Time to read: 2 minutes 38 seconds
You may have noticed some radio silence from me lately, and there's good reason for it.
I've got my dad visiting this week which has been great, as I don't see him all that often with both of our crazy travel schedules.
Then, the week before that I was bunkered down, planning my next 5 years.
The last 5 years
Looking back on my previous 5 year plan, here's the main things I wanted to achieve so I could live the lifestyle I wanted:
- Work 4 hours per day
- Increase retainer revenue to 50% of gross
- Spend 6 months of the year travelling
- Productise my main services
These were the 4 'North Stars' for all my activities the past 5 years.
I'm glad to say, 3 out of 4 have been accomplished.
Number 2, having my retainer revenue at 50% of my gross revenue, is still in progress. I came close at some points, but didn't push it enough to make it all the way.
But even though I 'failed', to me, it's great - because these were all 'stretch' goals for me 5 years ago that are now, mostly, a reality.
If I'd said to myself I wanted to do all that in 1 year, I'd have given up because I wouldn't have reached any of them.
And the thing is, I'm not in any rush.
I'm loving what I do and I want to do this for a long time to come, so what wins the race here is steady and unrelenting progression.
(I think back to some of the 'up and comers' in the space 5 years ago and the vast majority aren't even in business any more.)
The next 5 years
Looking forward at the next 5 years, here are my new 'North Stars" to help keep me focused and motivated.
- Have my retainer revenue at 50% of my gross revenue
- Build a core team of 5 carefully chosen experts to replace myself in areas I'm not an expert in
- Standardise offerings and processes to create consistency in results and experience
- Focus on just 3 offers
- 9 Revenue Raisers Implementation and Consulting
- Email Marketing Automation
- Copywriting Projects
I've also got clear revenue targets I'm aiming for, plus a list of people I'd love to work with.
Now it's time to break these 4 main goals into yearly tasks and then again into monthly tasks or KPIs (key performance indicators).
Future pacing
Knowing what I want my future to look like allows me to think of my goals from a long-term perspective and work backwards to today. In copywriting, we do something similar to sell a prospect on something called "future pacing" - giving a prospect a tangible vision of their potential future.
Before I started doing planning like this, I was jumping around seemingly monthly and I found it was easy for me to get distracted.
Putting the "blinders" on gives me focus. It would probably help you too, knowing what your vision is over the short- and long-term so you can focus on that.
Because what we focus on is what tends to be completed.
So that's it for me today.
I'll also be more active in the FB group in the coming weeks as I come out of 'planning' mode.
Do you plan ahead, or wing it?
If you plan, what's your time frame or process?
I'm always interested in learning more about this stuff!
