clock-1031503As promised in my last post, here’s my guidance and an action plan to help you make 2017 your best year yet. It all starts with focusing on the next 90 days and applying these six steps so you can implement and get results quickly.

Let’s do this!

Decide what you want

I know this sounds simple but it’s also a step I know I tend to overlook. It’s a lot harder to work toward something if you’re not sure what it is. No need to overthink it or make a lengthy list either. In fact, what my clients find helpful is thinking about the big goal then breaking it down into 90 day achievements. A couple of years ago, Wendy Sabin (hi Wendy) helped me understand the brilliance of this in my own business. We got together in early spring and after mulling the question over I realized what I really wanted was to find a way to generate more than enough money in the summer to pay for a few weeks of summer camp for my kids and enjoy vacation time with my family. We made a simple plan and it happened. Having immediate and concrete goal gets you in gear.

Who do you serve BEST?

Earlier in this series I talked about identifying the problems you love to solve and for whom. The other piece of this is figuring out what slice of your market gets the BEST results from working with you. What characteristics need to be in place in order for this to happen?

How do you serve the BEST?

I know you’re smart, multi-faceted and multi-skilled. This is a blessing and a curse. A blessing because you can do many things well. A curse because it’s easy to morph into someone who does a lot of things, some of which you really would rather not do. So if you realize that you have a bit of a sandwich board structure going on with your business and it’s dragging you down, it might be time to reassess. I recently heard a brilliant way of figuring out how to reframe this question.

What are you so confident you can do for your clients that you’d be willing to do and not get paid UNTIL after they got results?

Focus on THAT, and watch your business double, triple or more.

Pick NO MORE than two marketing activities

Here’s a mistake I’ve made (and I should know better) and I’ve seen other consultants and coaches make. There’s 100 or more ways to market your business and it’s easy to get caught in the self-defeating cycle of trying too many tactics at once. But not every tactic makes sense for yourbusiness. You need to think about your business model, your assets and the marketing that you actually like to do. The idea is to find one or two marketing activities and go deep. Focus on these tactics and ONLY these tactics for the next 90 days.

Track your progress

OK, I have to admit. Tracking and metrics is NOT always easy or fun . . . but think about it. When you’ve actually tracked your progress on anything – whether it’s revenue or physical training or nutrition – you accomplish your goals right? That’s because data helps you make better decisions. Information allows you to prevent massive drift. When you see yourself starting to stray off course, you catch it early and you can get back on track well before you’re a mile out to sea.

Analyze, streamline, repeat

Once you have the data on what worked well, then you can focus on making those things work better for even better results. Yes, you can always try new tactics, but figure out the foundation first before trying to learn and layer new things onto it. Don’t overthink this. Do you like to talk? Do you like to write? Do you like technology? Do you like making connections and forging relationships? Mold your marketing foundation around what comes naturally to you. For example, if you like to talk, speaking needs to be part of your marketing foundation. And speaking can encompass more than being on stage. Interviews, networking, webinars, videos . . . what kind of speaking do you want to focus on?

So here’s your super simple planning template for 2017.

Write down . . .

  • The ONE thing you want to achieve most in the next 90 days
  • The 2-3 objectives/goals you need to hit in order to accomplish it (Hint, use the second & third bullets to help you define this)
  • The 1-2 marketing activities you do well & get your results
  • The specific action steps you need to keep moving forward

If you need help mapping out your own custom plan so you can implement & get results like a MOFO in the next 90 days, schedule a free Simplify Your Business Session now.

 

1 Comment

  1. […] you feel that you’ve drifted off course, stay tuned. In the next email I’m going to give you guidance and an action plan to help you get back on […]

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