S11 E5-8 TurboCharge Your Business Strategic Planning with Patty Lawrence

S11 E5-8 TurboCharge Your Business - 13 Weeks to Financial Literacy

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STRATEGIC PLANNING
Business planning consists of the planning activities that guide the success and direction of your organization. This week, we are going to talk about a specific type of business planning: strategic planning. You’ll want to listen to the next four episodes because I’ll talk about why we do strategic planning, the four components to strategic planning, and exactly how to create a one-page strategic plan for your business. If you can do a one-page strategic plan every year ahead of your budget, you’ll be able to better dial into what you need to do in the next year, understand how your performance is measuring up against your planning, and get closer to your goals and targets both big and small. 

S11 E5 Strategic Planning: Horizon

Horizon is the first key component of your strategic plan. What is the horizon? It’s the timeline you’re looking out. Most strategic plans go out multiple years, including all the way up to ten years. I personally find that 10 years is too far out, with too many variables outside of our control, so I usually do a 3-5 year horizon with my clients. It’s much more manageable and impactful because things are closer in. If you do want to do a 10-year plan, you’ll want to consider only really big targets (like acquiring a business or being acquired) out that far. 

With my clients, I ask: what are you looking at doing in the next 3 years? Perhaps you’re growing so you imagine needing more people, or a new building. What are those horizon issues that you might come across? How might the economic and political environment shift along that timeline? Maybe you can see a recession or a big election coming. What other kinds of environmental impacts are going to happen in that 3-5 year horizon that could impact your business? All of those things need to be addressed in the horizon section. 

 
Listen to “TurboCharge Your Business” on the International Business Growth Network or wherever you get podcasts and gain access to even more great resources at https://turboexecs.com/turbocharge. 

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​S11 E6 Strategic Planning: Core Values
What are your organization’s core values? What’s driving your organization’s performance and direction? What areas are in your wheelhouse, telling you what you should and shouldn’t be doing? How does your organization show up every day for your customers and clients? 

These are core values questions. In a nutshell, core values are your cause, your niche, your passion, your mission. 

What are those things that define you? These are critical to put in your strategic plan because you need them as an anchor to ground you in moving forward. When you have your core values front and center, it’s easier to understand what the best channels, areas, and scenarios are to move your forward strategically as a business. 

Your core values and your “why” are very closely intertwined because what you should and shouldn’t do is aligned with your why. Those are your alignment and grounding areas that will guide you in the right direction for your business. 
 
Listen to TurboCharge Your Business on the International Business Growth Network or wherever you get podcasts and gain access to even more great resources at https://turboexecs.com/turbocharge. 

TAGS: strategic planning, strategic planning steps, strategic planning sample, what is strategic planning, strategic planning process, strategic planning meaning, strategic planning example, strategic planning explained, strategic planning definition, strategic planning process video, write a strategic plan, strategic management, strategic planning process examples, develop a strategic plan, strategic planning for small business, steps in the strategic planning process

S11 E7 Strategic Planning: Targets
Targets are pie-in-the-sky things to aim for. Envision an actual bulls-eye target, pretty far out. That’s what you’re putting up in your strategic plan to ask: in 3-5 years, where could we be? 

Those targets could be things like:

• Revenue numbers
• Profit targets 
• Number of clients
• Market share 

Targets could be anything that is really important to you. What do you measure currently that’s quantifiable that you can relate to from a 3-5 year time horizon? Those targets become your places to aim towards.
 
Listen to TurboCharge Your Business on the International Business Growth Network or wherever you get podcasts and gain access to even more great resources at https://turboexecs.com/turbocharge. 

TAGS: strategic planning, strategic planning steps, strategic planning sample, what is strategic planning, strategic planning process, strategic planning meaning, strategic planning example, strategic planning explained, strategic planning definition, strategic planning process video, write a strategic plan, strategic management, strategic planning process examples, develop a strategic plan, strategic planning for small business, steps in the strategic planning process

S11 E8 Strategic Planning: Goals
In the last key section of your strategic plan, your targets get boiled down to goals. Goals are more immediate than targets, and they happen in the one-year timeline. What are you doing next year to move you closer to your targets?

Goals quantified are really a budget. What does your budget look like and what kind of activities do you need to be doing to move the needle towards your targets? The one-year category is very close in, so get specific. These should be very specific items to act on and prioritize.

Key thrusts and capabilities capture what’s going to get you in the 3-5 year priorities range. What capabilities and qualities move you closer to your goals and targets? 

In a nutshell, goals and key thrusts and capabilities answer the question: what do we need to achieve, how are we going to achieve it, and by when? Delivering on those key initiatives will allow you to achieve your goals.
 
Listen to TurboCharge Your Business on the International Business Growth Network or wherever you get podcasts and gain access to even more great resources at https://turboexecs.com/turbocharge. 

TAGS: strategic planning, strategic planning steps, strategic planning sample, what is strategic planning, strategic planning process, strategic planning meaning, strategic planning example, strategic planning explained, strategic planning definition, strategic planning process video, write a strategic plan, strategic management, strategic planning process examples, develop a strategic plan, strategic planning for small business, steps in the strategic planning process

​TurboCharge Your Business is a show for business owners who are tired of just working IN the nuts and bolts of their businesses and ready to work ON the business itself from a big-picture, growth-oriented, strategic perspective.

Listen to TurboCharge Your Business on the International Business Growth Network or wherever you get podcasts and gain access to even more great resources at https://turboexecs.com/turbocharge. 

Patty Lawrence is a money finder, consulting CFO, right hand to growth-minded CEOs, and founder of TurboExecs. At TurboExecs, she works with $2M+ professional services and non-profit organizations that struggle to get the timely & accurate financial reports they need to function, often because one person holds this information hostage or lacks the skills required to do the work.

Through outsourced accounting and CFO services, she and her team reveal the story behind the numbers so leaders confidently can make data-driven decisions that allow them to leap forward, trusting they have the team and finances in place for manageable, profitable growth. As a result, TurboExecs’ clients typically increase the bottom line by at least 15% and feel in full control of their finances and results.

Connect with TurboExecs at turboexecs.com. Continue the conversation with Patty on LinkedIn.