A Business Planning Experiment

A vision is a clearly-articulated, results-oriented picture of a future you intend to create.” - Jesse Stoner Zemel

At Boundless, I have recently began an experiment with five of our top professionals. My objective is to design a foolproof recipe that can make any professional successful. I am modeling this plan after many of the core dynamics found in marathon training and my favorite reality show, The Biggest Loser. I want to share some of our methodology with you and ask for some of your feedback if any of you out there are completing similar business planning processes.

The building blocks of Boundless’ business planning are as follows:

1. Map out your life goals, beginning with a three-year plan, so your business has context and balance within your overall life.
2. Define your hedgehog idea (read Ch. 5 of Jim Collins’ Good to Great).
3. Define your three-year business goals.
4. Define your current business assets.
5. Define your one-year operating plan.
6. Define your quarterly execution plan.

By completing this process, our professionals will have answers for each of these questions:

1. How to triple your business without having to triple your hours spent working
2. How to drive business that is predictable and repeatable
3. How to build barriers to entry and increase your customer lifetime value
4. How to be proactive rather than reactive in managing your business

A down economy is a perfect time to re-engineer your business and reflect on past habits and future plans. This is the time to create wealth. I know some of you out there are doing business planning. Is there something that is unique or really working for you? Tell me about it! And if you’re interested in hearing more about our business planning process, please let me know; this is just a small example of an in-depth program, and I would be happy to share more.

Take care.

- JB

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