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For the next 5-10 business days you need to audit your bandwidth. You don’t need anything fancy, a clipboard will work wonderfully. Print a daily calendar that has time stamps on the left and space on the right for you to record the things you are doing. Keep your descriptions simple and concise. Where is your most precious resource – time and attention – going? Not where you think it’s going and not where it is supposed to be going, but where is it actually going? Take a look at your calendar – zoom to the monthly view. Do you have a meeting with Gridlock? (Too many meetings and not enough progress?) Is your schedule completely open with no scheduled projects? (This leaves you open to time parasites that suck your week dry of real progress on your priorities.)
Here’s the 7th Gear Framework to help you make a strategic plan in order to filter your needs and resources.
- Marketing Gear: What marketing materials, if any, will be needed?
- Printed flyers, cards, or signs?
- Networking: Do you need to reach out to your sphere of influence? Who is the ideal client for this new idea?
- Sales Gear:
- What will the presentation be like?
- Do you have a specific Sales Process? Do you have a definite “Ask” in your process?
- How many resources will it take? (Time, money, materials?)
- Fulfillment Gear:
- Will you need to change the experience of delivery for your clients?
- Will this involve new training or resources?
- Management Gear:
- What will you need to change in your daily or weekly routines to ensure this new standard gets accomplished?
- What will you need to delegate to ensure the Vision happens?
- Who else needs to be involved to help accomplish this change?
- Operations Gear:
- What process needs to be defined to track the progress and completion of this new idea?
- Who needs to be completing these new tasks?
- How do they need to be communicated that they are done?
- Finance Gear:
- How much will this cost? Do you need any new accounts set up by your bookkeeper or CPA to track the financial impact?
- 7th Gear: YOU
- Have you constructed a clear vision statement and goals? What are you personally going to have to do differently and new? What things do you need to delegate to others to make sure they get done?
The real business vision is always intentional. It’s easy and fairly standard to be “busy” as a business owner. Accomplishing your business and career Vision requires focus and time. Many business owners wake up in their own business wondering; Where did I get off track?; Why am I so busy?; Why don’t I have more time to work on the stuff I liked when I started my business?
“Busyness” happens with little to no effort. You can be working on autopilot and before you realize it, you are completely busy. “Business” success takes a lot of effort to define, execute and stay on track to accomplish. It takes clear Vision, 20/20 Vision.
For further 2020 Business Vision preparation, you can take my Free Online Assessment to help measure your 2020 Readiness and schedule a call to discuss it for a No-Cost 2020 Vision Consultation.
