Strategic Planning: 5 Powerful Steps to Creating an Action Plan for Your Business

Author: Kimberly A. Gaskins, MBA
If you are like me you worked hard to build your business to its current state. You’ve had good times and bad times. You may have grown or remained status quo. Either way you still have the desire and energy to continue the journey. Creating a strategic plan is a great way to improve your return on investment for the time, energy and money you’ve expended. So in the coming weeks set aside time to prepare your plan using the five steps below:

Step 1: Review Your Current Position

Prior to writing your strategic plan you need to assess your current position.

• Begin by looking at your visions and mission statements. How are you doing in accomplishing what you set out to do? If you don’t have one take the time to create one. Your vision and mission statements remind you why you started your business and what you want to accomplish.

• Complete a SWOT Analysis to focus on internal and external influences on your business.

o Strengths

o Weaknesses

o Opportunities

o Threats

• Ideal client profile –Write a profile of what your ideal client looks like. Is it different from your expectations?

• Menu of Products and Services – How well are the services and/or products you offer doing? Are there any changes you would like to make?

• Financials – Look at cash flow, expenses, collections, and pricing of products and services

• Life/Work Balance – How many hours do you work a week? When was your last vacation? Do you have set working hours? Are you spending time doing the things you enjoy?

Step 2: Identify

Now that you have reviewed your business situation it is time to identify key areas of your business that need your attention. Organize your list into operations, customer relations, intellectual capital and equity. Prioritize your list.

Step 3: Goals

Take your list of areas needing attention and set SMART Goals. SMART goals are:

• Specific

• Measurable

• Achievable

• Realistic

• Time Specific

Remember a goal is your general intention for your business.

Goal Example: Earn $15,000 in 2010.

Step 4: Plan

Now that you have your goals and priorities laid out it is time to plan your objectives. Objectives are your precise action steps for achieving your goals. List your overall goal and then write down your action steps to accomplish it. Be as detailed as possible so you can evaluate your progress.

Objective Example: I will earn $15,000 in 2010 by having 5 clients on retainer at $2000 each and getting small projects worth $5000 by November 2010. (You can further break this down to a monthly number if you have the information available)

Step 5: Evaluate

Set aside time for a consistent periodic review of your progress. Determine if you are on track and if the results are what you expected. Make any adjustments you deem necessary. You want to REVIEW ADJUST and IMPLEMENT.

By implement these steps you will create a powerful strategic plan and have measurable results which will take your business to the next level. Good luck.



© 2009

Kim Gaskins, MBA is President and Owner of K. Gaskins Consulting. She provides strategic and operational planning for small businesses and nonprofit organizations which focus on cultivating passion, productivity and prosperity. For more information visit www.kgaskinsconsulting.com.

3 Truths for Managing Your Organization’s Finances

Last this month I attended the YWCA’s Money Conference for Women in Hartford, CT. This annual event reminds me of the importance of knowing my financial status and planning for the future. Michelle Singletary, this year’s keynote speaker, focused on the importance of setting financial goals, using a budget, and preparing for the “unexpected”. Her tips got me thinking about what small business owners and executive directors of non-profit organizations need to remember when managing the finances.

1. Know Your Goals – What are your top financial goals for your organization? You need to be as specific as possible. Don’t just say to make a profit. Instead make your goal concrete and measurable. This will make it easy for you to measure and to know what you are looking to do. Balance your goals by preparing a budget and sticking to it. Monitor your expenses monthly and avoid making unplanned purchases.

2. Give and You Will Receive – Plan your giving even if you are a nonprofit. If you are a nonprofit give to other organizations which compliment your mission. How much would you like to give? Who would you like to give to? Planning your giving ahead of time provides an opportunity for you to take advantage of the power of public relations. Your clients/customers/donors like to know you support the community. Yours select cause is always happy to receive monetary and in-kind support.

3. Plan for the unexpected – Similar to managing your personal finances, as business owners we need to prepare for unexpected events. Do you have plans in place to handle a decrease in funds? Can you “stash” away funds for a rainy day and upgrades or repairs to equipment?

Similar to personal budgeting this is not easy but the benefits are worth the adjustment period. Imagine the freedom and power in knowing you are in control of your organizations financial health.

Article Submitted by -
Kim Gaskins, MBA is President and Owner of K. Gaskins Consulting. She provides strategic and organizational planning for small businesses and nonprofit organizations which focus on passion, productivity and prosperity. For more information visit www.kgaskinsconsulting.com or email her at kim@kgaskinsconsulting.com.

Charitable Giving - A Win/Win Opportunity!

Charity Giving a Win/Win Opportunity

This time of year many businesses promote the fact that they are associated with a charity, either by donating products, services, money or time. Sometimes the efforts are great enough that the business attracts some positive PR from news sources, but more often than not, it is the self-promotion that gets the word out. Charitable contributions benefit a business in several ways.

First, customers and prospects that become aware of the “giving” will often look at the business in a more favorable way, enhancing your “brand”. When a business donates something to a needy cause, it is evident that the decision-makers in that business made a conscious choice to give. That changes the perspective your customers and prospects have from viewing your business as an entity to viewing it more personally as a person or a group people, who care about something other than their business. You and your business become more credible in the community. It is said to attach a sort of social conscious to your image.

In addition, there are financial rewards in the form of tax benefits, which you would need to discuss with your accountant for more details. Most importantly, even the smallest charitable donation, can put a smile on your face, which in turn reflects outward to your customers!

Choosing the Charity

The charity you chose can greatly impact the degree of positive impact the donation has on your brand/image. If you chose a large well-known charity, that carries some recognition with it, but may not seem as if you put a lot of personal thought into it, unless your public knows you have a close personal tie to it. Some businesses will focus on a category, for example, children, or pets. Many times the category aligns with the products and services they offer, such as a pet food store donating food to shelters. The more local and within the community the benefactors are, is usually better as you can see the effect your donation has in the community, and members who appreciate your generosity can easily reciprocate with their own generosity by frequenting your business…which is a great reward for giving!

I have selected The Guilford House as my charity this season because it is local, and I feel the elderly are one of the most overlooked groups of people. It is sad that people work their whole life serving others, at home raising a family, and often at work, also, only to age, be ill and quite often alone in a nursing facility. Many of these people don’t receive any gifts at all! I have chosen to provide them with gift-sets of hand cream and a therapeutic lip treatment to alleviate the discomforts of winter. With the help of businesses like yours, I can provide a gift-set for every resident there! Your donation to this cause will be noted on the gift card to the resident and in a public place at the Guilford House. The donation is $25 per gift-set. I will package and deliver the sets all together on December 23rd. Please email me at carleenmm@comcast.net to arrange your donation, by Friday, December 11th. Your generosity will be rewarded!

- Article submitted by Carleen McIlveen

See also the Better Business Bureau  http://www.bbb.org/us/charity/

Communicating With Customers Who Use Sign Language

The best and most beautiful things in the world cannot be seen, nor touched ... but are felt in the heart.

A quote by Helen Keller - A woman famous for her many achievements in life despite being both deaf and blind.  In the United States there are:
• 1.8 million - Number of people 15 and older who report being unable to see printed words at all or were blind.
 • 1 million - Number of people 15 and older who reported deafness or being unable to hear conversations at all.
• More than 50 million Americans with disabilities - 18% of our population - are potential customers for businesses of all types across the United States.

Simply not to cater for these groups is equivalent to turning away 1 in 6 of your customers at the door.

‘I am only one, but still I am one. I cannot do everything, but still I can do something.      I will not refuse to do the something that I can do’. - Helen Keller

Here are a few things we can do to reach out to customers with hearing disabilities and support fellow women in business.

Website Accessibility Tips

(1) When using video/audio on your website, also include all of the text or a synopsis or transcript that allows the deaf/hard of hearing to gain from the content as well. This will also help your google or yahoo search engine ranking.

(2) Use graphic indicators to indicate what you do and how to navigate your website.

 (3) Use a glossary of complicated terms.

(4) Use contact forms instead of just saying call for assistance.

(5) Clearly provide an email address.

(6) Include “alt” tags (alternative descriptions) and title tags in all images and videos

(7) Blind people use browsers with speech or Braille output which are text-based systems; therefore the site should be navigable independent of the graphics content. For people with low vision, the ability to vary the text size on their browser is essential. A further problem encountered by blind and partially sighted people is that many websites use graphics that are not meaningful when accessed by a text-based browser.

ADA Tax Incentives

Congress has made two kinds of tax incentives available to businesses to help them offset the costs of complying with the ADA. Businesses are allowed to take advantage of these incentives year after year to make their facilities, goods, and services more accessible.

The Disabled Access Credit is available to small businesses that have 30 or fewer employees or total revenues of $1,000,000 or less. A credit of up to $5000 a year is available to offset a business's costs for removing barriers, hiring interpreters or readers needed for effective communication, producing documents in alternate formats such as large print or audiotape, or taking other steps to improve accessibility for customers or employees with disabilities. This provision is found in section 44 of the IRS tax code.

Under section 190 of the IRS tax code, businesses of any size can take a deduction of up to $15,000 each year for the cost of removing barriers in facilities or vehicles.

Resources and References

• Checklist for web accessibility www.tiresias.org/research/guidelines/checklists/web_checklist.htm
• Statistics Source - www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/013739.html
• Website Accessibility Tips www.seehearsurf.org/ for more details.
• Course - Reaching out to customers with Disabilities. www.ada.gov/reachingout/intro1.htm
• Find photos of sign language gestures - www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/sign-language.html

Harriet Martineau became deaf during her childhood, at the age of 19 years old, Harriet became a famous journalist and went on to write about 30 books and thousands of articles... – So much can be learned, when sometimes all we have to do is one blog post!

Author Nikki Auguste is the owner of Tristate Business Solutions, and Organizer of The Tristate Area - New Haven County Women in Business Association. Nikki's passion is to support all women in business.  You can learn more about her and her business at http://www.tristatebusinesssolutions/ as well as by visiting http://www.newhavencountywomeninbusiness.com/

Whats Wrong With This Email?

Wanted to share the following email quiz, one of our promotional products industry magazines Advantages’ did a great story this month about how to energize your business emails and make them more efficient while pointing out the do’s and don’ts of workplace correspondence. In the article was a great example of an email that, though seemingly innocuous and good-intentioned, contained a ton of problems. Below is the example without the corrections …

Point out as many problems in this email as you can...

Video Marketing

An old Chinese proverb says ‘One seeing, is better than 100 times telling’!

Marketing is like a large jig saw puzzle with many pieces, you can have most of the pieces in place but if you don’t have ALL the pieces you don’t have the complete picture and therefore you will have a hole in your marketing bucket.

Video Marketing is one of the marketing pieces you should consider having in your marketing plan, to get the most of using video marketing Lorena Hawkins an Online Media Expert for Attain Response shares the following tips:

• Use natural lighting in front and in back of you. You can purchase lamps with HD full spectrum light bulbs as a substitute. Diffuse the light bulb if needed with a shade.

• Wear solid color clothing as opposed to busy prints. Avoid wearing white - (washes you out). Also Glittery Jewelry can be distracting unless you are promoting it.

• Morning and early afternoon may be the best time to record when using a web cam and internet connection. A high speed internet connection is recommended for best quality. Keep in mind that during internet high usage time (usually late afternoon and evenings) the upload connection speed may be compromised resulting in a choppy or blurry appearance. You may need to do your recordings during non prime-time.

For the complete article Video 101-Start Creating Videos Today (Ten Simple Tips) Text Lorena at: 69302 - In the message section type; Lorena1(enter space)(your email address)

Do you have the Video Marketing piece in your marketing puzzle?

Science tells us that we give 25 TIMES AS MUCH ATTENTION TO EYE SUGGESTIONS as we do to ear suggestions - ONE SEEING IS BETTER THAN 100 TIMES TELLING.

To learn more about this and other marketing strategies, contact Nikki Auguste of TristateBusinessSolutions.com.

What Really Generates Referrals

Common elements which can almost guarantee a referral include:

• Making people look good

• Being prepared to refer others (and having those contacts in your backpocket)

• Keeping Promises

• Creating an Experience

• Educate Instead of Selling

• Adding Value Beyond Price

• Doing Something "Talkable"

• Exceeding Expectations

Learn more...

In my own words!

You dont have to get it right! You just have to get it going!
You can change things along the way!

Motivation Quotes

If you are resolutely determined to make a "lawyer" (replace with title of your choice) of yourself, the thing is more than half done already.... Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any other one thing.

Abraham Licoln

Do NOT - give up after one nor one hundred defeats.

Theredore Roosevelt

The Certainty of Reward!

Let no youth have any anxiety about the upshot of his education, whatever the line of it may be.  If he keeps faithfully busy each hour of the working day, he may safely leave the final result to itself.  He can, with perfect certainty, count on waking up some fine morning to find himself one of the competent ones of his generation, in whatever pursuit he may have singled out.

Professor William James, Harvard Psychologist

In almost any subject, your passion for the subject will save you.  If you only care enough for a result, you will amost certainly attain it. If you wish to be rich, you will be rich; if you wish to be learned you will be learned; if you wish to be good, you will be good. Only you must, then, really wish these things and wish them with exclusiveness, and not wish at the same time a hundred other incompatible things just as strongly.
Professor William James, Harvard Psychologist

Marketing Presence Tip - Be Interviewed!

A marketing strategy that can should also be considered is – Being Interviewed

The benefits of being interviewed include:

1. Get the word out about who you are and what you do,

2. Share your experience and wisdom.

3. Connect with your customers and develop relationships.

4. Increase your visibility and your reach by tapping into new audiences

5. Get a chance to spotlight and talk about yourself.

6. Your interview will be posted on the interviewer’s website which would increase exposure and links back to your website.

7. The complete interview can be added to your arsenal of marketing materials or media packages.

8. Be perceived as an expert or an authority figure.

9. Interviewees are usually considered important and worth talking about.

10. Share your completed interview on your blog, or social networking sites etc. and increase your buzz!

Tip: New Haven County Women in Business is accepting interviewees to be considered, please visit ww.newhavencountywomeninbusiness.com and contact us there.

Tomorrow we will share more tips on how to find opportunities to be interviewed, and tips for a successful interview.

Please share your thoughts or experiences about being interviewed.