It’s not easy being a business owner when your business is…..you. There’s no employee of the month scheme, no team building events or motivational awards ceremonies.

The reality of being your own boss is that we usually put ourselves last in order to focus on delivering great work to clients.

And we also don’t always act like the boss. Without no one around to keep us accountable, it’s all too easy to stop planning, being strategic and instead fall back on just winging it.

As a recovering procrastinator, I can tell you from experience, that setting goals, planning strategically and getting your priorities in order is the biggest gift you can give your business.

Yes, we get to run our businesses however the hell we like. But, I promise, planning is EVERYTHING!

And once, that’s done, why shouldn’t we win ‘Employee of the Month’ every single month, right?

Here are some of the hard things I do in my business, AND the rewards I give myself too.

1. Map Out Your Next Quarter

If annual planning feels too daunting, you can start small.

Take time to sit down and set your goals for your next quarter now. Break those down into projects and focus only on those actions that will fall in this upcoming quarter of the year. Give everything a rough date and then go to town on planning out your first month in detail.

Consider:

• Client workload
• Business systems
• Personal learning
• Creative assets (website, social media)
• Team / outsourcing requirements
• Cash flow

2. Prioritise and be realistic about your current workload

It’s probable that you won’t get everything on your to-do list whenever you make a plan. 

Cool – it’s ok to be realistic and eliminate stress where you can. 

But rather than chucking everything in the ‘later’ bucket, re-prioritise as often as you can. 

If you’re struggling with overwhelm, choose 3-4 of your most important tasks and put them in your diary, which should make you feel better already. 

Bump the rest of your list until the next week/month/quarter, but do plan it in and let any clients who will be affected that timelines are slipping a little. It’s better to be honest now and the guilt. 

3. Gather data as you go along

Data about how your clients behave and what they think of you is good. I’m talking web traffic, search results and gathering testimonials.

Think of this as a present to your future self. If you haven’t yet set up a marketing funnel, or you’re not running paid ads, that’s totally fine, but at some point you probably will want to. 

And when you get to that point, you’re going to want data and lots of it, to give you the power to make decisions based on real numbers rather than guesswork. And if you haven’t got a system in place at that point, you’ll have a mountain to climb.

Even if you have no plans to run paid ads or build your email list anytime soon, make sure you have these golden sources of data in place. 

• Your Facebook book pixel
• Google Analytics
• Google Search Console
• A regular reminder and form set up to send to clients to gather feedback and testimonials

4. Find Your Tribe

I always say that there are three things you need to really be successful in business and I want you to give yourself the gift of these growth hacks now (or at least plan to implement them). 

Make sure you’re in an environment that normalises success. 

When I’m not part of a community or mastermind where I see other people having success on a daily basis, I feel utterly lost. This is because being in business can be lonely and without community, our old friend, imposter syndrome can start to get the better of us.

I know that I need to be in an environment which normalises success and which also gives me access to other people who are ahead of me and can show me ALL the shortcodes and the tools and strategies that really work. 

(If you need a bit of that in your life, then do check our our marketing membership, The Marketing Fix. It’s the accountability and community you need in your business life!)

5. Plan To Be Inspired

This is the ultimate reward for doing the hard things in your business.

Every year, I make sure I have some damn good training events and conferences planned in. I need to be learning and I also need that regular fix you get from in-person learning events. 

I’m also a big believer in reading business books and to make sure I get them read, I plan reading and learning time into every working week. 

It doesn’t have to be formal. I like to head down to the kitchen and read from 5-6pm in between cooking and chatting to the family. 

It’s no coincidence that a lot of the above points are planning related – whether that’s daily, weekly, monthly or annually. Honestly, I’ve tried to ‘wing’ running my business, but when I stop planning, I stop progressing. 

Gift yourself a little planning time and it will repay you over and over. 

Interested in getting help building your own marketing funnel? Check out our membership programme, The Marketing Fix.