The 11 month business plan.

Most of us actually operate under an 11 month business plan. We start the planning process in January and lose a month of productivity (and that is assuming you/your team come to agreement by then). Many companies set deadlines for business planning for March 1st, losing the first quarter of momentum!

As a result, we operate haphazardly for this first month (or two) while trying to integrate new ideas and processes into a system from the previous year. This momentum feels clunky and is often detrimental to the goals for the coming year.

Let's assume you start onboarding a new client or land a new business relationship while you are in the process of finalizing an updated service model or pricing strategy. As you start to gain traction, you realize you are operating between two models while trying to establish trust with this new relationship.

This doesn’t mean failure, but may create additional stress or pressure, and a less than ideal experience for your clients. These first impressions are the most impactful, and proper planning can help you avoid these pitfalls.

If this is you, you may want to reset your fiscal year to when your business plan is complete to give you a full 12 months to execute and track results, or start planning earlier!