Today we have the second guest post from July’s Special Guest Blogger Elle Roberts of the Creative Business Co. Elle is passionate about the importance of business planning – something so many of us kinda leave to fall by the wayside. Check back each Friday to find out what she has to teach you about business planning!Â
Hey there,
If you are interested in hearing my five simple questions to building you a business plan but for some reason missed my post last Friday, I do suggest Heading over there before you go any further. Its ok – I’ll wait!
Great, let’s move onto questions 2 and 3 this week.
You should now know your WHY and be on the way to defining your purpose. This week lets talk on a more operational level.
There are good bits and bad bits in every business, tasks you enjoy and others you simply know need doing.
Today I want you to think about;
What tasks do you perform in your day to day business that get you “crazy” excited?
These are the activities that you would ring home and tell mum about, or arrange a coffee date with a bestie just to share your latest activity.
You want to think about the activities that energise you, feel you with inspiration to work harder and fill your heart with joy.
It is vital to clearly identify these tasks so that as you make future plans for your business, you can ensure you are constantly moving your business towards more and more of these activities. it might seem simple but is amazing how easy it is to start producing work you think the world wants instead of what is inline with your original passion.
Please note that I strongly encourage you to write all these answers down, even take some time out from your day to think about them with no distractions. Crazy things really do happen when you put pen to paper (or fingers to keys, whichever works best for you).
If this all seems a little dis-jointed I encourage you to stick with me. It will all come together over the next couple of weeks.
The second question you need to ask yourself this week is about money.
Let’s move out of the business brain for a second and think about your life as a whole.
How much money do you need to live the life you want?
Sounds simple right? I want you to think carefully about it though. I am not asking what you want earn in your business, what you hope your 2012 turnover is. I want to know how much the life you want to be living costs.
Think about family trips, the school you want to send your kids too, how many shoes you wish could own. Consider what age you want to retire and how many nights a week you want to eat out. What activities are part of your ideal life for yourself and your family?
Use this information to put a dollar figure on how much this lifestyle will cost you annually. This step may require some homework and the more effort you put in the more accurate an answer you will come to. At the same time, have fun with it and don’t get stuck over thinking it.
So the questions to think about this week are:
What tasks do you perform in your day to day business that get you “crazy” excited?
and
How much money do you need to live the life you want?
Take so time over the next week to think about each of these, remembering to write your answers down. I will back next Friday with two more questions for you and the following week I will practical advice on how to turn your 5 answers into the foundation of your business plan.
I encourage you to enjoy this process, and would love it if you felt comfortable to share some or all of your answers in the comments below.
Tell me what gets you shouting HELL YEAH!!
And if you are willing, share how much money you need to live your ideal life.
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Elle is the marketing maven behind the Creative Business Co. where she educates creatives in the art of business.
She’s running the Artful Business Conference in Brisbane on September 5th and 6th, featuring Tara Gentile, Megan Auman, Jennifer Lee, Jess Van Den, Lisa Walsh, and Russel Allert – get your tickets here!