Strategic Plan Step One, What Do You Want?

A strategy is a detailed and highly organized plan of action. A Strategic Plan is a written plan for your company's future including what processes and systems will be need to achieve the goals.

Your first step in preparing your strategic plan is to decide what you want not only professionally but personally. Ask yourself what you want out of your business. Do you want to travel more, go fishing or pursue other hobby, or spend more time with your family? Envision what you would do if you were not at work. Envision five years from now and when you are ready to retire.  Make a written list. For example;

·         Play golf three times a week

·         Take my kids to school every morning

·         Never work on weekends or take work home

·         Go on two skiing trips a year

·         Live in a small town

·         Take a cruise every winter

·         Spent a year sailing the Bahamas

·         Own the biggest house in town

·         Own a speed boat

·         Drive race cars

·         Send the kids to college

·         Buy a new car every year

·         Retire at 50

Make the lists as detailed and as long as you like. Prioritize your goals from most important to least.  

Is managing your company the thing that you want to do? If you worked all you life and saved so you could turn your hobby into a business such as owning a SCUBA shop you still need a plan to treat the shop as a business not a hobby so the dream does not destroy you financially.

How much money does your business need to make to allow you to afford your wish list? Is that financial goal possible in your industry, your location or within the scope of your abilities? If one of your primary goals is to live in a town with a population fewer than 1,000 people and you need to sell a million dollars worth of cell phones in that small town then one of your goals needs to change.

Once you have established your personal and financial goals you can begin to establish a plan to accomplish those goals.  Establishing a strategic plan without setting your goals would be like using a map when you do not where you are going.   

Original Content Copyright 2010 Thomas Robinson