-setting.
You simply can’t create a strategic plan without this step.
Start with breaking down your year into four quarters. This will turn your business growth plan into 12 week increments that are more manageable than looking at the year as a whole.
Within each quarter, you’ll need to break down your goals further, into monthly and weekly goals that will contribute to your overall success. While this can seem tedious, you’ll thank yourself in the long run!
I suggest, focusing on all the foundational parts of your business in the beginning so you can focus a larger amount of attention on increasing your revenue down the line.
Trust me, nothing sucks worse than when you launch a product or service, and then realize you can’t accommodate it.
Step Five: Create a Schedule
I use so many planners to keep myself organized, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. I highly recommend getting some type of planner that you can use daily to keep yourself on track with your strategic plan.
If you’ve done all the steps above successfully, it should be super easy to break down your goals into a list of monthly, weekly, or even daily tasks that you need to complete.
This is especially important for solo-preneurs who are tasked with both the growth and the maintenance of their business. By breaking down your vision and turning it into tasks that fit into your weekly schedule, you’re better positioned to move in and outside of your business to make sure it’s moving in the direction you want it too.
Step Six: Analyze Results
Analyze, Analyze, ANAYLZE!
The very last part of this six-step process is to keep an eye on the results you produce based on your strategic plan. In my niche, if I’m not seeing an upward trend in a couple of months I know it’s time to consider adjusting my strategy.
It can take a while to see results in any business, you’ll need to use your own discernment to know when it’s time to try a different approach.
If you’d like to learn more about confidently operating your business, check out the following post:
How to Know What You’re Doing as A Business Owner in 2024
In conclusion,
Developing a strategic plan for your business can take a lot of work. Entrepreneurship is not an easy journey. While most business influencers will make it seem like it’s super easy to make your first million dollars with their magical funnels or drop shipping secrets, quick scaling still requires an intense focus, determination and plan.
Following these steps will help set you up for success and set you ahead of your competition, especially in the early stages of your business.
This blog post has been about 6 Steps to developing an effective strategic plan in 2024.
Stay Creative,
~J.D.
