business planning

Take a Moment to Reflect and Visualize 2020

Can you believe it is almost 2020, the beginning of a decade? Time flies by so quickly. Is your business on track? Have you achieved what you wanted in 2019?

It is so easy to get caught up in the day to day activities of your business and you lose focus on your bigger goals. You’re getting things done but not necessarily focused on the activities that will grow your business. Or perhaps you’ve seen bigger growth than you expected and you need to access how you’ll manage it going forward.

The end of a year is the perfect time to take a step back and reflect and develop your vision for the coming year, 2020. I believe this is an exercise every business owner should be doing every 90 days. Do you? If you don’t why not start now with these simple steps.

Now is the time to Reflect, Review, Visualize and Plan

Step 1 – Reflect and Review on 2019

Take pen and paper and answer the following questions.

What have you achieved that you want to celebrate?
What has been work really well?
What make you the most excited?
What hasn’t worked out as expected?
Did you go off track? If yes why? Was it the right decision?
What goals were you on track with?
What products/services are working the best for you?
What marketing channels/strategies are working the best? Which ones are not?
What do you need to vent about?
Now the numbers:
1. Revenue
2. Expenses
3. Followers – email list, social media

Step 2 – Visualize 2020

Relax, close your eye and visualize. It is December 31, 2021, you are about to go welcome in the New Year, perhaps you are sitting by a fire with your favourite beverage. What have you achieved in your business? What does your business look like? Really sit in the moment and visualize how it feels to have reached those achievements. Now capture your vision.

Step 3 – Plan

Now that you have a clear vision of what you want to accomplish you need to break it down. You need to create your success plan.

Break down your plan by creating smaller work items and deadlines. Yes, you may need to make corrections as you go but you can only do that if you are already working a well thought out plan.

You probably don’t know every single step you will need to take in order to reach each goal. That’s ok, just start to map out the high-level goals, what you want and what you know now. The small steps will work themselves out.

What are your monthly revenues goals?
How many products/services do you need to sell to reach your goals?
What marketing do you need to do?
How do you need to focus your time?
What milestones do you need to meet to reach that goal?
What help do you need?
What do you need to learn?
What do you need to do differently?
What is your timeline for each major work item?
What are your top 3 to 4 priorities – the ones that need to be working on each week/day?

If you’ve been following me for any length of time you know that I believe in doing a mini exercise like this every 90 days and doing a more in-depth look at your business twice a year. This is so important, please schedule it in your calendar now and commit to doing it.

If you’d like some help please consider the 90 Day Acceleration Plan or book a free call here:

The Power of an Hour!

By Heather Cameron 10 Comments

In my previous post, Just Choose One!, I spoke of 7 habits that can make a huge difference in your business. Habit number 2 is:

“Book an hour a day to work on your business! – Already, I can hear “I can’t because…” going through some peoples’ head. I’d like to suggest that you are your business’s most important client. If you can focus on working on your business for an hour a day just image where it can go. This needs to be sacred time; would you cancel or reschedule time for your most important client? Personally, I find this to be one of the most important habits/strategies I’ve formed, which has made an improvement in the development of my business.”

So how do you get the most of that hour? You need to create a “sacred” and productive environment, here are 4 key steps:

Step 1: Identify where you do your best work – this is a very individual choice. I know someone who does their best thinking and creating in a coffee shop, with pen and paper. Another of my colleague’s best place is on her balcony with a cup of coffee. What is best for you? Where will you do your best work?

Step 2: Determine your best time of day – What time are you most creative and focus? Is it first thing in the morning or perhaps late in the afternoon? That is when you should be booking your hour to work on your business. Personally, I’m finding that my sweet spot is between 11 am and 1 pm.

Step 3: Get rid of the distractions! – The 4 biggest distractions we face are Smartphones, emails, social media and other people. So turn them off, turn off the phone, turn off alerts, avoid all social media and put up a Do Not Disturb sign if you must.

Step 4: Work on one thing at a time! – Yes, only 1 thing! Image spending an hour focused on one important task without multitasking and distraction. Image the difference that will make for you. Image doing this 5 or 10 times a week! What will that do for your business?

Step 5: Schedule it! – Right now, take out or pull up your calendar and schedule your Power Hours. Ultimately you want to have at least one Power Hour per day, if not two. Image what you could do in 5 to 10 focused hour a week, what would that do for your business?

The bottom line is to control your environment to minimize interruptions and distractions and focus yourself on one task at a time. These techniques will increase your productivity and as a result Ignite Your Business and Market.

When will you start? What productivity tools do you use? Comment below and let me know.

Midweek Spark: Just Choose One!

By Heather Cameron 3 Comments

One what, you ask? Well, one change to habit! You’d be surprised how one small or large tweak to your daily business activities can make a huge different in your results, your sense of accomplishment, and control of your business.

Successful entrepreneurs often follow similar work practices and develop common habits that help lead them to success. No matter what type of business you’re in, you have business operations to manage, people to deal with, a brand to build, and a reputation to maintain. The habits and practices you bring to your business can either help you achieve success or cause you to needlessly struggle.

Today, I’m challenging you to pick one new habit you’d like to establish.

To get your ‘gears turning’, below are 7 suggestions that can make a huge difference in your business.

1. Turn off the alerts! – You do not need to be checking Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, emails, text messages, and whatever else that seemingly interrupts you every second of day. Turn the alerts off and check them no more than once an hour. If you feel you need an urgent means of being contacted, then use only one media source but turn off all other alert. For me it’s my business phone, I leave it on so that anyone can contact me in case of an urgent matter. The rest is off when I’m trying to focus.
2. Book an hour a day to work on your business! – Already, I can hear “I can’t because…” going through some peoples’ head. I’d like to suggest that you are your business’s most important client. If you can focus on working on your business for an hour a day just image where it can go. This needs to be sacred time; would you cancel or reschedule time for your most important client? Personally, I find this to be one of the most important habits/strategies I’ve formed, which has made an improvement in the development of my business.
3. Book social media time! – Even better, delegate social media to someone else. We all know we need a presence on social media, but if you’re not careful it can eat up a huge amount of your time. Imagine the increase in your productivity and business growth if all the time you put into social media is redirected towards working on your business undisturbed. So allocate a maximum of 30 minutes a day to social media, perhaps 15 minutes in the morning and 15 minutes at the end of the day. Schedule “social media” time and stay away from it for the rest of your day.
4. Take lunch! – Take a break from your day to recharge your batteries. Take 30 to 60 minutes to shut out distractions, get out of the office if you can, go for a walk, go to your favorite café and relax. You’ll be surprised what comes to your mind when you give it a moment of rest and distraction. Kind of like in the shower, some of your most brilliant ideas and solutions come from taking a break and letting your brain rest. I’m not endorsing that anyone should take up smoking, but a great example was a former colleague who was a smoker and had his best ideas on his smoke breaks. This was so successful for him; he often used the expression “let’s work that out on the back of the (cigarette) pack”.
5. Set small goals that lead to big wins! – It’s important to have long-term goals to work towards, but your short-term goals will help build the foundation and momentum that supports business growth. Do not set goals that are so big you can’t see any progress. I suggest setting weekly or even daily goals that are measurable, so you can see your progress and quickly readjust to reach your long-term goals.
6. Limit your networking time! – I know so many entrepreneurs, particular ones that are starting out who are out at networking events 3 or more times a week and volunteer for one or two organizations as well. I strongly believe that networking is important to your business, but it needs to be focused, planned, and limited so that you have the time to work on your business. You need to be strategic about when, how, and where you network. Just like social media, if not carefully structured, it can take a huge chunk of time out of your week and reap limited results.
7. Plan the small stuff! – No matter what type of business you’re in, there are small and critically important things that often aren’t done because we don’t plan them into our week. Eventually, these things can become an unnecessary stressful, time consuming, and urgent situation. I know so many business owners who rush at the end of the year to do their accounting/bookkeeping, creating a crisis moment that was completely avoidable. To avoid the ‘pile of paper in a box situation’ plan once a week to do accounting. If you can outsource, great! However, I suggest you plan a day each month to meet with your bookkeeper/accountant to review the information, so that you are on top of your numbers. Accounting is just one example of many other activities that just sit on the back burner and are always nagging at the back of our mind, that if we just planned them into our month we’d be on top of them and would avoid them turning into a crisis.

These are just 7 small habits that you can incorporate into your day that can make a huge difference in your mindset and your accomplishments. You may have another habit that you’d like to create. My challenge to you is to pick just one habit (whether it’s one you create or one of the 7 small habits from above) to form over the next 21 days.

Which one habit do you commit to working on over the next 21 days? Please post below and let us know.

Starting Something New – Commit!

By Heather Cameron Leave a Comment

Are you looking for business building tips and ideas?

I’m live every Tuesday at noon (EST) on the Ignite Your Market Facebook Business Page.

Join me live or watch for the replays on my blog – The Spark.

Each week I’ll be sharing tips and ideas to help you:

Identify your market and opportunities.
Increase your productivity.
Connect with your client and prospects.
Ignite your markets and your businesses

Facebook Live: Starting Something New – Commit!

I’m thrilled to announce that I’m going to be launching my podcast, Ready for More! on October 29, 2018. I share my own experience of starting something new.

It is not until you actually commit to doing something new, something outside of your comfort and/or knowledge, that it actually starts to become real. Don’t worry about all the work and what you don’t know, just commit.

The reality is that when you commit to the idea you are going to take the first step. Then you are going to take the next step and the next step. As you take each step you are going to learn how to do it. You will figure it out on your own or reach out to others to learn how to do it.

We don’t know what we don’t know until we start trying to do something. Remember you didn’t know how to ride a bike or drive a car. Every time you take on something new you go through the 4 Stages of Learning and it important to remember that as you take on a new project or idea.

When you want to do something plant it firmly, put a date on it, say you are going to do it and let yourself progress through learning.

What is that one goal that you really want? How does it fit into your business plan? When do you want to start it? Don’t allow the fear of the unknown stop you.

Do You Have a “Back to School” Plan for Your Business?

By Heather Cameron 11 Comments

For those of us who live north of the equator, summer is nearly over, kids are heading back to school, business events are starting to ramp up again, and life is getting back to “normal”. I don’t know about you, but I always feel like September is the start of something new. It’s time to ramp up your business, plan and get results.

There are only 4 months left in the year! I know, where, oh where did the time go?

Have you developed your “game plan” with specific goals and actions for the last third of the year? If you have, that’s fantastic. If you haven’t, then now is the time to get yourself ready to get “back to business”.

Book It!

I recommend booking “planning” blocks in your agenda so that you’re ready to go and create results as soon as the school bell rings. It’s a great way to create momentum now so that you can hit the ground running.

Many entrepreneurs are so busy “doing” that they put planning on the back burner. They stay focused on the “now” and you might be saying, “I don’t have time to plan!” I know from my own experience that when I sit down and make a plan with specific goals, objectives, and accountability measures, I accomplish more and create positive momentum and energy that take my business to the next level.

Just Do It!

Review Year to Date Plan

Are you on track to meet your goals?
- If not, what is getting in the way?
- If yes, what must you do to ensure you reach or exceed those goals?
What’s your best business success this year?
Where do most of your revenue come from?
Where do you see opportunities for your business to:
- Grow sales
- Wow your customers
- Make improvements

Plan and Set Your Goals for the last third of the year

What’s your revenue target? What’s your stretch target?
What mix of products, services or programs do you need to reach that target? Do the math!
What are your 3 top priorities? How will you focus on them each week/day?

Define Your Strategies

What’s your marketing strategy?
What’s your social media/digital marketing strategy?
What do you need to develop/create/update, if anything?
What’s your communications strategy (both to existing clients and new prospects)?
Who are the partners that will help you succeed?
What systems do you need in place?
Who is your support?

Create Specific Actions

How much time will you spend on each activity?
How many people do you need to contact?
What program or service will you launch and/or deliver? What’s your timeline?
What events will you attend?
What are your 30, 90, and 120-day actions and goals?

Knowing and being on top of your top 3 priorities and having systems in place to deal with day-to-day activities creates an amazing feeling of empowerment and positive momentum in your business.

What will you do to get “Back To Business“, please share your thoughts below.

Ignite Your Market Challenge: Enjoy Your Summer and Stay Focused

By Heather Cameron Leave a Comment

The Ignite Your Market Weekly Challenge’s goal is to create simple but powerful actions that you can do each week that will help you:

Identify your market and opportunities.
Connect with your client and prospects.
Ignite your markets and your businesses

This Week’s Ignite Your Market Challenge: Enjoy Your Summer and Stay Focused

Summer is here! Here in Eastern Canada, it hot! Record-breaking hot! We’ve just celebrated Canada Day and summertime activities are in full swing – pool parties, BBQ, family activities, fun trips, vacations and just relaxing in the shade.

I don’t know about you but I get summer brain when it is this hot and I find it hard to focus. How are we as entrepreneurs supposed to maintain productivity with heat and so much other stuff going on?

The answer is to make your plan to enjoy summer. With a few changes, you can make summertime a productive time for your business and still enjoy all it has to offer.

With some extra planning for the summer, you can maintain or even increase productivity while enjoying the summer months! As a bonus, you might form new habits that help you with your business in any season.

This week’s Ignite Your Market Challenge is to start to Enjoy Your Summer and Stay Focused.

Do you want some strategies to help? Watch my Facebook Live Replay: 5 Strategies to Stay Focused and Enjoy Your Summer.

Join me tomorrow on my Tuesday Facebook Live where I’ll be walking through 5 Strategies to Stay Focused and Enjoy Your Summer!

How do you enjoy summer?