2/25/2010
Planning and Doing as a Small Business Leader – Guest Post by Kay Plantes
Kay Plantes is a brilliant strategic thinker and writer, published author, consultant, speaker, entrepreneur, and on top of that, a genuinely nice human being. I’ve gotten to know Kay over the last couple years helping her launch her blog. Thank you, Kay, for sharing your ideas with us today. Note: This is the first in a series on Innovation in Small Business.
Kay Plantes
Here are my top 5 ideas for planning and doing as a small business owner, learned the hard way (as all good lessons are) over 20 years. During this time, my business transformed from local to national and from consulting to include being an author, columnist and public speaker.
Journal.
Whether you spend time every morning, time each Sunday or once a month, spend time with a blank sheet of paper and favorite pen or pencil reflecting on your life. Just write. Don’t judge. Don’t correct grammar mistakes. Just write for 20 minutes. Over time, you will discover a deeper vision for your life and solutions to barriers that keep life from being as rich as it can be. With every journal entry identify one thing for which you are thankful. Journaling is powerful, as it requires reflection, something busy lives often lack.
Have a vision and don’t be afraid to voice it.
In five years, what do you want to say about your business and how it fits into your life? How do you want customers/clients to describe it? What’s different and the same as today? My vision included becoming a writer. With this vision I suggested to an association client that I write a newsletter for its members. Sharing my vision with two opened doors to two other people, meetings which led to the two columns I write. A vision is powerful because it opens our eyes to opportunities you might otherwise miss.
Turn your vision into a set of annual goals about which you are excited.
Without a tool to separate the important from the other “should do” items, we can spend all our time on activities with the least payback to us. The columns in my to-do list are important goals for the year. I then list key to do’s in each column with one final column for “other” i.e., the to-dos that do not align with a major goal. From this master to-do list I choose priorities for the day/week. It’s amazing how this organizing plan focuses me on the right stuff and how I drift when I stop using this system. (As a creative I rebel against structure.) Without structure, the urgent always drives out the important.
Set aside a time and place to do the work of change.
I created a second office for my writing. I also scheduled time each week in my calendar for my writing. (And I should do the same for by blog by the by.) I am absolutely convinced that without a separate space and without committed time, my writing vision would still be an aspiration. Dreams without structure remain dreams.
Celebrate success and discuss barriers with a caring advisor(s).
It’s hard to be a business owner. It takes a tribe to thrive. Find advisors and confidants who respect you, will empathize and have good insights to offer. Talk with them about the performance of your business vis a vis your vision and annual goals. Listen to their advice. Advisors help you reframe situations and see the larger implications of successes. With the reframing come even better opportunities.
Take time to plan and change. If you’re not creating the changes you want in your business and life then who and what is shaping your future?
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Kay Plantes is a business strategy consultant, author, MIT-trained economist and public speaker. Her firm, Plantes Company, LLC helps leaders make better strategy and execution decisions, faster. Her book Beyond Price: Differentiate Your Company in Ways that Really Matter (Greenleaf Book Group, 2009) and Business Model Innovation Blog give leaders a road map to building a one-of-a-kind business that leaves the pack behind. Her book can help your company:
- Understand why price has become so important and how you can escape pricing pressures
- Conduct a far more insightful strategic assessment of your business
- (If you have employees) understand leaders’ unique role and what happens when leaders fail to do the work only they can do
- Redefine what your business is all about in order to be more competitive and surface new growth opportunities
- Build the business you want to run
9 Responses to Planning and Doing as a Small Business Leader – Guest Post by Kay Plantes
Hi Kay, Your point about setting time aside is very important for those of us in the social media marketing field. Twitter, Facebook, and even blogging can grow into a major distraction without real discipline. I struggle with that all the time, with the feeling that I have to be available all the time. Intellectually I know that isn’t so, but you sometimes get to the point where you hate to miss out on any conversation. Also, I know a lot of entrepreneurs who keep their own counsel – do you think that is in the nature of entrepreneurs? Getting help and advice from trusted sources can be so helpful to a business. Again, thank you for your post!
Thanks for the article. I like the fact that you schedule time each week to write and I suggest that we should also schedule time each week for specific tasks that can easily be put off. If we have that time blocked out on our schedule, we will be more likely to get into a routine.
Collin,
When I worked at a large company I learned the trick of staying home one morning a week or in really crazy weeks coming into work one hour early for “Kay”s most pressing” project. The work got the best of my attention (I am an AM person) and the sense of moving forward really helped me feel more enthusiasm for my work. This is the practice I bring into my own company. Some weeks I am better at it than others. It’s easy for things to distract me, but when I practice my habit, I am at my very best.
Hi Kay,
You write with the voice of proven experience that resonates with a deeper wisdom.
I can totally relate to your article. It’s no quick fix. It’s no magic bullet. And thank goodness for that. Your thinking around different work spaces for different work projects is powerful. It brings fresh ideas and helps keep the focus and energy high. I use several different work spaces for different disciplines.
Brad has highly recommended you to me and I’m so glad to get this opportunity to connect.
Best to you, Robin
Hi Robin,
Thanks for your comments and making the connection. I like your reminder that there is no quick fix, or magic bullet. It’s about the practice of daily effort. I tell this to my college daughter all the time. I need to remember it for myself as well when I get frustrated over lack of progress on some fronts! Kay
Kaye,
Thanks for sharing your experience.
I am curious about your second point about sharing your vision. Have you had many cases of people responding negatively when you do this? Have you found over your time in business that it works well to share your dreams as widely as possible, or do you think that it is better to be somewhat selective about who you share your vision with – perhaps choosing to share only with those who you think may respond in a more constructive manner?
HI Andrew,
The answer to that question depends upon your vision. Social enterprises have very inspiring visions and they should share them with the world at large and in every communication with stakeholders. My vision dealt with a career transition, so it was best shared with my networking partners and friends, not with clients at the time.
The power of stating the vision out loud is the internal commitment it builds within. If my stated vision is to write, but my time sheets show anything but that, I see the disconnect and that gap–between vision and reality induces change. If you haven’t said the vision out loud– if you have lacked the courage of commitment, you’ll look at your time sheet and say, “Sometime in the future, I’ll write.”
Having a vision and stating it aloud creates change as it opens our eyes to opportunities and gaps.
Have a great day, K
“Set aside a time and place to do the work of change”
Such a critical step and the one that so many of us miss. When things are good it seems there is never time and when things are bad today’s problems seem so much bigger.
Great article Kay.
I always tell my clients that the good times are when you have the investment funds to change. It’s easier to escape the waterfall when you are in the calm water upstream. Thanks Fred.