It’s crazy to think the new year is upon is less than 30 days. Where did 2019 go!? It’s crazy to think how fast this year went and to look back at everything that was accomplished. I plan to do a “year in review” type post here soon, but right now I want to chat about PLANNING.

Planning is a cornerstone to my business - I LOVE TO PLAN (as if you didn’t know that already about me). I know planning stresses a lot of people out though, so I want to provide some actionable steps to approach planning for 2020. This way you can break it down, and not get so consumed in figuring it all out at once.

Planning is supposed to help you, guide you and is a great way to know if you’re on track and making progress. Plans can shift or change, but it’s nice to have something to work towards to help wandering minds stay on the path a bit if you know what I mean.

So here are 5 actionable steps you can take to approach planning for 2020 today:

1. Change your mindset about planning

So many times I hear “I’m not a planner”. Or “I’m not good at planning”. This is a cop-out. An excuse. It’s not that you’re not good at it - it’s just that you are choosing not to take the time to do it, and to find a way that works for you. Any successful business has a plan, a roadmap, a guide - whatever you want to call it. A plan is required of you if you’re serious about where you want to go in your business. So instead of being frustrated by planning, dreading it, hating it and just not doing it - change your mindset. Figure out a way to make planning fun! Be creative - you can vision board, you can create beautiful graphics of your plan online, you can get a group of friends together for wine and plan together!

2. Start with a brain dump

You know I love a good brain dump! It’s so freeing to me! You aren’t required to do ANYTHING with the information, it could be the silliest idea you’ve ever had, but just write it down. Clear the space in your brain from what you “should” do or want to do and just write. Get everything on paper. This will help you ease into your planning process. I also find that getting started is the hardest part, so start with something fun and easy and you’ll get into the “planning mode” as I like to call it. This will get the wheels turning and you’ll have so many ideas on paper you can plug and play later on.

3. Reverse Engineer your goals

One of my favorite ways to plan is to actually start at the END of the year and work backward. This may seem counterintuitive, but think of it this way, you’re starting with the BIG picture. What do you want to accomplish by this time next year? What’s the end goal? Set your big goal and then work backward for how to get there.

For example, say you want to make six-figures in revenue next year. Great, that’s $100K for the year, $8,333/mo. Say you have one offer that’s $2k/mo, one that’s $1k/mo and one that’s $500/mo. You can then work through what that combination of offers looks like for how many clients you need at those price points. Maybe it’s 3- 2k clients, 1- 1k client and 3 $500/mo clients. You have to analyze your time available and the type of work you want to focus on, as well as the turnover rate for each of those offers. But it’s much easier once you break it down from the big goal into bite-sized pieces that help you focus on where to direct your time and attention.

4. Break it down

Break down your goals. You can do this in a few different ways, and you may find your mind comes up with new ideas depending on how you break them down. I like to break goals down by quarter (starting with Q4) and start BIG/BROAD across the board. Then, for each big idea, I then break it down to what service/offering in my business it applies to. From there, I like to break down what kind of investment will be needed to help me reach that goal - hiring a coach, expanding my team, purchasing a specific course or attending a conference, a physical hardware investment like a computer, etc. Breaking it down in different ways will help you put together a more comprehensive list of goals, actionable steps, tasks and investment throughout the year.

5. Get specific with what you want to accomplish

When it comes to planning, be specific!! Once you get your big goals on paper and break them down - make sure you’re adding in numbers, amounts and the details to know if you actually accomplished your goals. For example, don’t just write as a goal  “Attend more in-person networking events”. Instead, get specific with how many for the year or month “Attend 1 in-person networking event each month, as well as 3 large conferences for the year.” Attending “more” networking events is too vague. What’s “more” mean when you have nothing to compare it to?

I’m so excited to get my 2020 plan together. I want to dedicate a full day to planning! BONUS TIP - do the same. Make sure you give yourself adequate time to plan. Don’t try to plan when you’re not focused, or rushing through just to get it done. Spend some time really thinking, feeling, listening to what you want to achieve over the next 12 months. I’d love to hear how you approach planning and what actionable steps you take to effectively plan for the year ahead.

Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

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