Plan or Act, Which Comes First?
If it seems like a trick question – you’re right.
The natural, logical, sensible answer is to plan fist, act second. After all, don’t they say that time spent planning can save you time and money down the road?
In theory, the answer is yes, and if you are an international company looking to spend millions of dollars on your next ad campaign, then plan away.
For the entrepreneur and small business owner, though, planning can be the kiss of death. Welcome to the cul-de-sac of indecision.
Here are the hidden risks of planning:
- It works on hypothetical situations which are invariably different from reality
- It lulls you into thinking you are being super productive when you aren’t. It’s a contact sport. Planning to make contact is not the same as making contacts.
Does this mean you are supposed to fly by the seat of your pants each day hoping for the best? Absolutely not.
So how to you create a business plan, start something new, or grow your business?
Focus your actions in these 3 ways:
- Take 15 minutes to clarify what you want: generate business from a specific segment of the market ie. first time homebuyers, seniors, a certain geographic area
- Identify who you need to contact to connect with those clients
- Decide on the quickest way to do that with the least amount of money spent
The whole process should take less than 30 minutes. From there it’s on to action.
You can course correct along the way, and as things start working you can invest more time and dollars to amp things up.
It might sound counter intuitive, but doing things this way will actually make you successful faster because you will be getting real-time feedback and generating clients along the way.
To your success!
Nicole
PS: Feel like you need some help to up your game? In a funk and can’t seem to flip the switch? Join us for the Master Your Frequency to Elevate Your Business webinar June 13th.
It was so successful, and the feedback from agents with the different it has made in their business has been so amazing that I wanted to offer it another time in case you missed the first round. Click here for more info.
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