BRILLIANT BUSINESS PLAN ON A PAGE The Brainy Girl s 7 Step Guide to GeAng Unstuck & GeAng Things done.
Introduction Hi and welcome to your Brilliant Business Plan on a Page The Brainy Girl s 7 Step Guide to GeAng Unstuck and GeAng Things Done. I m so pleased you decided to download this short guide. When you are running a business it s easy to lose sight of your original goals and find yourself stuck and a limle overwhelmed. High- flying, smart women in parrcular are prone to overwhelm because they set their sights so high and strive for perfecron. Even the smartest of business women can find themselves stuck, lacking in morvaron and losing belief in themselves and their business. The aim of this guide is to help you quickly regain your self- belief and belief in your business and start taking the right acron steps in the right order to move your business forward. With this guide you will see quick results because Brainy Girls in business like you and I don t have Rme to hang around. As a Brainy Girl you probably know how important a business plan is but I ll bet if you have one it s 50 pages long and was wrimen with the bank manager in mind. Hardly morvaronal right? So how fantas+c would it be to have everything you need in terms of MINDSET, MOTIVATION & MANAGING YOUR BUSINESS on just one page?
That is why I came up with my Brilliant Business Plan a simple one page plan for your business that can be created in just 7 easy steps. You ll find your copy of the Brilliant Business Plan at the back of this guide. You might want to print it off before you start so that you can fill it in as you work your way through.
1 Business Goal Step 1 is to set your business goal for the next 6 12 months. The first thing you need to do is set your business goal. As a Brainy Girl you have probably come across SMART goals before and it goes without saying your goal needs to be realisrc, measurable, etc. The trouble with SMART goals though is that they do nothing to help you achieve your goals. And you want to achieve your goals right? There are only two things you need to remember when seang a business goal that is going to be achievable. Firstly, go for goals that make you happy. Secondly, go for goals that are challenging. Secondly, Firstly, go for goals that make you happy. go for goals that are challenging.
1 The good news is that goals that make you happy are goals that: Strengthen rela+onships (and ulrmately any business is about the relaronship between you and your customer) Focus on improving & developing new skills (and Brainy Girls love learning new skills!) Are autonomous (and the very nature of entrepreneurship means you have far more autonomy than you did in your Corporate job). A few setbacks, failures and difficulres are essenral to learning new skills. That is why it is so important to set challenging goals. Now Brainy Girls can somermes be tempted to set goals that are too hard so just remember there is a difference between a challenging goal and a hard goal. Go for challenging, not hard. Now you know what a great goal looks like write down your business goal on your Brilliant Business Plan.
2 Big Why Step 2 is knowing your Big Why. Knowing why you are pursuing your business goals is crucial to your success. Knowing why you are going aeer something makes you passionate and gives you purpose. Passion and purpose will morvate you. It s amazing how many people embark upon goals they are not passionate about then wonder why they don t achieve them. In a moment I m going to ask you to write down your Big Why but before you do, take a look at the whys that don t wash in the box below and make sure your Big Why is not one of them. The Whys That Don t Wash For your spouse For your parents For your children Because you think you should Because everyone else is doing it For status, wealth or fame
2 Your Big Why is the thing that is going to motivate you to keep going no matter what. Remember how goals that make you happy need to be autonomous? If the reason behind your business goal is to make your partner, spouse or children happy your goal is no longer autonomous. So your Big Why needs to be your Big Why and no- one else s. Your Big Why is the thing you are most passionate about. The thing that is most important to you. The thing that is going to morvate you to keep going no mamer what. People somermes think their desire for wealth will morvate them and actually it s okay to want to be wealthy, but it s not your Big Why. Wealth allows people freedom, independence, security and the means to see more of the world. These things are Big Whys. What s your Big Why? Once you have figured out your Big Why, add it to your Brilliant Business Plan.
3 Commitment Step 3 is staying commived to your business goal. Everyone gets stuck from Rme to Rme. We all begin to lose morvaron when we are working towards something and get distracted by bright shiny objects elsewhere. And Brainy Girls are no excepron. But successful female entrepreneurs are commimed to their business goal - not just at the outset but right the way through unrl they have achieved what they set out to achieve. No mamer what the obstacle, setback or difficulty they keep on going. So how can you stay commimed to your business goals? Well commitment is part morvaron and part self- discipline (or willpower). Your Big Why should have you premy morvated but what about self- discipline? Did you know that self- discipline and willpower work like a muscle? The more you exercise them the stronger they get? Self-discipline and willpower work like a muscle. The more you exercise them the stronger they get.
Here are a few ideas to help you with self- discipline and staying commived to your goal. 1. Create cues in your environment, for example a playlist of morvaronal music, a vision board or your Brilliant Business Plan. 2. Focus on your progress rather than how far you have to go. 3. Set a schedule that suits you and srck to it. Turn up every day and do the work. 4. Take regular breaks (burnout is not good for business!) 5. Share your goal with like- minded people (not sceprcal family & friends) such as a mentor, coach or networking group. Now think about what you will do to stay commiged and add it to your Brilliant Business Plan.
4 Achievements Step 4 is to acknowledge your achievements. Even high flying women in business lack belief in themselves and their business from Rme to Rme. However self- belief is one of the most crucial factors in achieving your business goals. Successful female entrepreneurs don t doubt that they can do it so we need to get you believing in yourself and your business right away. To get you started list 5 of your greatest achievements. If they relate to your business that s great but they don t have to. We just want you to begin to focus on your achievements. You can also note down 5 achievements, small or large, at the end of each day. This is a great habit to get into which works really well in conjuncron with a grartude pracrce if that is something you already do (if not I can highly recommend it). Acknowledging your achievements is a huge boost to your self- belief. Now add your 5 greatest achievements to your Brilliant Business Plan.
5 Skills & Strengths Step 5 is to define your skills & strengths. SomeRmes we re so busy focussing on what we lack that we forget how many skills & strengths we have. Brilliant women in business like you are usually highly qualified but the general skills and strengths you have gained over Rme are just as important to running a business as your formal qualificarons and training. In fact high- flying women like you have so many skills & strengths you might be surprised how long it would take to sit down and list them. For now list the skills and strengths you used and gained for the achievements you idenrfied in Step 4. IdenRfying the skills and strengths you gained is as important as idenrfying those you used because it serves as a reminder that we all learn and grow. Our abilires aren t fixed. Now add your skills & strengths to your Brilliant Business Plan.
6 Chunk It Down Step 4 is to chunk your goal down. When you run a business you need to focus on both the big picture (your Big Why) and on the acrvires you need to complete to make things happen and achieve what you set out to achieve (the How To ). This is where most people go wrong. They have no strategy for actually achieving their business goal. They can t see the big picture or they don t focus on what they need to do to move them towards their goal. They may have a long list of todos but this list doesn t relate directly to their goal. Or perhaps they do neither. But it s the combinaron of the why and the how that makes things happen. The why and how together make up your business strategy. Why and how thinking actually takes place in two different regions of the brain and most people are bemer at one than the other so learning to think about both the why and the how means consciously switching to a different mode of thinking. This is where the Brilliant Business Plan on a Page works so well. The Brilliant Business Plan enables you to easily switch between the two modes simply because you can see everything on one page.
4 In step 2 we dealt with the why. So where do you start when it comes to thinking about how to achieve the business goal you have set? You chunk it down. Chunking your goal down enables you to figure out how you are going to achieve your goal. You want to break your goal down into around 5 or 6 chunks. If you find you have more than 6 chunks your goal might be too big. More than 12 and it s definitely too big. So go ahead and break your goal into more manageable chunks let s call them mini goals that you can achieve in a month or two. Now write your chunks down on your Brilliant Business Plan.
7 Action Steps Step 5 is to define your ac+on steps. Now that you have more manageable chunks to work with you can break each chunk down into acron steps. These acron steps are the how to. AcRon steps are the things you can do to move you towards your goal right now. Check out what makes a good acron step. A good ac+on step Is within your control. (WaiRng on a supplier is not within your control but making a follow up call or sending an email reminder is). Is possible. (Do you have the resources? Do you have the informaron you need?) Is within sight. (Can you do it today? By the end of the week at the latest?) Moves you towards your goal. (And not off at a tangent) Is small enough to be tackled immediately but not so insignificant as to become just another thing on a long list of todos.
5 Successful people maintain a positive focus in life no matter what is going on around them. They stay focused on their past successes rather than their past failures, and on the next action steps they need to take to get them closer to the fulfilment of their goals rather than all the other distractions that life presents to them. -Jack Canfield At this stage you may not have enough informaron to break all of the chunks down into acron steps. Instead focus on the first chunk the one you need to tackle first. These are the acron steps you are going to put on your Brilliant Business Plan. You ll print off a new plan for each chunk. PrinRng off a new plan for each chunk allows you to review your progress and amend your plan if necessary. Once you have defined the ac+on steps for your first chunk go ahead and write them on your Brilliant Business Plan.
Take Action So that s all there is to it. Now you have everything you need In terms of mindset, mo+va+on and managing your business to stay focused and take acron toward your business goal for the coming month or so - and it s all on one handy page. If you haven t done it already go through each of the 7 steps and fill in your Brilliant Business Plan. You ll find a copy on the next page. Now it s Rme for the most important step of all - it s Rme to take your first acron step! So what are you wairng for? Take ac+on!
Brainy Girl s Guide to Business
About Brainy Girl s Guide to Business Brainy Girl s Guide to Business is a community to empower high- flying female leaders and brilliant women in business. The CEO and Founder, Lynsey Whitehouse is a former aerospace engineer, FTSE 100 ExecuRve and management consultant. Lynsey has also owned several businesses. Lynsey is officially a Brainy Girl with First Class Honours degrees in both Aerospace Engineering and Psychology and a Masters degree in Business Management. Lynsey combines her rocket science management experience with evidence from the fields of neuroscience and psychology to bring you the latest proven systems for managing your business the Brainy Girl way.
Next Steps Join the Brainy Girl community of high- flying female leaders and brilliant women in business. Like us on facebook: hmp://facebook.com/brainygirlsguidetobusiness Follow us on TwiMer: @brainygirlsbiz Join the Brainy Girls Facebook Group: hmps://www.facebook.com/groups/brainygirls/
Are you ready to do business the Brainy Girl way? Are you stuck, overwhelmed or stressed out about your business? Are you a former high- flying professional, now struggling when it comes to running your own business? Are you ready for your business to grow but frustrated with your progress? Did you start your own business so that you would have more Rme an greater flexibility only only to find you spend more Rme in your business than you ever did in your job? Introducing the BRILLIANT WOMEN IN BUSINESS program 1-2- 1 mentoring for high- flying female entrepreneurs and brilliant women in business. For more informaron visit: hmp://bit.ly/brilliantwomeninbiz