We see many business owners, who work tirelessly in their businesses and are excellent at what they do, neglect their strategy and execution plans. It’s the old adage: I’m too busy working in my business to work on it.
Whilst we’re here to support you when unexpected hiccups occur, we can do so more effectively if we help you get ahead of risks and opportunities in your business.
Time spent working - is not created equal.
There’s a misconception that being busy is automatically being effective.
Some hours are highly productive… which is great… provided we’re being productive on the right things, i.e. not fighting avoidable fires, dealing with HR issues or performing avoidable rework (etc. etc.).
Planning helps us put out fires before they cause damage while capitalising on the opportunities that we can only see when we look up. In other words, sharpening the axe before cutting the tree will make for a much easier task. Cutting the right tree helps too!
Time spent refining your strategy and planning your execution will pay back massively when you execute your plans operationally in your business. Popping up for regular planning helps keep your business calibrated.
So, how much time should you spend fine-tuning your strategy and execution?
The team at ilumin can support you to create your annual Business Plan and undertake annual forecasting – two critical services to capture and support the achievement of effective and realistic goals.
We also recommend ongoing check-ins with us (at least quarterly) to report back and ensure accountability across achieving your 90-day goals and actions, as well as to recalibrate and set new ones. These recurring services are highly effective for our business clients.
This commitment is roughly a total of 18 hours per year (including travel, if any) or approximately 1% of your working time, assuming the average business owner works 2,000 hours a year in their business.
| Best practice (Strategy Planning) | Time investment (incl. travel) |
| Annual Business Plan | 6 hours |
| 4 x Quarterly Check-ins* 2 hours each * Minimum frequency | 8 hours |
| Annual Forecast | 4 hours |
| Total time investment | 18 hours (< 1% of 2,000) |
So where will you find the time?
Planning supports efficiency. Efficiency might come in the form of less rework, less ‘paperwork’, less friction in your team, or simply more focus and higher productivity.
Putting the time in upfront for planning and strategy will give you time back and improve your bottom line in the future. It’s also about helping you define what you want from your business in general. More time with family? More time for hobbies? A broader product offering? To learn life-long lessons that pay off in all facets of your life? To pump business value up for your succession?
It’s not easy work. It’s challenging… enlightening, passion-igniting, and rewarding (for both us and our clients). We’re committed to supporting our clients in making their businesses more sustainable and scalable.
“The time to repair the roof is when the sun is shining.” – John F. Kennedy
If you’d like to know more about business planning, we’ll be happy to help. Talk to us about your business plan.
