Looking for a spreadsheet to help jumpstart your new year?
As we approach 2024, it’s time for painting business owners to strategize and plan for the upcoming year.
Effective business planning is crucial for growth, sustainability, and staying competitive in a dynamic painting industry.
This comprehensive guide is designed to help you navigate the complexities of business planning and set your Painting Business on a path to success in 2024.
Did we mention there’s a free spreadsheet?
Pro Tip: Skip the read and watch our live podcast event on this topic!
Let’s dive in…
VISUALIZE the destination
First, we need to get CRYSTAL CLEAR on WHAT you want, and WHY you want it.
Defining your vision provides direction and purpose, guiding your business decisions throughout the year.
WHY is more important than HOW — The latter is the easy part!
For this exercise, I recommend finding a quiet room to close your eyes…
Vision Mapping Exercise:
Picture yourself one year from today, and you just had the perfect year.
You set goals today for the end of next year, and you crushed every single one of them.
Ask yourself: WHAT does the perfect year look like for me?
You had the best year you could have imagined. Every box you wanted to check has been checked.
Ask yourself: WHY is this important to me?
The more clear you can make this in your mind, the more likely you are to reach the destination.
I recommend repeating this exercise as often as possible throughout the year (monthly, weekly, daily).
Great! So we all have a vision, now we need a roadmap…
Know your starting point
Before you can plan a trip to reach your destination, one extremely important factor must be considered…
Where are you TODAY?
As Entrepreneurs and Business Owners, we are pretty good at establishing a vision of where we want to go, but without knowing where we are today, trying to reach that vision is like trying to steer a rudderless ship.
Understanding your business’s current strengths, weaknesses, and areas that require more focus will help you develop your plan.
Compile your numbers
Now, we’re going to need some numbers, but I want to be clear, if you do not have all of these numbers, just pull together the best data you have and start keeping track of this for next year.
The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, the next best time is today.
There are two groups of numbers important for annual planning: Contacts & Company
Contacts, otherwise known as data for a lead, estimate, or job are going to include things such as:
For the Company data, we’re looking for YTD numbers such as:
Identify your KPIs
Great! So we have some numbers, but how does that tell us where we are TODAY?
To answer that question, we need to MEASURE these numbers. We need to break them down into simple, actionable metrics, called KPIs (Key Performance Indicators).
So what do actionable KPIs look like, and why are they important?
Annual KPIs will tell you WHERE and WHEN you should invest your TIME and MONEY to grow your Painting Business.
We have a few important metrics listed below. These numbers are easy to obtain using the numbers above in a simple spreadsheet.
Goal Setting
So we know where we are today, and what our destination looks like. The hard work is done!
Now for the HOW — How do you get to your destination?
First, we need to break down your vision into smaller, actionable goals!
Define your KPI goals
There are a LARGE number of SMALL levers you can pull in your business today that will get you to the same end result.
For instance, let’s say you want to double your revenue next year, you could:
These metrics are fluid and moldable.
Massage your numbers until you identify a realistic path to hit your ambitious KPI goal.
Be sure to include what needs to change within yourself, as a Leader, to reach those target goals.
Who you are today is not the person who will get you to where you want to go, so who do you need to become?
REWARD: How will you celebrate?
As Entrepreneurs, we LOVE celebrating, and basking in the glory of hitting our goals. It just brings us peace of mind, right?
WRONG!
As Business Owners we are rarely ever content.
We hit a goal, get a little dopamine boost, and move on to the next challenge.
This is what leads to burnout.
To fix this, we simply need to make our vision part of our everyday life, and celebrate with gratitude along the way. For instance:
Whatever your vision looks like, ensure that it is firmly planted in your daily life so WHEN (not IF) you reach that goal, you’ll know exactly how to celebrate.
PUNISHMENT: What happens if you don’t meet this goal?
As humans, we are wired for two things: Avoiding pain, and seeking pleasure.
Unfortunately, your brain is not wired to make you happy, it has evolved to keep you alive.
So naturally, we gravitate toward pain avoidance.
As such, the best way to set a goal is to not only define what you want, but also to define a punishment, or something you don’t want.
Now, we are NOT looking for things that cause physical pain, we simply want to identify something that would help you reach your goal faster.
For instance:
This punishment should be a positive reinforcement in your life, and something you absolutely MUST do.
Once you have your goal, reward, and punishment defined, tell as many people as you can. There is power in group motivation!
Find gratitude in life
As we gear up for 2024, remember that business planning is not a one-time activity but an ongoing process.
Remember, there is only ONE guarantee in life — Everything will change!
Stay agile and be prepared to adjust your strategies in response to market changes and business performance.
Enjoy the journey by finding appreciation for where you are TODAY, and let’s make 2024 the best year yet!
