Many business owners (especially those with a non-business background) struggle when it comes to creating a strategic business plan for their business. Chances are they have never run a business before, and even in their “employment” days they weren’t involved with day-to-day business management.

So when it comes to running your business, they fight!

“I still need to figure out (sit down and learn) how to do this!” a business owner told me earlier this week.

They have a dream for their business, they are experts in whatever it is they do, but they have no idea how to take that idea / dream and turn it into a viable and profitable business … so they continue in a state of overwhelming and frustration, with a slow growing business.

Spending some time planning all of your business activities is critical to long-term success. It is not just about planning your business, you need to understand the strategy behind what you are going to do. And you also need to understand how all the different parts of your business fit together to create a consistent business.

Today, I’d like to share with you my simple 3-step process for sitting down and creating your own strategic business plan.

PLAN – schedule some time on your calendar to work on your business plan. Some people choose to take a mini retreat outside of their office. It could be spending the day at your local coffee shop or going out of town for a few days. Or you can simply schedule an hour or two and sit quietly in your office planning your business (the advantage of doing it in your office is that you have all your business information right there). Whatever works best for you, will work best for your business. But the important thing is that you schedule the time to create your plan!

INVESTIGATE – What will you offer during the next 90 days? 6 months; 12 months? I like to have a flexible 12-month plan, but then I have a very specific 90-day plan. It’s much easier to focus and implement with a shorter time frame than over, say, a 12-month period. Sometimes planning so far in advance can be overwhelming. But it’s important to have that “big picture” in place so you know where you are going.

Also, when deciding what to offer, ask yourself, “Does this make sense? Does it fit my overall vision?” This is where understanding the strategy behind your business comes in. There is no use deciding that you want to run a live event or offer an online training course if you don’t understand how this fits into your “Overview”. All roads should lead you to that “Overview”.

EXECUTED – Now that you know what to offer and when, it’s time to put that plan into action. One of the things I do in my business is “reverse engineering.” I always start with the end date in mind and then work backwards. For example, if I offer a 4-part live training class on a specific date, what should I do to promote that training class and when? It’s much easier to plan promotions if I work backward from the class start date. That way too, I can see if I’m leaving enough time for promotions or if I need to adjust something in some way.

Here’s my simple 3-step process for creating your strategic business plan. No, create your own!

(c) 2013 Tracey Lawton