Grow Your Business by Planning for The Next 90 Days

It sometimes makes me smile when I remember myself from 5 years ago when I started out in business. I think I must have read the whole library of books to prepare myself on what to do, what should I think of and remember. And I still think they contained some really valuable advice. But if only someone had asked me back then do I know where I want my business to be in 90 days, I know my road to where my business is now would be much different.

I, of course, had plans where I want my business to be in 3, 5 and 10 years from then. And I had an elaborate, in my own opinion, plan on what I would need to achieve to get there. But I never realized that I may also need some small steps strategy in order to achieve my goals.

It was some time later that I discovered a 90 day rule and it really changed my life.

It’s that simple. Really.

The rule simply states that everything in business happens in approximately 90 days circle. The action you take today will take an effect in roughly 3 months. Hence you should plan what you want to achieve during that time and what actions should you take. And thus be able to predict what effect on your business they will have. So, how do you create a plan like this? What do you include in one?

Unfortunately there is no golden formula for that. Or at least I have never found one universal way of doing it. The best way I know of is to simply list your plans and vision for the business, then follow that with a list of goals you want to achieve in the next 3 months that could help you to get there.

As much as there is no ultimate way to create such a plan though, there are some principles that you could follow to make creating your plan much easier task.

Use a SMART rule for setting up your goals.

Simply, make sure that your goals are Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely.

Include your business and personal goals in the plan.

Of course you want your business to grow and succeed. But maybe you also would like to finally own that house or a land down the country? Maybe you want to travel to some foreign countries. We all have personal goals. No matter whether they are big or small, your business is a vehicle that can make those dreams come true. You just have to steer it in the right direction.

Include in your plan what would you like to achieve for your wealth, health, partner or family, travel plans you may have and your own development.

Make sure that you include a plan on how you will achieve those goals.

There is no point in planning if you would not create a roadmap to know how to get there. Such roadmap will show you what milestones you will have to achieve to complete your goals.

My way of creating a 90 day plan is to sit down with pen and paper and simply start writing.
I first list what goals and tasks my company achieved in the last quarter. I include my personal achievements as well. Then I look at where my business is now. This includes looking at our sales from the last 3 months, our accounts and what is going on in the company now. I compare that with my vision for the business and my plan where I want to be in 3 years time and add my personal goals.

Such comparison very quickly reveals to me what areas of business I should be working on in the next 90 days and what sort of goals should I set for us to move us closer to completing our long term plans.

And that’s it, really.

If you have a different way of setting up your goals for each quarter of the year, share them with everyone in comments.