This time last year I hosted a Q1 reflective stock taking session that became very popular. Given how valuable people found it, I didn’t want to reinvent the wheel. Here is a link to that webinar so you can follow along. 
 
Quarterly reviews are an invaluable tool to see how things are going with your business. It’s an opportunity to take stock of:

• Your accomplishments
• Your learning
• Your focus
• Your relationships
• Your goals
• Your projects

​And also your numbers - - what have you been tracking? What do your Monthly Daily Trackers say?

If you are using the Coaching Business Builder there are 4 quarterly planners built into the guide. You will want to make sure that you review the monthly stock taking pages and carry your major learning over so you have a cumulative summary in one place.

Quarterly reviews are also an opportunity to look ahead. What do you notice about:

• Your annual goals and milestones for this quarter?
• The key activities you have earmarked?
• The one-off activities and tasks you have – i.e. renewals etc?
• Relationships which need attention?

The activities you want to do on a consistent basis (Note: One of my favorite quarterly events which got me into the flow of posting on Instagram was a 90-day commitment around daily posts). What are the tasks and activities you want to focus on, on a daily basis this quarter? Have you got your trackers ready? Now’s the time to pull them out.

I hope that you’ll take 10 – 15 minutes today to get yourself organized for the new quarter. Is there anything you want to keep visible -i.e. writing out your goals and commitments in a place that is visible so you can review it. Perhaps you put it on your phone or on a whiteboard or on a list by your computer. Remember the old project management adage: 15 minutes of planning saves up to 60 minutes of unfocused effort.

Enjoy your reflection and planning!
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton - GroupCoachingEssentials | Potentials Realized 
Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder
Join us for an upcoming ICF-CCE approved program including Group Coaching Essentials (8.75 CCEs), Advanced Group and Team Coaching Practicum (10 CCEs), or the PlanDoTrack Facilitator Training (24 CCEs). 
What's possible if you take daily steps on your business for 60 Days? Join our 60 Day Coaching Business Builder Accelerator program here!
Author of Effective Group Coaching (2010), Coaching Business Builder (2018), Effective Virtual Conversations (2017) and From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching (2013). Check out my author page on Amazon for all publications.
Email: [email protected]
​

Earlier this week I held my annual year-end planning hack, a 45-minute series of reflective prompts to quickly zoom into your vision for next year. While a 45-minute working session may not be the full amount of time you may dedicate to vision work, it often is enough to create a high-level overview, from which annual, quarterly and monthly plans can flow.

If you have a copy of either of my workbook planners, Coaching Business Builder, or PlanDoTrack, check out the Vision Questions which are found in both Sections 2 and 5. (Note there’s lots of repetition between the different sections to help you keep unlayering your vision and insights).

Several years ago, I also recorded a short 15-minute annual vision audio as part of the Inner Biz Leader Virtual Business Planning Retreat. Even though it is a few years old now, I wanted to share it with you here. Please grab a pen and listen in...noting what you want to create in your work 3-5 years from now. It will take you 10-15 minutes to listen to.

Grab a pen and listen in here:

​Want something shorter? Check out this 2 minute vision video here at my YouTube channel. 

​Questions you may want to consider are:

• As you step into 2020, what’s important to start a new chapter around?
• By the end of 2020, what do you want to have accomplished?
• What are the things you want to be known for?
• What are the relationships you want to invest in?
• What do you want people to reach out to you for?

All the best,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Coaching Business Builder | Group Coaching Essentials
Supporting coaches to grow their business and skills in the areas of group coaching
If you want more like this post, join us at the CoachingBizGrowthLab in 2020 OR participate in the Inner Biz Leader Virtual Retreat.
Contact Jennifer to set up a call to see how her 1-1 coaching or group coaching support can help you move towards your 2020 goals.
Phone: (416)996-8326

​​Metrics are the heart of any business. Numbers and data provide patterns and insight for those who take time to explore what metrics are available to them.
​
As a solopreneur, or small business owner, it can be useful to take time on a regular basis to track what your numbers are saying.

Here’s a quick list of some of the metrics you may want to track:

• Sales
• Website visits
• Downloads
• Revenue
• Reads
• Sample sessions
• Products developed
• Speaking engagements
• Likes
• Numbers of clients
• Hours billed
• Net profit
• Social visits
• # of books sold
• Operating revenue

What else do you have metrics around? What else might you want to note?
Questions to consider:

• As you look at the list, what’s important?
• What are the metrics you have easy access to?
  • Pull those out – what patterns do you notice? What trends do you see over time? How does it stack up to what you had planned or envisioned?

Enjoy!
Jennifer

PS - Don't forget to join us today - Monday November 18th from 11 -1145 am ET for a special 2020 Planning Hack. Bring your pen and planner and join me in zoom room 270-302-0415. We'll start promptly at 11 am ET.

It’s getting to be that time of year to earmark some time for year-end planning, whether it is for yourself, your team or your business. This has become a passion topic of mine for many decades now as a retreat leader, and for the past couple of years, my authorship of two workbook planners – PlanDoTrack (for Remote Workers) and the Coaching Business Builder (for coaches) has brought me more into the landscape of planning on a regular occurrence.

As you go to develop your plans for 2020, and perhaps the new decade, it may be useful to segment your planning along the lines of PLAN, DO, and TRACK.
 
First, prepare. We know that planning and preparation can save ample time. An old project management adage is that “ten minutes of planning will save 1 hour of unfocused effort”. Before you go to sit down and work on your plan it may be useful to:

1. Schedule time for this. From a 45-minute planning hack (join me on Monday November 11th at 11 am ET for one!) to a four-hour virtual session. What’s the amount of time you want to earmark for your planning? Do you want to do this with others? Or alone?
2. Gather what you need. That might include:
   1. Last year’s plan to see how you reviewed your plan last year, along with last year’s metrics
   2. This year’s annual and quarterly plans so you can take stock of how things went
   3. Numbers – finances, dates, programs etc.

 Next , PLAN:
As you go to prepare for 2020 planning consider:

• What do you want to focus on?
• What will WILD SUCCESS look like?
• What are the elements of work you know you need in order to be fulfilled?
• What are the pieces your clients are asking for?
• What is the legacy work you want to leave a footprint around?
• What is the foundational work you want to undertake?

Then, DO:
Another important part of planning is the DOING. Consider what kind of plan is going to work for you. Are you the type of person who likes to review? Make notes once a week? Take a deep dive monthly? Both PlanDoTrack and Coaching Business Builder includes an undated planner with monthly, quarterly and annual planning pages. You can start using them at any time, and in seeing how people engage with these, it's fascinating to note the different preferences people have around planning. 

Once you have decided your responses to these questions, consider doing a big list of all the things you want to focus on (projects, tasks and activities) for 2020. Make a list according to your preferred style:

• Are you a visual person? If so, starting with a MindMap may work well. Grab a new notebook and write out your plans.
• Do you work best to deadline? Grab a set of post it notes first and with one post-it per idea list your activities. Then grab a calendar of appropriate size and place them in the grid.  If you are a color person, you might consider dedicating certain projects to certain colors and using that color of post it/index card. The dollar store is a great place to find these resources.
• Do you work best with peer accountability? This is where you might consider joining an annual group. I host two throughout the year – the Coaching Biz Growth Lab which meets the 1st and 3rd Fridays of the month between 3 – 4 pm Eastern, focusing on business growth and the Learning Lab and Design Studio which focuses on all things learning design such as how to create more impactful individual, group and team programs.
• Do you work best to numbers? Consider leveraging the questions under the track. Jump there!
• Do you work well with time and space dedicated to it? Consider scheduling time on a regular basis to your planning. Perhaps you join me every month for the Month End Planning sessions OR want to do it on your own. Schedule regular time to this right now for the next quarter or throughout all of 2020.

As Drucker is often quoted as saying, “what doesn’t get scheduled, doesn’t get done”.

Finally, TRACK:
Tracking is another part of planning and productivity success. What do your numbers say Without metrics around a plan it’s hard to know what really is changing. While some may only see numbers as numbers, the value of tracking metrics is that over time you will start seeing some interesting patterns.
If this is an area you want to get better at, check out the Monthly Daily Trackers, and Content Trackers in both PlanDoTrack and the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planners (see section 5 - the planners).

Questions to consider:

• What are the metrics you want to track? Consider profit (i.e. revenue, sales), productivity, staff or team measures (number of meetings held, number of 1-1s).
• What is the baseline you want to capture right now?
• Where are you going to track your metrics?

If you are looking for a framework, consider using the Monthly Daily Trackers which you will find in the 5th section of PlanDoTrack or Coaching Business Builder. There are 12 sets of them.

For more on metrics, stay tuned for next week’s blog post. I’ll be dedicating it to the topic of metrics.

Best,
​Jennifer

PS - Save the DATE! I'll be hosting an open invitation planning for 2020 session on Monday November 18th from 11 - 1145 am ET. Grab a pen and your journal and join us!

One of my favorite activities over the last few years has been to create a summer project list of small, and larger tasks, to complete in what some find to be a quieter time. There always are lots of project possibilities in the summer months. Have you considered:

• Updating your website
• Incorporating a new system
• Catching up on the reading you have piled around your office (or bed)
• Taking time to plan for a new program
• Writing some blog posts (and getting ahead of the curve)
• Creating a content calendar for your business
• Writing your newsletters for the next few months
• Starting a new series on Instagram

Some useful questions to consider as you go to decide what projects you want to put attention around:

• What have your clients been asking for?
• What are your key goals this year?
• What new activities would support your action and achievement of these?
• What projects would you like to move off of your “TO DO” List?
• What milestones would you create for yourself so that this is completed before the end of the month, or the end of the summer?
• What resources do you need in order to be successful with this?

For some more inspiration around this topic, listen into this 20 minute video I did last year on 2018 project ideas – check it out on my YouTube channel.

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

I’ve been a long-term blogger and writer for almost 15 years now. As someone who is always creating content, it’s interesting to go back and review some of the past posts I’ve shared. Here is one that I think many of you as business owners will find useful. I wrote it back in 2010, and it’s still relevant today:
Six Tips for New Small Business owners – Originally published at the Biztoolkit blog in April 2010

This April marked my 6th year of business. I continue to be reminded of the excitement and emotions of new business owners through regular discussions with participants of the 90 Day BizSuccess program - some of whom are new business owners, as well as seasoned small business people.

In running the program I often get asked, what are some tips for new business owners. Here are 6 tips which have kept business exciting, and successful for me, over the years.

1. Track it! Take notice of the impact of the activities you are undertaking, over both the short term as well as the medium term. What are you noticing about the money you have invested into different marketing activities? Notice what's giving you impact in terms of your activities, networking and relationships.

2. Create Systems so that you don't have to recreate things over, and over again. It's not surprising that even experienced business owners still " have not had time" to create simple processes for their businesses such as invoices, proposal formats etc.

Ask yourself:

• What activities might you need to repeat time and time again (consider finance, people, marketing etc)?
• What systems would benefit your business?
• When will you spend time creating these?

3. Build on What You Already Have, Have Done or Do: Many times small business owners fail to capitalize on what they have already created, designed or know. What can you build upon in your business? Do you really need to start off at 0?

4. Plan it! Time Management and Planning can be a major challenge for business owners. When was the last time you sat down to plan and strategize about your goals for the quarter or even the month? As we know from time management 10 minutes of planning can save an hour of unfocused effort.

When will you spend time creating your plan for the next month?

5. Schedule It! What doesn't get scheduled, doesn't get done. What are your main business priorities right now? Have you scheduled them into your calendar? If it's not written down or blocked off chances are it may get lost.

Activity:
Take 15 minutes this week to identify one or two main priorities for your business and schedule in time in your calendar to get these things done.

6. Be strategic - We can't be all things to all people? Consider the Pareto Principle, or 80/20 rule, which states that we get 80% of our impact from 20% of our efforts. What activities are going to give you the most impact this month?

Best wishes,
​Jennifer

Last week’s post kicked off our focus this month (February) on relationships.

This week I’d like you to think about WHO is in your web of relationships. As solopreneurs, it’s very easy to think we are “solo”, or alone, when in fact, throughout the day we may be interfacing with a wide variety of others.
​
For this week’s activity, consider these questions:

• What are the activities and tasks where you are in relationship with others?
• What are the new relationships you want to foster?

One of the activities I include in the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner is having you create your Top 20 list. Who do you have in your network right now?
​
Once you capture people you have in your network, then ask:
Who else would you like to add to your network?
Consider:

• influencers,
• connectors (people who can connect you to others),
• associations you might join to grow your knowledge base, or to contribute to.

My second book was entitled “From One to Many: Best Practices for Team and Group Coaching”. This also means expanding the conversation to more. What are the hubs which can help you connect with, and be in dialogue with, more people at any given time?
​
Enjoy your relationship mapping work!
Jennifer
PS – A reminder that this month’s 30 days focus in the 1BizStepaDay series is around Relationships. Download a copy of the 1BizStepaDay series here. What are the daily actions you are taking to build  your relationships during this month of February?

“Tasks expand to the amount of time we give them” asserts the Parkinson’s Rule. I remember first reading about this in the Four-Hour Workweek from Tim Ferris. Think about it - what tasks have expanded to the amount of time you have given them?
​
Whether you are a solopreneur or work with a VA or other freelance members, having a variety of tools to manage projects is key. These tools are likely to be virtual so you can share them with others, and you may have different tools for different purposes.
In selecting a tool consider:

• What’s going to work best?
• What are the requirements? I.e. How will we use the tool?
• What’s important to note about this?
• What is the Project Scope – Time, Budget and Effort?
• What is the progress?
• How much time is it really taking?
• What are the project requirements?

Two tools I like to use the capture and communicate projects can include:

1. Asana – Asana is another great project resource, and free of charge (at least at this stage for some functionality). Asana has the advantage of being able to segment what you share with whom, so if you work with a VA and also a graphic designer you can consider what you share with each one or both. Asana allows you to upload documents, set deadlines and also assign responsibilities.
2. Trello – While I use Trello more for program design, I love the visual interface of Trello. It visually breaks down more complex ideas, and tasks into smaller particles. Consider how Trello might support you with your programs or projects. If you are using Trello – please feel free to comment and share with us how you are using it.
3. Good old-fashioned tables – As a new project manager in the early 1990s, it was important to document, document, document. As Word Processors were coming into being, accessible capturing of information was becoming the norm and the priority. Almost three decades later I still return back to the basics and many of my team members say they love the simplicity and clarity of a one-page weekly project outline. It doesn’t have to be super complicated – I usually have 4 columns for:

• Task - What is required?
• Description – More detail about the task – project requirements, what will success look like with the end product? Get granular here and clarify your assumptions!
• Resources needed - highlighting any documents needed, or resources to use, or people to reach out to.
• Deadline – What is the deadline for the task? When it is required? Be realistic and also think about what happens if that deadline is not met. What ripple effect could it create?

What are the tools you want to start incorporating into your work this year, to make projects flow more smoothly?
​
Enjoy your week,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton, PCC, CPCC
Author multiple books including the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner (2018), Effective Group Coaching (2010)
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Looking for some daily focus around your work? Join me over on Instagram @CoachingBizBuilder for a daily question or prompt as part of the #90DaysPlanDoTrack series. 
Check out the November 2018 CBB Book Club Call entitled "2019 Planning. Already?". You can view it here.

We are on the eve of a new year, and at this time of year I love to ask my clients “What is your intention for the new year”.
As you think about the new year ahead, what are your goals? Gretchen Rubin, and her sister Elizabeth Craft, challenged listeners of their podcast Happier to create an "18 in 2018 list" last year, and for the coming year "19 for 2019". What are the top 19 goals you want to achieve this upcoming year? Have you written them down? Is it time to grab a new notebook or journal so that it’s all in one place?
As you consider any goals you have set for yourself, what do you notice about them? Is there a theme linking them? One year I had a theme of a WATERFALL. At that stage in my business it was important to trust that the successes I had would continue, as long as I was continuing to invest in action. Spending time worrying that things would only work once was costing me a lot of time and energy. Re-framing this to a waterfall which flows consistently helped me start developing new habits and mindsets around my business, trusting that things would continue to flow.
Another great exercise to undertake at this time is to also set your intention for the year. Perhaps you have a deck of cards or another tool you like to pull from. Last year I combined Rory’s Story Cubes, and two photo decks to crate an initial story line for my year. It was really interesting how it played out!
What’s your theme for the new year?
I am grateful for the support and interest so many of you have had in the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner. It was the momentum I needed to bring forward the PlanDoTrack edition for Remote and Virtual Professionals a few weeks ago on December 14th which is also finding its own audience with Virtual and Remote Professionals.
I look forward to continuing the conversation into 2019!

Best,
​Jennifer

Be
In my planning virtual retreats over the years, as well as at the Coaching Business Growth Lab, I speak regularly about the importance of taking regular action on our businesses. Whether we focus full time on coaching, or have it as a side gig, spending time to Plan, Get Things Done, and Track is critical.

This has led me this fall to launch the Plan.Do.Track(TM) series of programming (next Virtual Retreat coming up today at 1 pm ET!), and also to be releasing an adaptation of the Coaching Business Builder Workbook and Planner as the Plan.Do.Track Workbook and Planner for Remote and Virtual Professionals (coming out in December).
Taking consistent action is key, and allows us to manageably, and sustainably, build business. 

As we step into the month of November, what are your top 3-5 goals?
What are the regular steps that will take you towards achieving these goals?

For the last six months I've been walking around with a hand-written note in my planning journal. I finally was able to get it professionally laid out a few weeks ago but a trusted designer I use regularly. Even with all the design work I do as an author and instructional designer, I LOVE seeing my scrawls come to life. A big thank you to Jennifer of SecretaryZone in bringing this to life for me!

I'm pleased to offer up a free resource you can use to support you in  your work - The Weekly Booster For Your Business. You can download it here and try it out.

I'd love to see how you use it in action, so take a photo and tag it with #90DaysPlanDoTrack, the current Instagram series I have running over at my CoachingBizBuilder feed. 

If you enjoy this resource, perhaps you'll join me for an upcoming Plan.Do.Track Virtual Retreat. These are 4 hour virtual planning sessions to support you in taking action on your business. For the next 2 months I'll also be offering a special year-end planning focus during these blocks. Reserve your spot now in one of the upcoming Plan.Do.Track Virtual Retreats:
Today - November 1 - 1-5 pm ET
Saturday November 17 - 10 - 2 pm ET (yes - that's right - a Saturday program!)
Thursday November 28 - 1 - 5 pm ET
Wednesday December 5 - 1-5 pm ET
Thursday December 20 - 1- 5 pm ET
​Learn more and sign up now

Download a brochure on the Plan.Do.Track VRs.

Best wishes,
Jennifer

Jennifer Britton
Author of Coaching Business Builder
Potentials Realized
Phone: 416-996-8326
Don't forget the November 2018 CBB Book Club Call is on Monday November 5 from 11 -11:30 am ET entitled "2019 Planning. Already?". Hope you'll join me in my main zoom room (zoom room #270-302-0415 - no that is not a phone # but a zoom room #).