HOW I PLAN FOR BUSINESS | Plan Like an Entrepreneur

Give me a thumbs up if you've been waiting for me to revive my plan like an entrepreneur series, because, that's what I'm going to do today, so, in today's installment, of, what, I hope to be an ongoing series, I'm actually going to give you a tour of all of my business, planning tools and I, also want to give you an explanation of what it means to plan like an entrepreneur and some. Really, important, advice from me to you if you're someone who does want to get started with entrepreneurship. So, that sounds good let's, jump right in. Hello. My charm vines and welcome back to my channel for another video and if this is your first time with me I would like to say welcome my. Name is Alexis, but I'm also known as miss trenchcoat, all across, the internet I'm, an online entrepreneur who, designs and sells productivity. Tools strategies, and skills to help you manifest, success. With less stress so, if that sounds interesting to you I'll leave some links down below in the description box or you can check out more of my work online and feel, free to download some of my latest free productivity. Tools over, at the, charm shop calm. So, first let's kick off this series, revival, by talking a little bit about what it means to me to plan, like an entrepreneur so. Obviously, I am an entrepreneur I run my own online business but, I don't think that this, idea, of planning like an entrepreneur, is something. That just, pertains, to entrepreneurs, I think. That this concept, is really just a way of approaching, your work that, is really. More focused on objectives. And outcomes if, you're. Someone who runs a business obviously, that is going to be a very, big, deal for you right to make sure you're hitting objectives, and reaching. The outcomes that you want because. Everyone, knows that an entrepreneur has a lot, of work, on their plate they are usually responsible, for many different aspects of their business which, would be quite different from the, way that a, person, who had like a nine-to-five, job might, be approaching their work and responsibilities. So, essentially this, plan like an entrepreneur idea, is about, organizing.

Multiple, Areas of responsibility. In your life and streamlining. Them to ensure that, you are staying, focused, and hitting, goals and objectives. That you, are interested in meeting this is why not only goal-setting is an important topic for entrepreneurs, but, also project. Planning as well to make sure that you are consistently. Focused against, meeting your objectives now. I obviously don't know how every entrepreneur, approaches. Their yearly business, planning but, I always start with income. Numbers so the, numbers, that I want to be at in terms of how much money that, I want my business to be making within a year minimum I take, those numbers and I reverse engineer objectives, that, will become projects. That will help me to develop. Systems, products. Etc to help me reach that goal now, once I know what those, objectives are, those projects, are that I want to work on because let's be honest there are probably, a thousand, different ways that, I could create, a plan to help me hit that income, number but what I choose to do is personal, to me and my interests in my business but once I have those projects, laid out on a monthly basis, all I need to do is refer. Back to those project, plans and make, sure that I'm getting the steps, and the tasks, completed, so that I can build up those new assets, or new systems, to help me earn the income that I'm looking for so, then my monthly. Weekly, and of course my daily, work is always, a reflection, in a direct, link. Back to those, larger. Projects, and objectives, that I'm trying to manifest for my business now as I already mentioned you don't have to be an entrepreneur, to actually benefit, from this method of planning I think that looking. At your year. In terms of the goals, that you have and the objectives, the real measurable, objectives, that you want to hit for yourself over. The course of the year and then breaking, that down into. Projects. To execute, on to hopefully get you there I think that that is a system that is incredibly. Functional and that anyone, can really use in their life to manage multiple, responsibilities. Or, multiple, goals that they would like to bring into rushon it really is a very focused way of spending. Your time and doing your work and looking, at your life because, when you know clearly, the objectives, you're trying to reach it makes it so much clearer for you what you need to do on Monday on Tuesday on next Thursday in, order, to reach those objectives. I wake up never actually needing, to ask myself what, do I need to do today for my business because whether. Or not I actually have a complete, little task list for the day right now I always, have the, reference, this, is what I need to do this month to move things forward this, is the project that I'm working on that is building, the system for me and this. Is the goal that I am ultimately achieving, from, my efforts today it really helps to really, streamline and focus your motivation, and inspiration. Waking. Up whether or not you're a business owner so, I hope that gives you a really good explanation and, primer to what it means to plan like an entrepreneur now, I want to go ahead and give you a bird's-eye view and a little tour of the, different, planning systems that I use to make this happen ok. So what tools do I use, to help me plan, like an entrepreneur, the. First tools, I have are, actually, here, in this. Binder. Cover and. As. You can see when I open this up there's actually two books here the, first of which is my. New, high vibe Bible, now, although this is not a, planning. Tool per se I did want to mention it in this video because, it. Is a 90, day journal to help you raise your vibration. And manifest, your desires and, for, me as someone who really does believe in manifestation, and, likes. To set intentions, especially. Around my business this. Journal has been very helpful in the last few weeks with helping me get incredibly, clear on the, intentions. I have for my business and how I plan, to make, those things a reality manifest. Them into existence, we would say so, this, is a journal it's absolutely. Part of my daily routine and, I'll talk about you know routines, and habits a little bit later in this video but, I definitely think that as, someone who has a lot on their plate running a business that, it's a really good idea to be able to have something like a journal, to, help you to get really clear on what you're trying to achieve and, help, you lay out your ideas, especially. In the morning before your workday starts to, really start your day for success, now. With, that being said the. Main star of the show here is of course my. Charmed, life master, planner this is my 2019, striped edition so, this is my life. And business. Planner. I use, only one planner for. Everything. In my life including my business, and because my business happens to be a big portion of my life that's.

What Tends to get a lot of the focus and attention inside. Of this planner now, I think in order to show you how this planner really, works as a system to help me get things done I actually need to start from the. Back of the book and move forward, so the first thing that I want to show you is my, brilliant, ideas section, and in. This section of the planner this, is where I'm able to take my, raw, ideas, write raw inspiration. For. My business or problems, that I'm facing and really. Break them down so that I can turn them into plans, now. The first set, of inserts, that I have in this section are brain, dump inserts and I'm just gonna go ahead and show you guys a blank. Spread, so you can get an idea of what it looks like but my brain dump is literally, where on a monthly basis, I sit down and I write down all the things that I've been thinking about trying to remember that really, deserve to be planned, out and after. I do my brain dump I go. Ahead and use this side of the spread which is called organize and act and this, is what's, known as like an Eisenhower, matrix, I learned about this in Steven. Covey's 7hi like seven Habits of Highly Effective People book, I call it like the quadrant, new system sometimes but. Yeah, this is basically a prioritization, matrix where. I will take all the things that I've written down here and decide what, is important, and urgent, enough, to act on first so here it's broken into four quadrants, four important, not important, urgent not urgent depending. On you, know either of how. They fall on importance, or urgency they will be put into a, quadrant. And that. Is how I will act, on, so, once I've got my you, know my raw ideas, and things I'm holding on to brain dumped the. Next set of inserts comes in mighty. Handy so this is my brainstorm. And plan, and prep spread. And this spread here this plan and prep spread specifically. Is incredibly, helpful for me because, it basically break lets me break down my ideas and sort. Of partition. Ideas, out into, maybe. Different, categories, these different squares here, the great thing about these squares they absolutely love is that they actually fit, these, little. Post-it. Notes in here that are like Erin Condren vertical. Square sticker. Sizing. They actually fit in this this. Little matrix here which is, really awesome for helping me to like lay out ideas but, essentially if I have an idea that I'm holding on to and I need to bring it to fruition right, I really want to brainstorm, this and really flesh it out I will, use this spread here I will, use it for literally, anything new products, I will use it for email sequences, funnels.

Marketing. Plans anything. Like that I will often come to this to use and actually probably this section. Is actually very full cuz I have a lot of plans in here but, actually I do have a blank one of these spreads that I can kind of show you right here if you want to see I actually use, this spread to break out a quarterly, business, plan as well you can see here this is q3 business, plan I actually, obviously haven't gotten to q3 yet so or the end of q2 yet so I don't, have this filled out but what I do here, is I put the, months right in the quarter so July August and September are. Listed out here in the, columns, and then, in the Rose I have content, marketing, and offer right, so what, content am i creating, in these months what, marketing, do I have to do and what, offers, sales promotions. Etc are getting done so that's like how, I legitimately. Business, plan on a quarterly basis, but of course you know any of these tasks. In here might require. Their, own spread. Like this so I have plenty of room to do that here, and then of course once, I have these ideas outlined, I go to this brainstorm, side, where, I can actually start listing out tasks, and making notes and that, is an excellent, prep for. The second, section, of the planner that I want to show you which, is my important. Project, section, so. Here is where I take all of those ideas and turn them into cemented. Project. Plans, so the, first spread, here as you can see is my yearly overview, and you will have to forgive me I had. Actually. You might be able to say I don't think you can I actually, ended up printing. Out a sticker and putting it over this because I completely. Changed my, entire focus for the year a couple, of weeks ago so I wanted. To have like a fresh one of these to work off of so, you can see that not everything, is fully filled, out but you can see I've got all of the months of the year broken. Out along the top and they each month has their own box for short term projects, then, I have a box for each quarter of the year what I call midterm projects, and then long-term projects, go, into these longer, boxes, so this, is where I will actually go in and schedule, things that, need to be worked on when they have an appropriate, time of year right so in, October I've scheduled. To work on my 20/20 inserts, November. Usually. Is the time to do like Black Friday and holiday promotion, so I'm going to think about what I want to do for that then. New. Year goal setting if I want to do a goal setting worksheet workshop. Again this year it would be taking, place in December of course so basically. All of my projects, get broken, out into here and this isn't fully completely, filled out yet because like I said things. Recently changed, so, not. Necessarily, a lot of the project, plans but just like my layout for the way that I was going to organize, things and my. Focus going forward so you, know all of my projects, are laid out here so I know when I have to work on them and then, individually. My. Projects, are broken out into project, plans where I can you, know list out the project, a description or the objective, of the of the project plan the, due date or the time period that it needs to be worked on the actual tasks, and notes. And of course here I also have a section for resources, if there's different things that I need to kind, of consult, along the way so. This is where I will actually break, down plans. Into complete, projects, and then based on the timing of, the. Projects. During a months I would go ahead and assign. Things to. My. Monthly plan so let's go ahead to a blank, month right now as you can see August is blank and this, is where I would start scheduling, things in for, my month, now. Generally, with my month on two pages I use this as an editorial calendar and general, like event, calendar, for, the, year so individual. Events, appointments. Things like that would go in here as well, as my content, but, I also have an opportunity here on this this week column. To, break out three, priorities. For each week that I want to work on so I could write three things down in here that would apply to this week and these, are things that help me get focused now these would absolutely, be things that come from my projects, that are just transferred, over. Additionally. I will, use my monthly task list to kind, of collect, all of the different project related tasks, and one-off. Tasks, that I need to do for, a specific month and I would have them all listed out here so everything, is organized, so instead of having to rummage through a bunch of project plans I've, got them all listed out in one place then. I've got my monthly tracker where I can track out reoccurring. Tasks. Or habits, and things like that that I'm focusing, on and, then. We get into my weekly plan where I will, go ahead and work, off of that, list that monthly task list plus that, monthly, you know prioritized.

List That I've written down and start. Working on tasks. I have a place for my, top three tasks every day and then a space where I can add more, tasks, create a schedule take notes etc, so that is how, I plan. For my life and my business in one, planner, and that's why my master planner is my. Holy grail of planners, but it. Is not the only system, that I, use, I do have, an auxilary, binder, as well that I'm going to show you that. Is the place that I kind of put like overflow. And extra. Reference, information obviously. Because that is a bound planner it doesn't. Have the ability for me to add and you know remove pages, so. I do keep, a six, ring binder. For. Me to use for extra things so this is just a really, expensive, clear, binder I got off of Amazon I'll leave it link down below I also got these black. Dividers, off of Amazon, as well I'll leave those linked for you down below but. This just has a few things in it the first section, has a bunch, of my stickers in it right so my functional, planning stickers, from my shop if, you didn't know I create, stickers, every once in a while and I print them out at home and I have these printable, designs, that you can use as. Well if you want to purchase anything. From my shop I'll leave those linked down below so those are my stickers and keep those in the front. Then. The next section you guys are gonna find this very interesting this is where I take a lot of my notes and almost, map out my business plans a little bit more. This, here as you can see is a little, pull-out, board. That I actually created, for myself where, I map. Out my, projects. A little bit more so this is a little bit more like a project, organization board I used, to do this a little bit more on like a whiteboard in my room in my office but, I actually like having it be a little bit smaller and a little bit pour more portable so I just, kind of write out projects. That I'm working on on little sticky notes and kind, of organize them, you know it's not in detail but it helps me to see progress, a little bit better and helps me to break down ideas a little bit better so I've got this in the front of here so this is like things that I'm currently working on then. I just have a whole bunch of notes here as you can see that are, things that might. Just literally, be one offs that really don't belong in my planner but our business-related, writes like notes on like these are like notes on a book that I read to for, business and it you know had some prompts and things that I kind of worked through as I was going along so, I've got a lot of different notes and things like that and here in this section. Then. The next, section here, has, just a few extra odds and ends as well so this, is my, online business brain, thump in completion, triggers, list this is what I use when I go to brain dump to. Help me have, a very quick reference, of the, things that I might be thinking, about but can't remember so this is a triggers list it's supposed to trigger your memory basically, jog, your memory as you're, doing a brain dump now this is actually a free download if you guys want this I will leave the link down below if you are someone who runs a business or, is thinking about running a business or you know even if it's not a business if you're just an influencer, or someone who's got a channel or something like that that you or a blog this, is really helpful for that then, again I just said I just had some extra. Sorts, of things that I just kind of throw in here just in case I wanted to plan with them my high by valuable, I before.

It Actually was, printed I was testing it out in here and. Then. I just have this random section, of just, thanks for organizing just. Sorts of you know card, folders and things like that and then, the final section of this auxilary binder, is an. Adaptation of, my 43, folders tickler. File system, if you guys have ever seen my, 43, folders videos, or if you haven't this, is basically, a portable. Filing. Cabinet, for me now. In the 43, folders system, you, get 43, folders because you're supposed to have a folder for each month of the year plus. Each. Day. Of the month so up to 31, so 31, plus 12 equals 43. Folders what. I ended up doing was because I realized I didn't really use the daily folders. Really. I just used the monthly I just took this down into, the 12 monthly, folders so, for each month, of the year I've got this folder where I have things that I can that, I need to work on or you, know basically I just tuck paperwork. In here that. You know belongs to a certain month so, this is like my revolving. Filing cabinet. Truncated. To fit here in this binder, so that I've literally, this is just like my walkin. Filing cabinet my portable filing cabinet for my business and this is the perfect auxilary, setup for me to, go along with the charmed life master, planner okay, so those, are my tools I hope you enjoyed seeing those and getting a little bit more insight into this idea of planning, like an entrepreneur the, final thing that I want to talk to you about is just giving you a little bit of advice from me to you about you, know how to make. The most of planning for your business if you are an entrepreneur, specifically. Now, the first piece of advice I have for you is that I really believe that personal, development is, key you should really take up the mindset, that you should never stop learning or, ever. Let learning, stop you from, I think that's also very important. Because as much as I know that, you need to be doing consistent. Personal development, as an entrepreneur, I know you also can't. Let the. Learning stand, in the way of the doing so obviously, some really simple ways that you can continue. To develop yourself personally and to continue learning would be to, read, a lot of different books I'm always listening to books on tape via audible. Definitely. Get into the habit of you, know finding, some different content like mine and other people out there on the internet video YouTube. Blogs, whatever, to, help you see different perspectives, for, your business and for, different skills and things that you might be lacking or just different insight that you might need and of course taking, courses and, enrolling in different classes for. Different areas of your business are also a great way to help you continue, learning and also, add that. Cumulative, effect of your business the next thing I think you should know is that mastering. Your habits, and, developing. A mental, mastery. He, is going to help you so, much because I do find that the little habits that, are bad that are keeping you from fully. Aligning, with your goals or really the things that can be the trickiest and the biggest killers to your productivity, and your success, now, this is why I like, to instill very, positive, habits like. The daily, journaling, the manifestation, journaling that I showed you with the high by Bible that, is just a very simple literally, five minute, activity, that I do in the morning before I open my planner that, really helps me to align myself, and, what, I'm doing that day with, my overall, and larger, objectives, so, that daily, journaling, ultimately, becomes a non-negotiable habit. For me so that I can manifest my goals and the, third and final piece of advice I have for you is to get to know yourself, your, personality.

Your Strengths, your weaknesses, your. Motivations. Everything. And I think a really great way to do this is by taking a few different personality. Tests that are geared towards business that, you can take for free online a, few of my favorite, personality, tests that I always recommend our, Sally. Hogsheads, how to fascinate. Personality, test, myers-briggs. The, four tendencies, by Gretchen Rubin the, iniya gram and strength, finders, so, all of these different personality. Tests are really going to go a long way to helping you understand. The, way that you work in the way that you act so that you can be the best business person that you can be and really lean. Into your strengths, and you know take the time to develop your weaknesses, and if necessary figure. Out where you might need to have a lifeline to call in your business, if that's something you absolutely need, so, that is everything I wanted you to know about planning like an entrepreneur, and my personal, business planning sort of process, and tools don't, forget I'll leave you some links down in the description box where you can check out a few of the different, tools and things that I showed you in today's video including. That business brain dump triggers list if you are a business, person or an influencer, or someone who's interested in any, of this I would highly recommend grabbing, that free download because it's a great resource that I highly, recommend using as part, of your monthly brain dump process, it, really will go a long way to help, you create better business. Plans so, if you have any questions about today's video please make sure to leave me those in the comments below if you enjoyed the video and you want to see more from this series make sure to give it a thumbs up and feel free to share it with anyone you think will find it interesting for more, behind the scenes of my productivity, life and business make sure to follow me on instagram at, miss trenchcoat, and if you're not yet subscribed to, my channel what are you waiting for, hit that subscribe button for more awesome videos by, me and until next time bye. Bye.

2019-05-16 14:29

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