Strategic Planning Isn’t Boring, It’s Your Superpower for Business Growth

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Everything has a plan, and your business should also. That's why we come here with notes, a bunch of other stuff.

Yeah, you.

You have a tendency to plan some things also.

Be prepared. Yeah, yeah, always.

I have a saying about preparedness.

Yes.

Well, we have to wait till at least a minute and 30 seconds into the episode, so YouTube doesn't ding us.

Yes.

Yeah. Well, what are we talking about today?

Strategic planning.

Okay, we'll be right back. She's the CEO.

He's the marketing and operations guy.

If it's broken, you need the business fix. What's going on that you're excited about anything?

Yes. So getting ready to roll out resilient operating system.

Oh, yeah, give me the two sentences on that.

So how we manage disruption in our business is really about how we manage ourselves. So. So as business leaders, we need a resilient operating system. Not because everything's always going to go right, but because when we out of pivot, we got to know how to handle ourselves.

I love that. I love that.

Yeah. What's going on with you?

A little bit of too much of everything. Still looking at possibly purchasing an additional business because I need more things.

Oh, trust me, I get it right.

It's entertaining. There's times where I'll send you a text about the podcast and I. I wonder if it's too late or too early.

Never.

Like, no. She's. She's got rough. I think you sleep in later than I do, but. Yeah, not by much.

Not by much.

No. No. Strategic planning is a wonderful buzzword that most people. We're going to talk about another buzzword that we've talked about in another couple of episodes here. It's a buzzword that so many people use just to be like, hey, strategic planning.

Yes.

And is this chess? Is this. To me, it's got to be the. Where you want to go, how you're going to get there.

Yeah.

When the hell you're going to get there. That. There's that key component we talked about and I Still love the title of episode 16, Business or Busyness?

Yeah.

If you're working in your business, you are not strategically planning for the future. You are strategically planning for lunch tomorrow.

Yeah. Maybe at the furthest.

We'Re going to look at some proactive approaches on this. I, I, it's something that I'm going through and revamping our strategic plan right now too. In the midst of looking at another business.

All these things. Right.

Why not do it all at once?

You should.

Who needs sleep? As long as I have known you, you are thinking about big picture. You are a big picture thinker. What's the first step in, in strategic planning? What? I mean, how does someone set that clear mission vision? Because you can't just be like we're going to be rich.

Yeah, you can say that.

It's not, not necessarily right. That's not, not the most effective way to go about that. So what is being the operations guy? I have to ask.

One. Oh, it's really simple. So the very first step, strategic planning before goals, KPI's org charts is answering one question and that question is why? Why do we exist? That's it. Well, as a business, that's it. You've got to answer that question first. Why do we exist? Because if that's fuzzy, everything else downstream is going to be fuzzy too. If you don't know why you are doing what you're doing as an organization or as a business leader. And it can be because I want to change the world and have everything be sunshine and rainbows. If that's your why, great.

Or it could be I do not want that.

I know you don't. But there is a, I'm sure there's a listener somewhere that it is. Or if it's, I want my family to be taken care of. I want to be able to have a great life and get on my motorcycle and go wherever I want whenever I want. That exactly. If you know what that why is, it enables you to strategically plan to get to that why. So you've got to be in that purpose of what why do we exist?

Why?

And it doesn't have to always be 100% about the product or the thing. It can also be about the business owner and their life. I think it's important, especially as small business leaders that you understand that your why is not just about your business. It is about your well being.

So it's funny you say that. I remember one of the first things they asked at the start of 10,000 small businesses was why do you want to do this. And it wasn't just, I want to grow my business. It could be I want to exit my business. It could be I want to pass this to my kids. It could be I want it, whatever it is. There's all sorts of reasons.

Yes. And there is the why for your business. There is also the why for you as a business owner. And I think for you, the why as a business owner is the first thing you answer. Why do I want to do all these things? Because sometimes to be an entrepreneur is to eat glass every day. Why do I want to do this? When you know why you want to do it, it makes it easier. And then the second question is, why are we doing what we're doing in our business? Why are we important? So when you've answered those two questions, then you can start the strategic planning process, because you've got the two primary points and the trajectory of where you're going.

Where. Where are we taking this ship?

Where are we taking it?

Right. Not just to the west.

Yes, correct. So once we get there, I mean, we talk. I mean, I talk about Brene Brown. I think in every episode, to be clear is to be kind.

Yes.

All right.

You've mentioned that.

Yes. So it starts with clear mission and vision. So once you know why you're in business for you, why you're in business, period, then you've got to give that mission and vision to your team. It's not about having something that prints on your wall. Wall art is great, but it's about really giving your team a sense of direction so they can anchor when things get chaotic. Because so much of strategic planning is about how we're going to nav where we're going.

And to me, that is. That is something that you have to feel, not something that you say.

Correct.

Too many people go off of what they want rather than what they feel.

No, it has to be all of those things together. And so then when your people know the why, the why of the business exists and the where it's going, then they can start to see where they fit and they will fall in line. It's how they contribute. That's where engagement shifts from do your job to own your part of the mission. So when we shift from doing to owning, that's when. I mean, that's when it becomes rocket fuel for your organization. It builds alignment, autonomy, accountability.

That really is the culture piece that is the game changer for it is when it is getting that investment from the people other than I am here to get my paycheck.

Yes. Well, and likewise, when there's no clarity at the top, when you don't answer why for yourself and then don't answer why for the business to tell your people your team's going to start writing their own version of what matters, and that is a scary place to be.

It. It could be. It could be who they're going to text.

Yeah, it could be. Well, that's also when you start seeing fractured priorities. You see misaligned decisions. You see culture drift, you see mission drift. You see why we sell shoes. Why all of a sudden are we doing HR coaching? Like, how does that fit? So you start seeing total mission creep in some of the things that can happen.

I do not want to get HR advice from Al Bundy.

No, it's. I mean, it could be interesting.

I don't think it would.

No.

At least I think that would be hard for longevity of a company to get HR advice from Al Bundy.

It's fair.

Yeah.

So, I mean, you got to remember, too, the first step in strategic planning, it isn't really tactical. It's deeply human. So it's about anchoring everything in the why, and then you invite your team into that story.

Foreign. Let's be honest. You did not start your business so you could spend your days buried in HR paperwork or Googling how to handle employee drama.

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Strategy and finally get some peace of mind, head over to clarity hr.com that's clarity hr.com simple, clear, and here to help.

I'll give you a few seconds to go to the website while we get ready to get back to the show. When you are looking at the why and the where, how have you known you're going in the right spot?

Yeah, I think that's a great question. Some of it is feeling, sure. But part of it is, you know, where's alignment? And where does alignment seem to gravitate? So, I mean, there are certain times in strategic planning where we're making decisions based on, you know, what's coming down the pike in the economy in the next two, five, ten years, where do we need to position ourselves and where is there always going to be alignment? So for us, our purpose statement is we provide peace of mind by simplifying the complicated. There is always going to be something that we have to simplify, in essence, because humanity is insanely complicated.

Really.

I know. So when we're dealing with hr, regardless of what it looks like, whether it's delivered digitally, virtually, in person, changing with different Alphabet soup of different rules and regulations, different departments, you know that you're always going to have some level of complication that needs to be simplified. So creating something that's a consistent cadence. And then what I will say too, about strategic planning is, and I think you'll talk about this in the operations perspective, you are doing things in long range. And you need to understand that as an entrepreneur who probably likes to go fast, when you are strategically planning, it does not happen tomorrow.

Why not?

I know. Trust me, as someone who has taken a different job, a different type of organ, like done multiple things so as not to burn out her organization because she wants to run it a million miles an hour. Because it takes time to get alignment, it takes time to create processes, it takes time to complete projects. I mean, a great example is you're building a sales team. I just want the sales team to start tomorrow. Okay, well, do we have. Even if we do have the sales team start tomorrow and they're wildly successful, can we ensure that we have the right capacity to be able to fill those customer needs? If we're not going to be able to fill customer needs, what do we need to do? It's a lot of different steps. And people think like, you mean you're. You're building, you're building a boat, you're building a building, you're building an iceberg. You don't see all the stuff at the bottom. That bottom part takes time.

Yeah.

There is a foundation that has to occur so that things can rise. And so strategic planning is about first building that foundation and then enabling everybody else in the organization to come alongside you and continue to put the walls up. So that's where I think it's really important, is that as. As business leaders, as visionaries, we want it to happen tomorrow. I've imagined that we have this new product and we're in these many states, and this is where we are go. And you have one person and you see it.

All right, why isn't it done yet?

Exactly. I can do all of this in my head. Why isn't it done? Because it takes time. I think part of it is just the patience of being willing to wait, of being able to be patient in the building process and understanding that in strategic planning, sometimes you have to pivot, but it's also giving the time and capacity. And if it takes longer, it always takes longer than you think it's going to take. Always.

Always. That leads me to another question. From a time standpoint, when should you look at your strategic plan?

Always yesterday.

How often are you revisiting this?

So right now I'm revisit. Well, interesting point. We revisit portions of it every week in a weekly meeting. Okay, so there are things that we just. We know to get to where we want to be in five years, we know we have to accomplish these things this quarter.

So are you looking at it, though, when I say that, are you rewriting the plan or are you rewriting like a small. Are you rewriting one step in the instructions?

We are always tweaking. So if we know that there's going to be something.

The plan or the instructions?

The instructions. And then if we need to, we amend the plan. Because what I will say is, you can't live and die by your strategic plan. You have to be willing to have flexibility within it. So we revisit the strategic plan as a plan quarterly. From the tactics of what are the year, what are the two year, what are the three year. And then yearly, as we're looking at the three, five. And then we have to kind of design that one year outlook too. But there's a cadence around it. And for me, as an entrepreneur and people are like, well, how are you? When are you revisiting your strategic plan? Almost every day in some way. There's something going on in my head of like, okay, if you want to do this, if we want to move this, if we want. I mean, like, I rearrange people like deck chairs, and I'm sure they're frustrated with me at times. So I get it.

When you say deck chairs. As long as it's not like telling the orchestra to play on the string quartet to play on the Titanic, as you're going down, you're good.

No, it's all about maximizing performance and efficiency. And if we can take something apart to make it more efficient so that we can move faster, how do I reduce drag on my team members so that I can get them to where we need to be? That's really about, you set the strategic plan, you set the vision, and then you have to empower the people that are in those positions to do the work. Do not micromanage them to the point where they hate you when they leave. That's a problem.

What I like about that too is if you don't have that plan. You can't rearrange deck chairs.

No.

If they're just all out on the deck, where's the sunset going to be that they want to watch? Where's the event? What's going on that we need to have people paying attention to? If you don't have a plan, the deck chairs are just strewn out there. Maybe they're folded on the deck, still have the plan for it.

Yeah, I like that. So, Josh.

That's me.

Yeah. Great vision's useless without a solid plan to execute it. So we've got a great vision as to where we're going in strategic plan. So once a leader has that vision, what are the practical, actionable steps they need to take to turn that vision into a reality?

I actually do use an acronym for something.

Oh, boy. So excited.

You're typically the acronym person. And when I was. This is something I've used for quite some time. And as I was typing this out for my notes, I was like, chrissy's going to be so proud.

I am already don't know what it is, but I'm already excited.

Don't get too excited. Smart. Yes is the acronym I use. Specific. Everyone needs to know where we are going. And you the. The piece about specific. I always like the example. I could tell you to go to Cleveland. I can tell you to go to Edgewater Park. I could tell you to go to the entrance of the pier at Edgewater Park. Yeah, those are all directions to people. They're all very different directions, though. If you tell people, hey, here's exactly where I need you to go. Get there. Yeah, I really don't care. Take an Uber, take a bus, take whatever tools we have available for you. Get there. But I'm not going to tell you to get to Cleveland. And then I'm standing at the gate, at the gate of the pier to Edgewater park going, where the hell are my people?

Yeah.

Because you have to be specific on that. When it's specific, it has to be measurable. Something feet, calls, word effort, rate of perceived exertion, whatever it is. Weightlifting background there. There's numbers or at least something quantifiable that. Quantifiable that you can put behind almost everything.

Yes.

It's. It's got to be something that you can look at and say, okay, are we making progress towards where Chrissy told us we are going? The other thing is achievable. I love to stretch people when you tell someone, hey, I think you've got this. Try this out. Yes, and they get it. The look on their face typically when they get it they're like oh yeah I did. I got this. They learned something. Whatever it is through that. Don't be like hey, I know right now you can run a 10 minute mile. We've got this big project coming up that requires you to run a four and a half minute mile. Do that by Thursday.

No. Yeah.

The other piece with that that I see so many people because they don't have a good strategic plan is the goal posts become the carrot for the horse that is on the end of the fishing, fishing line that it sits about a foot out from their nose.

Yes.

No matter how fast they go, no matter how well they do that carrot is afoot out there. Make it achievable. Make it so they can get it. That horse eventually sees the carrot is like I don't want the carrot. It's it's moving. Nope. Don't want it. Or that horse is going to start swinging back and forth. So eventually the carrot swings in its mouth. Which isn't what you wanted it to do anyways. You wanted it to plow a field and now the horse is just standing there swaying back and forth like it's having a trauma response to something. For those of you that aren't watching, the look on Chrissy's face right now is like I shouldn't have expected anything less out of this. But really you have to make sure that these are achievable. So that way people do it in a manner that is effective and gets you to the point that you want.

To be at momentum.

Right. The horse eats the carrot. But they, they totally screwed everything else up in the process. Don't let them do that. The other thing is is relevancy. I have been in so many positions like, like coming up through my career where someone would be like do the thing. Why are we changing this? This is more work for me. This is dumb. I had no idea that this was part of a bigger project or this was part of a bigger goal.

Tell me how it, why Right?

Not just do the thing. Do the thing because this is going to help us do this or this is going to so many people. They they just because I know the relevancy to our strategic plan doesn't mean anyone else does.

You have to share it.

100 we recently took some stuff from our social media manager and we have one of our editors doing some of this. And I could hear it as I'm telling her. She's like wait a minute. I, I, I Like doing that stuff. I don't want to, I don't want to not do that stuff anymore. And I'm like, well, what we're going to do is we're going to have you moving into something new that fits better to our growth plan, to our strategic plan in the future. And as soon as I told her, like, look, we're moving towards this and here's the bigger picture, she's like, oh yeah, I like that. There was no hesitation.

Yeah, tell people the why when you tell them the what.

Correct. Last thing is put a date on it. Yeah, I forget who it is that said this. It was a famous philosopher. Things take as long as you give them.

Yes.

If I say, hey, I'll send you that invoice in two months, guess what? I'm probably going to send it tomorrow. But more than likely someone's going to not expect it for two months. Yeah, if. I mean, how many times as kids did. Were we working on a book report the night before?

Yes.

We knew it was due. We knew we had two weeks to do it.

College, the minute before it's due.

Right you are.

Right.

You are running, I was about to say running across the campus doing that four and a half minute mile, when last week you did that 10 minute mile because you know, I have to get this in the box before it, it all comes crashing down. I, I see so many people say, hey, look, we need to get this done and if no timelines put on it, it's never going to get done. The other thing that I see is like, hey, we need to get this done yesterday. Unless your company's making time machines, it's not going to happen.

No, you have to be realistic.

Yes. And you touched on that too, on your thing, because you're like, hey, look, I, I've already got this business put together and it's making 20 million a year. What? Why the hell aren't we there yet? The thing that's tough as business owners is it to me, if you're going to put times on stuff, it's good to get feedback.

It is.

When do you think you can have this accomplished? And when someone says, hey, six months, you can be like, can we do it in four? Don't be like, great, how's Friday? Yeah, just doesn't work that way. The additional thing that I want to say with that is it when it comes to time, if you move one goal, realize it's going to move all of the goals.

It can.

If, if other pieces are dependent on this project and it's taking longer. Guess what? You got to move those other pieces back. Maybe if it's going to be two weeks late, maybe you don't need to move those other pieces back two weeks. But realize they gotta, you gotta give some people some padding. You can't just be like, ah, they screwed up. You're eating. It does not work.

No. Well, I think the other part too is you have to, especially as business leaders, if you run small teams or you're collaborating with other people, you know, there is life that happens in the margins of your business.

Really.

I know. It's amazing. People forget. And so there are moments like we, we've been working on a, on a collaborative project and I'm working with someone who, you know, has had some challenges. And so she's, she's coming to me going, I'm really sorry, I can't meet these deadlines. I can't. And my response is always, you know, empires take time. So there are moments where, you know, we're going to have to set things aside and focus on something else. This is about building for the long haul. It's not always about building for next week. Now, there are certain things that you have to be short up, like your cash flow cycle, your basic operations, but some of those strategic initiatives, you can give yourself breadth. I mean, there's, there's a quote around. You know, most people underestimate what they can do in five years, but they overestimate what they can do in a year.

Yep.

So it's just, and I said it backwards, but it doesn't matter. Most people underestimate, overestimate what they can do in a year. They underestimate what they can do in five years.

Correct.

And again, it's really being willing to give yourself space. And what I will tell you too, like, I love smart goals. I do. There are moments that I look at people and go, smart goals are stupid. And the reason I say that is because when you're working on that visionary work, if you are not inclined, like, like where you see me now in being a strategic thinker, strategic planner has taken decades to get to because I lived and died by, you know, achievement operations. We have to be able to get the thing done in the time that we said. Actually, we need to be able to get it done early. So if you are that type of person, recovering perfectionist, it's really important that you push yourself to think and stretch. And so those smart goals can become a straitjacket if you're not really cognizant of where your, for me, where my deficiencies were and where I needed to strengthen my willingness to grow. There are times where it's okay to say, you know what? We're not. We're going to throw the smart goal stuff out the window until we get the visioning done. We'll keep it within a box and a framework. And then as we go into operations, let's start thinking about how are these things achievable. Just like the imagination movers. I don't know if you know who they are, but they were like a great little like singing group. When my kids are in preschool, there's like, there's no bad ideas when you're brainstorming. That's a great song about brainstorming. No, I'm gonna have to send it to you.

Please don't.

You will hate it and I will love that. I'm sending and seeing a video. We saw them in concert. It was a big deal. But that understanding, that understanding of like, it's really important to have those ideas and dream bigger as a business owner, like it's okay to think about, you know, what does this look like if we're a million dollar company? What does this look like if we're a hundred million dollar company? What does this look like if we're a billion dollar company? Because some of those ideas can trickle back into really what you're doing every day. And I think that's where we can limit ourselves and think, oh, I can't do anything else. It has to be this way. Give yourself flexibility.

The thing that I like with that is I typically try and do these like in a Google Docs document that gets shared that people are allowed to comment on. Yeah. I am the only one that can edit it, but people are allowed to comment on it because this should be a living, breathing document. It should not. I mean your, your strategic plan, it's a dialogue, right? It should not be in stone. It should be in something that is a living, breathing document. Now that's not to say that every other week you go in and you delete, delete, delete, delete, delete. No, because we both know people that do that.

Yes. They're exhausting.

What, what does your business do this week? Because I know it is 180 degrees from what it did last week. We both know people like that and I get it. And like my business has pivoted largely same, but it's been intentional. Yeah, I saw where there was a thing that we could go to that has been great for us. Happens to be podcasting. Weird. Could be why we're sitting here. Maybe. What are some of the common pitfalls you see of seat of the pants? Planning?

Winging. It works until it doesn't. I mean, it's just by the time. No, it doesn't. By the time you realize that you've been winging it and it hasn't worked. It's just, it's an expensive fix. So just don't.

And when you have the winging, it. Winging. It works until it doesn't. If it, if it does work at all. You got lucky.

You did.

Granted, as business owners, we all have. We are all relying on a certain amount of luck, no matter what. Yes, many, like very wealthy people that I have talked to have said, look, I did this. I did this well, and I was really lucky.

Yeah.

It makes sense.

But when you don't have a plan, every decision is reactive. Again, we've talked about being, being a firefighter in your business. So then, I mean, it's based on emotion or emotions. Say it's based on emotion. I like that new word and urgency. Emotions and urgency. Word of the day. Emotions say. Yeah, it's based on those things. Or who yells the loudest? That's not a good place for your business to be.

That's probably going to be me. Yeah.

Who yells the loudest?

I am loud. Everyone knows.

Or you're solving the same problems over and over.

That, That I hate. One is when I see that if. And it is why. It's why I love operations, because when it gives us that guide, I, I. It's funny, when I'm on the motorcycle, my rides, as you would imagine, are pretty well planned. I know where I'm going, I know how I'm getting there. I. If there's a detour, I can. I. No problem. But I don't just be like, I'm riding off into the sunset until whenever. No, it's just my brain just cannot do that. And therefore, in business, I can't do that either. I've got to have that plan. I know there's people that do that, and those are the ones that especially need the plan because your business will not survive a random right turn, a random left turn, and, oh, there's a big piece of construction equipment in the road.

Yeah, not good.

How is that for a creative analogy?

Don't confuse people. That's it.

How do you get people involved? This should not. I mean, you. The strategic plan should come from the leader.

It does.

But you should not be doing this in a Dark closet. You should have other people involved.

No, I mean ultimate why. Ultimate why? Of why you do things as a business leader. Fine. As business owner. Owner is different.

Very much so.

Very different. When you're talking about leader, leadership, team, I mean, it's really simple. People commit to what they help create. And so if you are, I mean, a great example is, you know, we're going to put everybody in a dark room, do the work. We're going to put everybody in a dark room and we're going to give them a flashlight. Okay, great. That makes it a little bit easier. Now we're going to put them in a room, we're going to turn the lights on and they can see the direction that they're going in. Oh, they might be able to give us feedback, like, why are we in this room? It's important.

Have you had that conversation before?

No, but I'm thinking this might be a really great activity, like trying to get people to understand why, why planning and why communication is important.

If you work for Chrissy and you're listening to this while locked in a.

Room, now you understand why.

You understand why.

Well, and I think it's important too, as you're visioning, inviting team members to the process early, even if it's just asking, you know, what's getting in the way of you being able to do your job right now? What do you think we should stop doing? Yeah, those are really great conversations and points to start jumping off from. If you're a small business owner navigating the world of marketing or looking to establish yourself as an industry expert. You already know the power of a.

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One of the things I love about what you do, Josh, is that you're always willing to help out. And part of that is with your free 30 minute no pitch podcast consultation.

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Back to the show.

I had a mentor of mine who said, like, from a planning standpoint, he said, just as a leader standpoint, he said, leadership is very simple. Here's where we're going. What do you need from me.

Exactly.

He goes. If you don't say, he goes, you cannot say the first one unless you say the second one. So strategic planning is. Here's where we're going. What do you need from me? If you ask the people around you, what do you need from me? How can I help? Something of that nature, that plan very quickly becomes, instead of just a destination, now you've got a map.

Absolutely. Being willing to have feedback, too, around it. I think oftentimes, as business leaders, we think that if we ask, then that means that everybody has the right to change the plan. That's not necessarily true. No, I mean, it's really important. You don't have to plan by committee, but you do have to build alignment around what you're doing.

It's funny, I try and start every meeting with asking, hey, what's going on? What do you need my help with this week? It's that same type of idea. It's getting that feedback. If you don't ask those questions, you're never going to get the feedback. Business plan or a strategic plan.

Yes. They are not the same thing.

No, people do. What happens if you take your strategic. Strategic plan to the bank?

Oh, they don't give you funding. Business plan gets you funding.

They do laugh and like, really?

That's your vision? We're not funding that.

Congratulations, good luck. Go break open your own piggy bank.

No, business plan is about feasibility.

Yep.

What are we doing? It's created. And I mean, usually you don't update it once you've got it created, but strategic plan, you're constantly updating.

Yeah, same. Those. Those are the things that we look at. In many cases, I. I will look to the business plan and be like, okay, there. There's some. They're relative.

Yes.

There's some crossover there. One, One needs to talk to the other. But in the same sense, they are very separate things. They're both in your business, though, so they should. Yeah, but they are. Yeah. Like I said, walk in, walk into the bank with your strategic plan and see how quickly they. Like. That was a good read.

Yeah. Yeah. No, well. And I had someone, because, again, we deal with, you know, different types of investments. And I have someone that I'm close to and he talks about how, you know, like, business plans are like strippers. They look really great far away. Bring them up close, not so great. It's like one of those conversations. I'm like, really? No, actually, you're kind of right. So you've also got to make sure that. Or they're like. I say they're like toilet paper because a lot of times, like everybody's got one, but nobody really knows how to use it the right way. So.

Yeah, that's interesting. No one knows how to use toilet paper the right way.

Nope. Or they all use it the same way and it's just to throw it away. Just.

It makes sense. Makes sense. What are some actionable things here? I mean, we've, there's, we've talked about strategic planning from a. A different angle. I think that people don't realize they should be coming at it from.

Yeah.

What I. Your first answer on this, I love. And this is all you because you have some great stories behind doing this.

It's like CEO day.

Yeah.

Yeah. So you take a day, block it out on your calendar. Do not put things on it that you would normally do in your operations day. So you've got to keep it free. If you can't keep it free for a full day, let's try a half day or let's try an hour. So getting away from distractions and really thinking about big picture, what are those three things you need to move your business forward, even just starting in that space?

Don't open your email.

No.

Your phone stays in the other room. You should be able to hear the ringer. No one's going to text you. If it's an emergency, they will call you.

Exactly.

So make it so it's in the other room so you can hear the ringer. But beyond that. Yeah. No. Define your destination. Is my big one. Where the hell are we going? Otherwise we're just wandering around as this lost ship in this vast sea.

Yes. Find places to go, please.

Right. Right.

Pick a destination.

Pick a destination.

You can change it. It doesn't have to be. It's not set in stone.

No. The one, that last one I'll cover too, is the smart goals. To me, those are a key. Make sure you've got those things set in place. That if you do not have those set in place, your plan, it's once again, it becomes very expensive wall art or just it sits on your desktop or whatever.

Yeah. Two more that I've got. So getting your team's buy in. So you've got to share your plan with your team. It really helps if they know where you're going. They know where you want to go. You get their feedback when they feel included, they're more invested in the outcome. And if you want to go somewhere and you want to be able to go fast, you need to go with other people and telling them where you're going, they can follow you. And then the last one, I would say, is always review and adjust. I think sometimes we think a strategic plan is stone tablets that we cannot change. It is not the ten commandments, living, breathing. It is totally flexible. So you've got to check in on your goals regularly. Is this still what I want? I can tell you, Josh, that things that I wanted five years ago, I don't want anymore. I don't really. Yeah, it's amazing. Like, when I was like, I want to be able to. I want to travel for work one week a month. I did that. It was dumb. Didn't like it. Don't want to do it again for any of this.

Do you see a shocked look on my face?

I know, but I mean, I literally last year and the year before, 75 flights each year. I'm not doing that again. That was dumb. So I'm changing.

Yeah, no, thanks.

No, it's okay.

I've flown. I fly once every 15 years, and I broke my record last year as I. It was twice in six years.

Exactly. So you've got to be willing to change. It can be your opinion or your needs, but it can also be the market. There's a lot of things going on in the world right now that are going to give you some disruption. It's okay. How do we want to deal with that disruption? So give yourself the ability to review and adjust that plan.

How do you find a business or how do you like? What is the number one way that you identify a business where you're like, oh, they got no strategic plan? Because to me, there's a number of ways that it's obvious. But what's the one that stands out to you?

It's constant firefighting.

Oh, yeah.

If they're always firefighting, they're not anticipating what's coming. And the first step to stop firefighting is to just stop for an hour and write the three most important things that you need to do to get your business to accomplish for the week.

Ooh, I like that.

It's really like, you don't have. I think sometimes people just make this bigger than it needs to be. Just give yourself an hour.

Literally. I'm on a movie kicker. I don't know why here, but all I can think of is, what about Bob? Baby step into the elevator. Baby step start, baby. I'm baby stepping. I'm putting in the work.

So let's talk about those baby steps.

Yeah, that's what it is.

Yeah. From an operational perspective. What's that one easy to use tool software small business owner can use to track their strategic goals without it feeling like, oh my God. It's a massive project.

It's interesting. So we use Asana in our business. And the thing that I like about it, you can build projects.

Yeah.

And under the projects you can have tasks, and under the tasks you can have subtasks. So now you can send those out to people and you can watch this project start to come together one dot at a time. When you first start at it, you look at it and you're like, oh my God, this, that's a lot of empty dots. When you realize if you make some of these tasks short little things that you're going to complete in five or 10 minutes. Yeah, it makes a world of difference. Start with a couple of the easy ones and then knock a couple of those out and you're like, oh, there's some green on the screen. We've got something here. So to me, a program like Asana, then once again too. The thing I love about it is you can change dates, you can change things, you can remove, you can do all sorts of stuff to it. It makes it that living, breathing document. Nice to all of our listeners that are, if you're ready to take control of your business and the strategic planning that goes into that. Thank you for listening.

Yeah.

Thank you for your insights. I know this is the, this is one of those things that you live and die by. You get so fun. So excited to do it.

I love big stuff.

Yeah. The, the, the next one is the other one that you're really excited about.

Yes.

We're going to talk about professional development.

Be a street fight.

Yeah, that, that is, that is your crack. Is professional development. Is your crack for everyone. Thank you. If you want more information, if you would like to book us, it's as speakers. Even if you would like to, if you have an HR issue or if you're thinking about a podcast. All the information business fixpodcast.com follow us on all socials Subscription Follow Share this with a friend if you have any. I already have shared it with both of my friends. One of them is on the podcast with me.

So I think.

Correct. Like I said, next week is professional development. Obviously Chrissy's the expert there. That is not to say I don't have my own approach opinions about it.

Oh yeah.

As always, take care of yourself. If you can take care of someone else too, we will see you very, very soon.