Donna 0:00
Even if planning isn't your thing, I have no doubt that you'll take something from today's episode. Now, I love a good plan. And I feel a sense of clarity and control and alignment, when I have spent the time and invested my time into mapping out the plan for my business over the next 90 days. And I also get a shit ton more stuff done. And I really smash out my goals. So in this episode, I'm going to share the five steps, the framework that forms the 90 day planning that I teach my clients. This is the she's in business podcast, where every week I'll explore topics and have real conversations around what it's like to run a regional business, the advantages and the unique challenges. I'm Donna Han, a seasoned regional business owner, and certified high performance business coach. I'm here to make training and professional development easily accessible for regional business women everywhere. So join me and guest experts as we share tools and insights to elevate your business, boost your mindset, and ensure that you never feel alone on this journey. No matter where you live. I'm fired up. And I'm here to educate you on what it truly takes to grow your business and your mindset beyond what you thought possible. Hello, and welcome to another episode of the shoes in business podcast. I am your host, Donna Han. And I am really, I am excited. I love jumping in and doing 90 Day planning sessions for my own business, but also helping my clients to do the same for their business. Because it is powerful stuff. And even if planning isn't your thing, I know that by listening to this podcast, you're going to take away something that you can really implement into your business, to start to see some real change in the business growth that you want to see. Having a good plan really helps you do feel more aligned to the way that you want to grow your business. So that you can have the kind of lifestyle that you want. It's also a way of getting crystal clear clarity on the direction that you're driving your business, all the things that you do, that they're actually driving you towards the outcomes that you want. And of course, it gives you more of a sense of control. And that sense of control can really help with your mindset. And it can really help you to know, you know how you're going to drive your business forward. And that control can actually be delegating to other people. So whilst I'm kind of contradicting myself here, in that when we delegate, we know that we have to let go of control. By having a plan a strategic plan mapped out. It means that even when you are delegating, you have better control how that outcomes going to kind of transpire. So really excited to share this with you today because it is something that I do every month inside the soaring to success membership with my members, because it is so so very powerful. And I just want to take a moment before we jump into today's episode, because I do have a huge announcement for you. And that is that the doors to sorry to success, the business and mindset membership for regional business women. It's opening really soon how exciting. I'm so excited for this. So I've been working on this project for more than a year and a half now, we did an inside launch for existing clients in January of 2023. And again in March of 2023. And now it's time to go live out into the world with this oriental success membership and make it available to you. So soaring to success or SOS for sure is for you if you are a regional business woman who is ready to master their business skills and mindset to rise above the competition and to really supercharge your business growth. And the way I've structured this membership is that there are five key things that really underpin it. The first one is that we run live monthly master classes. So if you're enjoying these episodes of the podcast, and you want to go deeper and really walk away with key actionable steps, then this soaring to success membership is going to be for you because every single month we dive deep into a live masterclass. It's either with me directly or with a guest expert presenter who's at the top of their game. And I'm talking about all things business and mindset so think marketing, branding, AI mastery, revenue, profit, cashflow, content creation and Good copywriting lead generation systemization.
Understanding grants, you know, there's so many grants that are available to regional businesses, Team recruitment, leadership, productivity, you know, overcoming your fears, stepping into, you know, really understanding what's going on inside of your mindset, mindset. So you can really strengthen your resilience. And, you know, I know that the world of business and you know, this, the world of business is constantly changing and evolving all the time. So that's why the membership is not a course, it's a membership. And that means I can constantly look and see what's happening in the business world, and give you the latest of What's New, and what's working, and what's happening through the live monthly master classes. So that's number one. The second thing that underpins what the content is inside the membership is that the Sorrenti success, membership is a community. So we already have our incredible founding members who jumped in before we have released this to the public, right. And it's such a special community. It's so special, as you know, and it's going to continue to build, and I cannot wait for you to be inside. We've got photographers, event planners, cafe owners, dance studio owners, accountants, virtual assistants, doulas are birthing educators, gardeners, you know, it's so diverse. And that's part of it right is the diversity of the types of businesses that we have means that you can get inspiration about what other people are doing inside of their business that you can apply to yours to stay fresh, and, you know, inside of your own industry that you're working in, you can stay fresh and ahead of the game by using the things that have worked in other people's businesses in other industries, and apply it to yours. It's also a killer community, where you get support, you can ask questions, you can elaborate, you can connect with other like minded business owners. So I sort of like to think of it as a new happy part of the business world, that you get to be a part of an exclusive Facebook group, where together, you can support Encourage, inspire one another. We also host online networking sessions every quarter as well. And the third key piece here is strategy. So every quarter, we spend 90 Day ad spend time together, creating a 90 day plan, we get your crystal clear on the strategy, and map out essentially what will be your next 90 days. And this is game changing. It's game changing for your business growth. So no more spinning your wheels no more getting frustrated from going around and around in circles. Instead, the clarity, the action steps that align to the big picture goals. And the vision for your business is created in these 90 Day planning sessions. And that's obviously the topic of today's podcast that I'm going to talk to you about. So you're going to get a little bit of insight into that as well. The fourth element is the library. So every master class, all of our 90 Day planning sessions are recorded. And they get added to the library bank, a library of learning. And you know, this is important, because if you can't turn up live to the master classes, you can watch the replay. Or if you want to have a binge watch weekend, just like Netflix, you'll have access to all of the recordings from anywhere, anytime. And the best part is we're always adding to it. So it's constantly growing. And the fifth and most important key piece here is the accountability. So with my help, with our monthly group coaching, accountability calls, I'm there to hold you accountable. To get things done, you'll have a certified high performance business coach at your fingertips. So you can really lean on me to ask the questions and pick my brains. And that's going to give you so much confidence as you step outside of your comfort zone. You bounce new ideas and you bring those ideas to life. So in a nutshell, that is in essence, all of the different components of the soaring to success memberships, and the doors are opening really soon. So if this is singing out to you, it's feeling like something that you need right now. Then put this address into your browser.ahead.com forward slash success. That's www dot donner han.com forward slash success. We'll make sure it's in the show notes for you as well. And if you've got any questions, of course, make sure you slide into my DMs on Instagram at donhead underscore coach. So let's get back to the topic of the podcast which is one of those elements 90 Day planning. Now with Our 90 Day planning sessions, what we do is, we get really clear on the things that are going to move your business and the business growth forwards. Really, it's about making a plan to get shipped down. And it's an activity that we do every quarter insights are into success. We spend at least 90 minutes together, sometimes longer depending on what questions come up, or what ideas want to be bounced. But it's the time that we all get together, we dedicate ourselves to those 90 minutes to make a 90 day plan that is going to set your business story, it's an absolute game changer for them. And I know it's going to be a game changer for you as well if you do this inside of your business. So what we do, first of all, the first step is to get in the right mindset. Can you believe that there are only three and a half months left of this year, three and a half months left of this year now that can either seem like a short amount of time, right? You can be like, Oh my god, three and a half months, how are we here. But also, there is so much you can do in that time to bring the year in strong. Kind of like you know, when you plan a holiday, and you've got this massive big list of things that you want to get done before you head off to the airport or before you jump in the car. And if you didn't have that deadline, you may not get that same amount of things done, right. Like if you didn't have a deadline, you just kind of cruise your way through. But if you've got a holiday, isn't it amazing how miraculously, everything on that list gets done, you make sure it gets done. And we can apply that same way of thinking to the last quarter of the year, and to the 90 day plan that you want to do for your business every 90 days. Yeah. So this is really important. And the first thing we do is we pay attention to our mindset, we get ourselves in the space of thinking, you know, I can achieve a lot in the next 90 days, I can open my mind and allow myself to dream big and really, you know, go into that, that dreaming life space where I can think about and allow myself to dream big. And then we address the things that also come up when we dream big, which is overwhelm, and self limiting beliefs, right? It's one thing to think big, and to have a big vision. And I encourage that for all of my clients that I work with both one on one, and also inside the story to success membership. But often after we've dreamed big, and we've taken that helicopter view. And we've created the list of the things that we want to do sometimes, overwhelm can creep in. So if we can do some work, first of all, before we dive into our 90 Day planning session around awareness of mindset, then we've already won that battle. So this is about not letting overwhelm run away from us and consume us, which can then suck up motivation and lead, suck up your motivation and lead to procrastination. So if that's something that, you know, typically does happen for you, and you've already got some self awareness around that, which is amazing. By the way, self awareness is so important. Then as you move through the 90 day planning session, it's really important to remember that success comes from the marathon and not necessarily the Sprint's inside of business. So it's okay that whilst you're creating this big vision, and you go to that helicopter view, that you're not necessarily going to get all of those things done in the next three months, you'll get a lot of those things done if you plan it really well. But we can put some things on the part list, which I'm going to come to further on in the podcast.
But really important that you acknowledge that not everything's going to get done that if you do find yourself even partway through the 90 days, spiraling into that overwhelm, that you've got the support inside the soaring to success membership. You've got the tools and strategies that are also included in there that you can use as a resource. But definitely going into your 90 day planning session, get into the right mindset. And allow yourself the freedom to dream big. Allow yourself that opportunity just to sit with what the future could be for you and your business and create that vision and then also acknowledge that it's okay, that you may not get that big vision accomplished in the three months, we will absolutely be playing the long game of business, the marathon, not the sprint, and that that's okay. So first of all, getting yourself into that right mindset is really, really important. Then the second thing we do as part of the 90 day process that I run for my members, is that we take that helicopter view. So we look at first of all the previous 90 days, okay, and this is all inside of a workbook, by the way, I create a workbook for my members that they download before we jump into our session together, so that we, you know, we work our way through the workbook. And part of that is reviewing that the previous 90 days, what worked well, maybe what sorts of things you might do differently going into the new quarter, things that maybe didn't go so well, what were the lessons, right, because, again, a piece on mindset, we want to be reframing any failures and turning them into opportunities for lessons learned. So you know, they're in business, not everything works out the way that we might have imagined it would. And that can feel disappointing, that can really challenge us, it can derail us in business sometimes. But it's about going, okay. It happened, she had happens, what can I learn from that situation? What can I learn from that so that I can grow, which is around the framework of the growth mindset? What can I do to next time, do things differently and take the lessons that I've learned from my failures to move forward? So we review the past 30 days, we also review the areas of your business. So we have six areas that we review every 90 days. And those areas include looking at your finances, the products and services that you offer, the systems that you have in place, reviewing the area of customers or clients, how happy are they? How can you love them up? Do you feel like you've really got a finger on the pulse as to what they need and want from you right now? And are you meeting their expectations? We review team, even if you don't have a team, you're a solopreneur. That's okay, we still look at team like you are your team, right? So we, we review that area of your business. And then most importantly, we review the area of self care. So we really tap into what's going on for you on the inside, how are you feeling about your business, and we revise, re review all of those areas, scale the model one to 10. And that then allows you to clearly see which areas of your business need the most attention going into the next 90 days. And once we've got clarity around that. So once we've taken that helicopter view, we then move to step three, which is mapping out still sort of in that helicopter view type of head headset headspace in looking at the next 12 months. So this is kind of like a high level map of the next 12 months, not so much the detailed plan of how we're going to execute it. But we look at like what is the goal? What are the activities that you need to reach that goal, and what will be the reward if you reach that goal for each month, moving across the next 12 months. And this is a great activity to do. Because as you look at that particular worksheet that's included in the workbook, you can clearly see if there are any seasonal themes you want to include over the next 12 months, you know, things like Easter and Christmas and Halloween and any of those kinds of things that you want to work into the theme of the month for your business as you're creating everything from content, you know your marketing content to the way that you're any products or services that you're wanting to promote, you know, if we can kind of weave a theme through that it can be really successful inside of your business, that also, when we take that higher level view over the next 12 months, you can also you know, lift your awareness as to the business trends that you've seen develop for your own business. So if you have trends where you have really busy periods of the year, or maybe really slow, quieter periods of the year, then you can counteract that by making sure that the business activities and the goals and the things that you're doing serve that so for example, if you know that perhaps over the month of October, you see a bit of a dip in your sales for your business, then you can go okay, what can I do to lift the sales in my business? How can I be strategic about this? Rather than just allowing it to happen? Let's think about why Is that we can supercharge your business and we can supercharge the activities that you're doing to counteract those drops in sales. If you have a period inside of your business that you know is super, super busy, well, then perhaps that's not the time to introduce something new. Maybe it's the time to, in preparation for that busy period, review your systems and processes and make sure that they're really up to date and clean and very clear. So if you're delegating to staff, or you're automating, that those things are going to work beautifully during that busy period, so that it doesn't impact any of the potential sales that you have, you know, like you don't want people to, you know, maybe get to if you've got an online checkout system, or you've got a bricks and mortar business, and people are trying to purchase things, and you either don't have them in stock, or you know, you don't have to say so if you know you've got a busy period coming up, prepare your business for that busy period. And we do that by taking that bird's eye view, looking at a 12 year plan. And being aware of what are the seasonal trends of business trends are true for you and your business. So that was step three, the next step is step four, which is going deeper into each of the three months within your 90 day plan. So turning either each of your key, I guess, projects, if you want to call them projects, if you've got like three clear things that you want to get done over the next three months, then let's turn those three things into a project, let's get really clear about why you're doing it for starters, in making sure that it is in alignment with your business goals, and then it's driving you forwards. But how are you going to do those things? What's the timeframe around that? What resources do you need to make that happen? And what are the action steps that you need to create to map out to get really clear upon to ensure that you can complete that project or that task. The other important element that we'll talk about here, which I feel is the most important thing is whilst we've got the steps mapped out, and we've gotten really, really clear, we've gone really deep into, you know, figuring out what are the things that you need to do for that project, we also have to get really clear about the things that you need to do for yourself as the business owner to maintain your energy levels.
Sometimes what can happen is we get so super excited about something. And we're so driven to make that thing happen, that we go go go go go go go. And we run out of steam because we haven't managed our energy levels. So essentially, we burn ourselves out. And then we don't finish the things that we wanted to accomplish. We don't reach our goals, not because we didn't have the resources we needed, not because we didn't have the support we needed either with team members or community support. But you ran out of steam because you burn the candle at both ends, you weren't filling yourself up with nutrition you needed, or you weren't getting enough sleep. You You know weren't paying attention to your mindset and checking in with yourself every day to see how you're feeling and giving yourself what you needed, you weren't exercising, whatever it is that you know, you need to maintain the level of energy to complete the work that you do. That also needs to go into your 90 day plan. And that's the thing most business owners I have found, forget to pay attention to. So we make sure that that's infused inside our 90 day plan. It's part of it alongside all of the other action steps that you need to do to achieve the thing that you're pushing towards. Right. Makes sense. Now, the fifth thing that we do after we've created our beautiful plan, is we for anything that didn't make it onto that beautiful plan onto our list of pot ideas. So like I said at the beginning of the podcast, we can't do everything we want to do all at once right businesses a marathon, not a sprint. And so if you have ideas that you are really excited about, but you've looked at your 12 month plan, and you've gone you know what, it's actually not important that I do it right now maybe I want to look at that in the new year. Then that goes on the park list of fun. Again, I give you the template for this. So throughout that 90 day process, those 90 minutes that we see been together in our 90 Day planning session, for soaring to success. If there's any big ideas that pop up, maybe you've heard an inspiring idea that someone else has shared, or there's an idea that's kind of just popped into your head as part of what we're doing, put it on the pack list doesn't mean that it doesn't get done. It just means it has time to sit, right. And sometimes, the time to sit is really important. I'm an ideas person, you might be an ideas person, too, I'm gonna say that you probably are because business owners often are, right being an entrepreneur, it's kind of a way of life as opposed to, you know, a hat that you put on. We have business owners, we have business ideas, all the time, right? Spiky ideas. And so having a place to put those ideas to allow them time to settle and develop and sort of cement it's really important. I don't I've had some what I thought at the time, were really awesome ideas. But I parked them. And when I came back to them saying a month's time or two months time I looked at it, I'm like, actually, no, I thought it was a good idea at the time. But actually, it's kind of not, or maybe your business has evolved slightly in the time that it's been on the park list. And then you can take that idea and apply it in a slightly different way. But that returns the value back into your business. So the park list of ideas is a really important document that I encourage my clients to add to it all the time. But it's definitely part of the 90 day planning process that needs to be there. So that you can really focus on the things that are most important. But also allow yourself to dream big and create the list that will power you on in the 90 days after that, or after that or after that. So really important. So those are essentially, I guess, the five underpinning stages or steps of the 90 day planning session that I map out with my clients inside the soaring to success membership. But I think probably the hardest part of all of this is making the time to do it. Right. It's making the time to plan. So whether you work with me one on one, in a private coaching session, or whether you're inside the soaring to success, membership you're planning to join when I open the doors in October, which I really hope you do. It's the tricky part is making the time right. When you work with me, I give you the framework, I make it easy, right? I give you the framework, I prepare the planning workbook for you, I guide you through it and make it really, really easy. If you're the type of person, you know that you need accountability, if you're like, Yeah, I'm good once I'm there. But the part that I struggle with is the accountability piece, then this is why we do the 90 day planning every quarter inside story to success. Because when you make the commitment to turn up, you will do the work, right. And let me just say, accountability or lack of accountability is something that's very common for business owners. So please don't feel alone in that space. If you're like, Yeah, that's me. That's okay. It's a very common thing, because you're your own boss, you know, you can decide what you do every day. And we don't have a, you know, an upline manager that's overlooking our shoulder that kind of says, right, have you done the thing that you're supposed to do? Have you done your plan for the 90 days, we have to hold ourselves accountable. But that's where the soaring to success membership or that's where working with, with with me one on one provides you with that, that accountability. So, you know, consider joining the sorry to success membership, if that's you, or maybe booking a one on one session with me. Because I know myself, if I don't make the time to do my own 90 day plan for my business, you know, the world continues to spin time continues to move. And before I know it, I'm already halfway through the quarter before I've even mapped out the things that I wanted to get done that quarter. And on those occasions where I haven't taken the time to really map out my 90 day plan. I don't get the stuff done that that I normally would get done. Right. I'm not moving my business forward in a strategic way. I'm just throwing spaghetti at the wall. So, you know, this is this is the really important thing that I want Want you to really hear in this podcast, if there's one thing you can take away from this episode of the podcast, it's the importance of making the time to do this activity. It's the importance of sitting down, mapping out your next 90 days, being really clear about what you want to achieve in those 90 days, and having a strategy that sits behind it, so that you're not just throwing spaghetti at the wall, you're working smarter, not harder. And the power of doing that with a business coach at your fingertips is that I will provide you with the workbook, I will provide you with the accountability. But I'll also be there to bounce ideas with you, I will also be there to challenge your thinking. I'll also be there to inspire you with, you know, really fleshing out those ideas. Or if you're stuck with something, and you're like, I really want to do this thing. But I'm stuck because of XYZ, we can work through that together. It's a really, really powerful, powerful activity for you to do inside of your business. And guaranteed. I know for me, when I have spent the time, not only do I feel less scattered, and do I feel like I'm more in control of the business direction that I'm traveling in, which means my lifestyle, the the, you know, the amount that I feel my cup is being filled. That alignment is so much better when I've done my 90 Day planning. And, you know, guarantee when I do that I will reach my goals, and guaranteed when my clients do this, they reach their goals too. You know, what we know is that having a plan gives you a 30% greater chance of reaching your goals. How crazy is that? Yes, you still have to put in the other 70% of taking action on the steps that you've planned for yourself. But just by creating a plan gives you a 30% greater chance of achieving the things that you've put into that plan. Right. So it's an investment of, say, 90 minutes to plan out your next 90 days. And that's going to give you the success that you want, and the growth that you want to see inside of your business.
So let's do a quick recap of the steps that I like to do with my clients and do inside of my own business. When mapping out my 90 day plan. That is get into the right mindset. First of all, before you start, step two is taking that helicopter view of your business review the past 90 days, look at what worked, look at what didn't look for the lessons that you can apply, reviewing each area of your business, scoring it out of 10. And then understanding whether the the, you know the areas of your business that need the most attention from you. Step three is mapping out the next 12 months getting that higher level plan, not the detailed plan the high level plan over the next 12 months. What are their seasonal themes? What are the business trends that you know exist for you inside of your business, so that you can be strategic around those things. And then step four is to go deep, is to actually go deep into the next three months. Work out? What are the projects that you want to work on? What are the action steps you need? What are the resources you need? And what are you going to do to maintain your level of energy so that you can get things completed. And then fifth is having that parked list of fun, and building that park list of fun knowing that you'll get to it at some stage, but you don't have to do everything right now. And finally, is having that accountability, if you need accountability, acknowledge it, and go and get it. And if that's about, you know, being part of the soaring to success membership, when it opens in October, please please join us it would be amazing to have you in there. And I know that you know, applying the things that we teach inside the master classes, coming along to the 90 day planning sessions and you know, actually making the time to review your business and plan out your next 90 days is game changing. And you know, having the support of a community around you of like minded business women who are regional business owners just like you they get they get it right. But they also are driven. They're also ambitious, their sharing of ideas. They're inspirational, they're supportive, and they also have ups and downs just like you do and they're They're for you. Just like you can be there for them. And that's the power of it right? And having a business coach at your fingertips is, you know where I can help you to level up your business in ways that you never thought was possible, but it is possible for you. And I'm excited. I'm so excited. So let me know. Send me a DM if you are keen to join us inside soaring to success also let me know what you've got planned for the next 90 days inside of your business. And I yet am excited to see what you've got planned for you and your business in the future. Thanks for tuning in for another episode of the shoes in business podcast. And I'll catch you next time. Bye. Thank you so much for tuning in to this episode of the shoes in business podcast. Make sure you hit follow so that you are the first to know as soon as a new episode drops. And if you really want to deliver me smiles send me a DM find me on Instagram at Donna Han underscore coach and tell me what you loved most about this episode. Also, feel free to let me know what topics you need to learn more about if you are a regional businesswoman, ready to rise and soar towards success. I'll see you back here next week for another episode.
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