116: 6 Pre-Planning Tips for Your New Design Year
116: 6 Pre-Planning Tips for Your New Design Year
with Michele Williams
Each year around this time, November, I begin the planning process for my business the next year. In the next few solo podcasts, I am going to share with you the steps I use to make sure that on January 1, I can move forward with confidence. Enjoy the podcast.
Topics Mentioned:
Planning
Review
Time
Dreaming
Listen to the Episode
Each year in November, I begin the new year planning work. It can sometimes take me 2 months to work it all through. I begin with a chunk of time and do a deep dive in my business, then I review my new plans over and over for a few weeks to help them take residence deep in my heart so that I am committed to them the next year.
In this podcast, and the next few, I will be sharing with you some of the steps I take to get ready. Because on January 1, I just want to GO! I don’t want to begin my planning then, because to me, that feels behind. Like I don’t know how I am going to start the year.
In today’s podcast, we are going to look at some of the review and preplanning tasks that help me feel confident in the business direction I am creating. Because this yearly direction affects me, my team, and my family and friends. This exercise is meant to bring clarity and focus to your dreams and goals. In future sessions, you can dive into each more. But for now, think, reflect, and write. There is not a correct answer…. Just your answer.
Create space to really review your past year.
I like to begin everything by looking back over the last year. A huge amount of planning will be forward-thinking, but keeping the past in mind is always a good start. And for me, creating an environment to slow down, relax, and be reflective is key.
I love to go away to do some of this as much as I can. It could be to a hotel, a park, or even to your back porch. All three of these types of areas have worked for me. I have a retreat for my Elite clients every year to do this work away from home and the office. Usually, we are near a beach or water because I find that it is soothing and relaxing.
Giving yourself space to let go of all the control we must have in the day to day and be reflective on our own life and business can feel like a luxury we cannot afford. And I am telling you, you can afford it. As a matter of fact, you can’t afford not to do this.
Personally, I love getting out in nature with a notebook. Going for a quick hike or walk and then finding a place to stop, get comfortable, think, and write. When I do this instead of trying to contemplate and rest in front of a computer, I am so much more in touch with my feelings and my dreams. If you find a different approach that works for you – do it. The goal here is to give yourself dedicated time to unwind, relax, and think.
2. Start with gratitude.
My planning begins by writing down my gratitude for the year. I first write down every person that has made an impact on my year and what I am grateful for with regard to having them in my life. Sometimes, it can actually be someone who I did not enjoy being with, but they brought clarity into my life and business that I am thankful for. Lessons learned if you will. Being able to look back and reflect on the people and experiences and to see it all through a lens of thankfulness is empowering.
You can even go a step farther if you wish. I pray for each of these people and their life and business. And for some of them, I write a notecard and mail it to them to thank them for having an impact on me. Sometimes, they don’t even know they did unless I tell them. Also, in the moment, their impact on my life and business may have been minimal and almost forgettable. But in the review of an entire year, it may bubble to the top as a pivotal moment with farther-reaching implications than I even knew.
This practice of recognizing the people who I am thankful for also is a good reminder that I am having an impact on people, good and bad, without even knowing it sometimes. And this is a reminder we can all use.
3. Review how your time was spent.
Just like we can look at our P and L and ask, “where did the money go?” We can do the same with our time. When I do a time review, it is from a place of asking myself these questions:
Did I spend my time on the most important things? If yes, I want to create more of that. If no, I want to do less than that. Note down what you thought was the most important things and which things you would like to take off of your list going forward. Did you have enough time at work, how about on vacation?
Did I spend my time with the most important people? Who did I spend my time with? Was it my ideal client, my team, my family, and friends? Or was it with people who drained my energy at every turn? Did I have a mentor or coach – or am I mentoring or helping someone else? Did I give enough time to my staff for training and elevating their work?
Write any changes you want to make regarding your time in the new year.
4. Review your offerings.
What were the products and services you offered this past year? Are they the same products and services you want to offer going forward? What did you like, what did you not like? Each year my offerings get more streamlined.
Here is the deal, we should be offering products and services that we enjoy and that our teams are poised to complete. Not just what the customer wants. Especially if we don’t have the bandwidth in our team or in our knowledge and experience. We cannot be all things to all people. That is a recipe to drain you of energy and time.
As you review your products and services, consider – which ones make you and your team excited to work on and to go into the office? Which ones feel like they are draining your resources and procrastination shows up?
You may have heard the podcast with Katie Baldwin, episode #, where we talked about her moving her business strategy to do more of what she loved and learning to let go of what she thought she was supposed to do. Her business has exploded since making this decision. Why? Because she is so much more excited to work in an area where her natural strengths are, and that talent and excitement pours over into her marketing and then in relationship building in her business. Don’t be afraid to acknowledge areas of your business that you don’t like anymore. It is okay.
Every year I look at my classes, courses, webinar offerings – and I ask myself these simple questions: If I never gave that speech, webinar, course, offering again – would I miss it? Do I feel like this area of my business is complete? Would I be excited to talk about this again – or would it feel like drudgery? Then I reflect on my answers and make a decision as to whether to continue to offer it or let it go.
Letting go can provide space for new areas of business to show up. So clear the clutter – even if you loved it at one time. Just like old furniture - there is a time to let it go.
5. Review your goals.
Hopefully, you had goals going into this year. Pull them out. Did you meet them? Do you even still care about them? Yes, this has been a weird year. So the question begs, do you still care about these goals enough to carry them forward, or do you feel new goals starting to form and take shape.
This year, 2020, has really been that for many of us. Like 2020 vision. While we thought this year would be different than it has been, we have been given a gift. I bet many of us discovered what was really important to us. We acutely felt the absence of our special people we do life with, and we are missing that hug or handshake. We have started to see what we like to do and need to do more clearly.
Yes, it has been a tough year – but it has been a clarifying and cleansing year as well. I hear many of my clients talk about what they are willing to let go of. What they are now going for or striving for has changed. How about you? Let’s let 2020 do its work of creating clarity for us as we move forward.
6. Identify what will create a balanced life for you.
Using all the information you have been reflecting on. Define what a balanced life or a centered life looks like to you. Is that 3 home-cooked meals a week? Is it coffee or dinner out with a friend once a month? Is it 2 vacation long weekends a year? What is it? Write it down. Because the only way to make it happen is to focus on it and calendar it. And we will do that. But for now – identify it.
On the next podcast, we will look further at finances, marketing, and the other aspects of business that we need to focus on for a solid year to come. You have two weeks before my next solo podcast drops. Use that time to do these exercises and follow along with me. You and your business will be glad you did.
If you want to do this in community and to have access to me while working through this, please reach out, and let’s talk. You can find out more at my website, www.scarletthreadconsulting.com on the Work With Me page. Sign up for a Discovery Call, and let’s chat. I would love to help you be intentional about your business, because profit doesn’t happen by accident.
Key Thoughts:
Begin with a big chunk of time and do a deep dive. Michele (01:13)
Create space to really review the past year. Michele (04:37)
The more you try to please everybody you please nobody. Michele (14:10)
Identify what will create a balanced life. Michele (17:55)
Contact Michele:
Facebook: Scarlet Thread Consulting
Instagram: @ScarletThreadATL
References and Resources:
The Designers' Inner Circle - Become a Member Today
Setting Goals that Matter - Episode 20 with Jennifer Dawn
Committed to the Pursuit - Episode 72 with Ceil DiGuglielmo
How to Stop Worrying About Your Interior Design Business - Episode 98 with Katie Baldwin