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Business planning: What framework or process do you follow for planning your week, month, quarter, and year?
CS
CS
Cate Scolnik ♠ Social Media Strategist ♠, Writer✔︎Content Marketer✔︎Social Media Strategist answered:

I've worked with a number of business coaches and used a few different frameworks. I also have a post coming up in Smallvile (http://smallville.com.au/) on just this topic in the next week or so!

The framework I like best is quite simple and I first heard about it from Taki Moore, although I just found it on another site (http://katelmccarthy.com/throw-the-business-plan-out-the-window-still-build-a-kickass-business/)

Basically, you create a grid. In the top left corner, you create your dream - where do you want to be in 3-5 years. What do you want your business to look like? What do you want your life to look like?

The next box is where you write your 12-month goals. In order to achieve your 3-year vision, where do you have to be in a year? What must you achieve?

The next box is for the next 90-days. Where do you have to be in 90-days in order to be on track for your 12-month goals? What key things do you need to have completed?

The last box is for this week, and you can use a post-it note for this. You list what tasks you have to have completed for you to stay on track for your quarterly goals. List 3-5 things you can do this week to ensure you're on track.

Each week, put a new post-it note on this box. At the end of the quarter you can flick through and see everything you've achieved! You can also put a post-it note on the 90-day plan so that you use the same plan for a year.

Each year, review your plan to ensure you're still going where you want to go, and making the progress you need to make. Use this tool to stay focused on and on track - but not to beat yourself up!

I hope this was useful! If you need more information, I'm happy to jump on a call with you. :-)

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