{"id":54045,"date":"2022-10-17T02:39:46","date_gmt":"2022-10-17T07:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/?p=54045"},"modified":"2022-10-11T13:50:42","modified_gmt":"2022-10-11T18:50:42","slug":"why-every-small-business-needs-a-strategic-plan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/why-every-small-business-needs-a-strategic-plan\/","title":{"rendered":"Why Every Small Business Needs a Strategic Plan (and How to Create One)"},"content":{"rendered":"<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every Small Business Faces Volatility<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I'm making a bold claim about strategic planning for small businesses: the ones that have them are in the best position to weather volatility. Businesses without a strategic plan are in for a rude surprise.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here's a personal example that paints the picture.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Back in my publishing days, the imprint I worked for struggled. Imagine my shock when I strode into the office one day and discovered that my boss had quit and I was elevated to take his place as the publisher of the worst-performing division of Thomas Nelson. I knew things weren't great before my boss left, but I didn't realize how bad things were until I took the reins.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here's what I found:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>We were the least profitable imprint<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of fourteen in the company. We had lost money the previous year, and people in the other divisions were mumbling that our performance had dragged the whole company down.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Revenue hadn't grown in years.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> And to add insult to injury, one of our competitors walked away with our bestselling author.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>We were consuming enormous corporate resources<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and providing virtually no return to our shareholders.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>The team was small and overworked.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> We published about 125 new titles a year with ten people, and the quality suffered.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The imprint had no vision or plan. This was the first thing I set about to fix when I took over. And once we created a strategic plan and executed it, we turned things around in 18 months. What was the worst-performing division in the company became the best.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And it all started with a plan.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But what about businesses now in the post-pandemic world?<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Data About What\u2019s Ahead<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Bank of America recently published a <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/newsroom.bankofamerica.com\/content\/newsroom\/press-releases\/2022\/10\/bank-of-america-finds-66--of-small-business-owners-expect-revenu.html\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">report<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> surveying 1,300 small business owners in the United States, asking what they expected in the next year.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The results were surprisingly positive.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the face of rising interest rates, inflation, supply-chain issues, and hiring challenges, 66% expect their revenues to increase, and more than half are considering expanding.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.uschamber.com\/sbindex\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">U.S. Chamber of Commerce<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> paints a less rosy picture, with confidence among small business owners dipping as fast as at the start of the pandemic. Inflation, a worsening economy, and a sense that the worst is yet to come top the issues that have business owners' attention.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How Do Small Business Owners Move Forward When Their Gut Contradicts the Data?<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When one report says business owners are excited about their expected revenues in the next year and another says things are bleak, you have to wonder who they're talking to. Whoever is closer to the truth, we can be sure that no small business owner looks at the same economic environment through the same lens.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is why strategic planning is crucial for every small business owner.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But before we get into the benefits of a strategic plan and how to build one, let's first define what a strategic plan is.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What Is a Strategic Plan?<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A strategic plan is a written <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/reduce-turnover-with-a-clear-vision-for-your-company\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vision<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> of where you want to take the company combined with a plan for getting there.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This vision defines where you want your organization to be in three years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What will your business be three years from now?<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What's the plan to get there?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What are the obstacles that can throw us off course?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How are we going to respond to those when they happen?\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strategic planning is about working on your business to get a 30,000-foot view of your company and ensure you're headed on the right course.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You and your leadership team can do the planning work in three days if you do it right.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why Strategic Planning Matters for Small Businesses<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Every business is different. As we saw with the Bank of America report, there are small business owners who expect to do better in the next six months than they have in a while. Their approach to the next year will be different from that of a business owner who's more severely impacted by inflation and interest rate hikes.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wherever you fall on the spectrum of concern over the economy, I would still say strategic planning is a must. In my 40-plus years of business, I've found three main benefits of creating a strategic plan:<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benefit 1: A strategic plan improves your odds of success.<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you've been in business for a while, you know how tenuous success can be. It can be feast or famine.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But here's the reality: according to the U.S. Department of Commerce, about a million businesses will be started this year. Eighty percent of those businesses will fail within the first five years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of the 20% that survived the first five years, 80% of those will fail in the next five years. This leaves a 4% chance of surviving ten years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I don't like those odds.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strategic planning gives you vision, direction, and benchmarks to help you evaluate tangible opportunities from distractions that can sink you.<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benefit 2: A strategic plan provides focus for your work.<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Great new ideas are sometimes just distractions masquerading as opportunities. Falling for their trap is a fast track to your business becoming really unfocused. And for you and everybody on your team, a lack of focus leads to massive overwhelm.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The strategic plan provides a filter and focus, so your team spends the bulk of their time working on the most important things.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Executing your strategic plan moves your business toward the milestones on your Vision Script.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Without that plan, the work is unfocused. The result is that your people are busy with work that doesn't matter, because it's not headed in a strategic direction<\/span><\/p>\n<h5><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Benefit 3: A strategic plan gives confidence to you and your team.<\/span><\/h5>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Here's a dirty little secret: your team knows when you're winging it. They know when there's no plan. Having a plan helps you:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Get a better night's sleep.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Gain confidence that things are headed in the right direction.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Know that you're not just busy but being productive.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Most importantly, having a plan gives the team confidence in your leadership. Everybody wants to follow a leader with a plan. Nobody in the history of the world ever said, &#8220;What I'm looking for is a leader without a plan.&#8221; That just doesn't happen.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">How to Create an Effective Strategic Plan<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now that we've covered what a strategic plan is and how it helps you, let's dig into creating one. You can create a solid strategic plan for your small business by setting aside time with your leadership team and writing a plan containing these elements:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Vision.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Create a clear picture of where the company is headed.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Current Reality.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> Come face-to-face with your current reality. This is the time to be honest with yourself and your team. Conduct a SWOT analysis.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Where You're Going. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Based on the vision and your current reality, define where you're going over the next three years (but especially in the next year).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>How You're Going to Get There.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> This is the strategic piece: Define how you will get from where you are to the destination you defined in Step 3.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Benchmarks to Know You're on Track. <\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">List progress markers that will indicate you're moving closer to realizing your vision.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I've been part of many strategic planning processes, but the most useful ones include these five elements.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">One more requirement for you to create an excellent strategic plan: it must be written down. Why write your plan? For clarity.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The ideas between your ears can be fuzzy. But when you start to get your ideas out on paper and have your team do the same\u2014it's easier to tweak and fine-tune to get the absolute crystal clarity you need.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember . . .\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\t\t<aside class=\"tweetable tweetalign_center\" style=\"width:100%\">\n\t\t\t<blockquote>\n\t\t\t\tClarity creates acceleration.<cite>Michael Hyatt<\/cite>\n\t\t\t<\/blockquote>\t\t\t<ul class=\"actions\">\n\t\t\t\t<li class=\"icon-arrow\"><a class=\"icon-twitter\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?source=tweetbutton&text=Clarity%20creates%20acceleration.%20https%3A%2F%2Ffullfocus.co%2F%3Fp%3D54045&via=michaelhyatt\" title=\"Share Quote on Twitter\" target=\"_blank\">Tweet<span> Quote<\/span><\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/aside><\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">What to Do if You Need Help<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">An effective strategic plan is your atlas that guides you through whatever changes your company faces in the next three years.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">When it's done the right way, it keeps you on track, helping you avoid fool's gold opportunities that distract you from the vision and goals you set down in your strategic plan.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And while you can create a strategic plan on your own, that's not for everybody. If the idea of creating an effective plan for your small business is intimidating, we're offering an on-demand version of our <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/strategicworkshop\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Strategic Design Workshop<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This workshop details every financial report you'll need, the information to gather from your team, and how to put it all together in a plan that becomes your company's field guide for the next 12 months.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Business owners who sign up for the On-Demand Strategic Design Workshop will walk away with:<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>Powerful strategies that move your company forward.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> With our framework for strategic planning and the coaching you get during the workshop, you will have a plan that's actually useful. And when you do it right, this resource will become your company's compass.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>A rubric for decision-making.<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> When you go through this exercise, you know what's important for your company. You'll be ready when situations and circumstances change over the next year. And you'll have the flexibility to modify as you go, all while your company makes steady forward progress.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><b>A tool that helps you identify fool's gold opportunities<\/b><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> and make positive, impactful decisions.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/fullfocus.co\/strategicworkshop\/\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Click here<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> to learn more.<\/span><\/p>\n<h4><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Final Thoughts<\/span><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Whether you create a strategic plan on your own or you get help from something like the Strategic Design Workshop, I can't emphasize enough how important strategic planning is for your company's success, especially with a highly volatile economy. When I reflect on my past business mistakes, almost every single one can be traced to a lack of planning.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This doesn't have to be you.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Remember, the strategic plan isn't just about what you do. It's also about what you don't do.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">You'll have a document that tells you and your leaders what matters for your company. What initiatives to pursue. Which initiatives to ignore or delay.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">If you haven't created a strategic plan for your small business, carve out some time and get one in place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Your future self will thank you.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strategic planning is essential for your company&#8217;s success, especially in a highly volatile economy. Here\u2019s why and how to get started.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":54049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[50,34],"tags":[49,33,1729,40],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v22.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Why Every Small Business Needs a Strategic Plan (and How to Create One) | Full Focus<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Strategic planning is essential for your company&#039;s success, especially in a highly volatile economy. 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