Action Plan 101: Sign up now!
December 3, 2008 by Mary Ellen
I see you. With only 28 days left in the year I see you teetering. You’re shifting from one foot to the other, starting to head in one direction and then bringing yourself up short to listen to the cacophony of excuses playing in your brain:
There’s not enough time for that.
No one will care about this.
Why bother starting a project when, after all, the year is nearly over?
Don’t call on them; it’s too late in the year to start something new.
How do I know? I get the same messages. Even 28 days is time enough to make an impact, effect a change, develop a habit.
MARKETLINK participants just completed week 11 of a 12 week series. I asked them to list three actions steps they would take as a result of our time together. Here are their comments, sorted by broad categories:
Internet
- Plan new website
- Implement ez-SEO recommendations
- Send a bi-monthly e-letter to customers showcasing new work
- Start a media section on my company’s website to include a blog during Q-1 2009
- Oversee developing of a website that is highly visible and user-friendly for the Institute
- Establish website
- Reorganize my website and take WESST’s Internet class with my web developer
- Copyright my website
- Meet with WESST and our web designer to plan SEO and e-commerce website positioning
- Plan and implement an e-marketing program
- Meet with WESST enhance my website and target customers
- Start the process of revising my website
Financials
- Talk to the Loan Fund people
- Complete cash flow sheets
- Organize my financial portfolio
- Work to “crunch the numbers” and work out viable financials for the coffee shop
- Make an appointment with WESST to discuss pricing and a loan
Operations
- Develop a business plan
- Develop a business plan for the coffee shop, possibly an integrated plan that includes the institute
- Finish the manual by fine-tuning position descriptions
- Interview for assistant
- Remodel my office
- Finalize business plan
- Write my license agreement and call at least five possible licensees
Marketing
- Get brochures in realtor’s office
- Develop a public relations and advertising plan
- Advertise weekly in NM Business Weekly during Q-1 2009
- Get a press release published in either Business Outlook, NM Business Weekly or a combination of two-plus other combinations
- Create a budget for marketing, PR and advertising in 2009
- Develop a press release for opening
- Expand marketing and public relations program to my target audience
- Get copyright submissions up to date
- Attend more networking functions by re-joining NMACC and NAWBO
- Solidify relationship with a lead who has an “in” with horse shows
If you looked at the past 90-days, what is outstanding on your list?. Quick. List three action items to take your business to the next level during the next 90 days.
NOTE: MARKETLINK, uses Perfect Pitch, a proprietary training program developed for entrepreneurs by WESST, a nonprofit helping people start and grow their businesses. I am a certified trainer and author of the Perfect Pitch Instructor’s Manual for the MARKETLINK program.
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