Planning for 2014

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Are you ready for 2014?

If you are like me, then you’ve already determined to make 2014 YOUR year!

Business planning for your small business during peak holiday shopping season can be quite a challenge, but in today’s post, I will share with you my approach which I hope will provide you with guidance on planning for your business in the new year.

Set Goals

What are you going to do differently in your business this year compared to last year?

This will be the first step in helping you to determine your business goals.

Come up with about 5-10 goals and then rank them in order of importance.

Some of my goals include:

  1. Revamp my website / launch e-commerce site
  2. Develop blogging strategy
  3. Integrate blogging and social media efforts
  4. Develop newsletter/marketing campaign
  5. Develop new product launches
  6. Plan 2014 holiday promotions

Breakdown each goal

Break down each goal into smaller tasks.

For example my goal to revamp my website and launch an e-commerce site can be broken down into five smaller tasks as follows:

GOAL

Tasks

  • Revamp website / launch e-commerce
  • Design website layout in PowerPoint
  • Determine number of products per page
  • Determine what features of Google Analytics to install
  • How to integrate ETSY shop with new website
  • Research online shopping platform (Shopify, WP plug in, etc.)

Set a Deadline

Decide on a completion date and work backwards to allocate a specific timeline to each goal.

Since my target deadline is the end of January, I will allocate 10 hours/week over the next 6-8 weeks to develop a concise strategy and implementation plan for each goal.

Create a Project Plan

To help keep you on track, create a project plan and checklist in Excel.

Monitor

On a monthly basis monitor your goals, results and adjust strategies as needed.

I’d love to hear what business goals and strategies you are implementing in your business in 2014?

Share it in the comments below!

Happy planning!!

by: Rekha Krishnamurthi