As the New Year starts, we can expect to see dozens – or hundreds – of ideas for planning. Here’s a 3-step overview that makes up most people’s planning process.
(1) Find your business growth core story.
Your story doesn’t have to be your origin story – “how I got here.” It’s the story that captures the essence of you and your message.
One business owner’s story is about building a business part-time while she raised her children. She’s built her own story around helping people who want to earn a full-time income on a part-time basis.
Another business owner tells the story of helping her friends who couldn’t afford a plane ticket to visit her (back in the days when people traveled casually). She taught them how to earn money online. Soon they were too busy to come visit.
“Your story” isn’t always about you. And it’s not just one story. Many business owners keep a portfolio of stories, so they can choose exactly the story they need to fit their strategy.
Which story works? Start with your story archetype.
(2) Get rid of things that no longer fit your story.
You’re asked to place a value on a coffee mug you don’t own. What’s it worth? What would you pay to buy it?
Once you get the mug, the experimenter asks to buy it back. Almost always, you’ll set a higher price this time. Ownership confers value.
So it’s hard to let go of memberships, courses and organizations. You keep thinking you “might” use them.
For a long time, I had a collection of domains that seemed to fit my business. But as I changed focus, a lot of these domains became irrelevant and I finally let them go. It doesn’t. seem like much- $10 a year – but 10? 50? They add up.
(3) Keep things that support your story – and only things that support your story.
Do you have half-finished courses and autoresponders? I found a couple on my hard drive when I was migrating to my new laptop. They were better than I remembered…and I’ll have new products for nearly zero effort.
Did you buy PLR and now you’re too busy to turn your PLR into courses? You’ll have to calculate the value of finishing the courses and making sales, versus the cost to implement.
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