Click here to download the Turning PRO Quick Start Guide Now
In this video you will learn:
- Why NOT having all of the resources that big companies have is an advantage!
- The simple 3-step framework to create a business that will fulfill your clients needs as well as your own.
- How to create a VERY powerful and actionable one-page plan for your business
What do you think of when you hear “strategic planning”?
If you have been in any corporate jobs you may immediately think of detailed flow charts and diagrams, graphs with text and numbers that require a magnifying glass and a degree in statistics to understand and a full day locked in a small room with all the coffee and donuts you can devour. (Ahh, living the dream.)
If you are just starting out though, at least in my experience, planning in your business is an entirely different exercise. You don’t have teams of people that are doing market analysis. You don’t have investors or retained earnings, media connections, a huge marketing budget or major contracts. And you know what…you don’t need those things! In fact, if you had those things, it would be REALLY easy to lose sight of why you were building a business in first place!
Whether its planning for a side hustle that you want to do part time or a full-time biz you are looking to build and grow, planning is essential. But if we approach it in the traditional way, it can feel inauthentic, overly rigid and completely overwhelming. Plus, not having a plan is one of the biggest excuses I have seen for not starting from people who have the potential to be EPIC rock stars!
In some of the start-ups I’ve been involved with, I spent SO much time on traditional 50 page business plans and obsessively detailed strategies that I completely forgot why the business was being started in the first place. It’s hard to admit that but it’s the truth. Successful businesses (especially lifestyle businesses which is what I’m passionate about) are living, evolving and heart-centered while still creating products and services that can change people’s lives and support us financially.
UN-Plan Your Business Instead!
Yes you heard me right! I challenge you to UN-plan! Un-planning is more of a mindset shift than it is a technical one. It involves self-awareness, flexibility, patience and a release of the pressure we put on ourselves to build the next Facebook during our lunch break! You will build an actual plan, but it won’t be like the plans you are probably used to.
Often times when we are planning, we make a few fatal mistakes in our approach, especially as one-woman or man shops. We feel compelled to make it exact because any errors will surely be our downfall. We think it has to be centered SOLELY on profitability, share of wallet, return on investment, analytics and any number of other metrics that, if we focused on them entirely, would never give us the sense of freedom and impact that we desired to create in the first place! I know what you are saying, “Ok JG, I get it, I know what NOT to focus on now, but what do I do instead?”
The Secret to Turning P.R.O.?
P.R.O. is an acronym I use to describe the way in which I have found it most effective to un-plan your business, especially in the very beginning stages. It stands for Purpose/Passion, Relationships and Offerings. They are in that order for a reason.
First, until you know what your end goal is, your purpose in what you want to accomplish and the passions that underlie that purpose, you will lack the direction, the motivation, the FIRE INSIDE YOUR BELLY to make your dreams a reality. The bottom line is this; you have to know what you want and why it’s so important to you before you even think about your products and services.
Once you know your “P”, its time to move onto the “R”, Relationships. This is where you dig deep to get clarity around who it is you want to serve, what are the biggest results and impact you can help them to create in their lives and businesses based on your passions, knowledge and experience AND who do you need to connect with in order to start building relationships with these people. Once you know who you are serving, and I mean REALLY know them, their perspective, their wants, needs, and struggles, it makes authentically connecting with and serving them much easier and more fulfilling.
Then last, but not least, once you are clear on your “P” and your “R”, you can move onto the O, Offerings. These are the products and services you will create and deliver to the people you outlined in the Relationships section. Think about what you are inspired to create, let your imagination run wild and write it all down. Then, take a step back and make sure that the things you have listed directly line up to both your purpose and passions in the “P” section and the people you want to serve and what their needs are in the “R” section. This ensures you are staying on track and delivering what they need, not just what you want to build.
I have seen countless people and companies approach this in the exact opposite order. Instead of turning PRO, they turned ORP, which just sounds dumb! They focused on offerings first and would then MAYBE touch on the relationships and purpose or passions. Don’t be those people. Don’t ORP yourself!
Now I want this to be as easy as possible for you to play with because I think it is vital for anyone starting a new venture. So, I’ve created a Quick Start Guide to Turning PRO and Un-planning Your Business that you can download, absolutely free by clicking here. In the guide there are directions on how to fill out the included dashboard and I even put my own Turning PRO dashboard in there (on page 3) with my real answers to give you an example of what it can look like. I’m really proud of this and hope you get as much out of it as I did when I created it and then went through the exercise myself.
Lots of love,
Jason “JG” Goldberg