I didn’t remember until after publishing this video that I did a 2021 Business Planning post last year! You can check that one out here. Let’s see what I’ve learnt and changed between then and the 2022 Business Planning 😉

I’d love to hear how you plan your year! Let me know in the comments below if you have any tips or strategies.

If you’re anything like me, you are probably thinking about what’s coming up this year, those goals for the year, what you want to bring to life this year, all of that goodness. But I also know that, especially for those of us who are more introverted, we can be really good at the planning stage and maybe not as good at actually putting that plan into action.

Let’s not even start on the overwhelm of feeling like we have to have everything mapped out for the entire year by the second week in January, shall we?!

This video is my entire planning process – I like to keep it simple! And, if you’re wanting to go deep into mapping out your first plans for the year, an invitation to join me and my 1:1 clients for a 4-hour Content Planning Intensive later this month.

Want to join the 2022 Business Planning 4-hour Intensive on January 26th? Grab your spot here: https://thecontentecosystem.com/4-hour-workshop

Not up for that much intensity so early in the year!? I get it. The Content Ecosystem is especially for those of you who prefer to take your time, find your own way, and quietly get to work on your own. Get instant access to the workshop and all the resources here: https://thecontentecosystem.com/

OTHER RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THIS EPISODE:

Trello*: https://trello.com/katherinemackenziesmith/recommend

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FULL 2022 BUSINESS PLANNING TRANSCRIPT

If you’re anything like me, you are probably thinking about what’s coming up this year. Those goals for the year, what you want to bring to life this year, all that goodness. But I also know that, especially for those of us who are more introverted. Who are more highly sensitive, who are really good at the planning stage and less, maybe good at putting that plan and that list of ideas into action. And also the ability to get overwhelmed. Thinking of a big picture, a year long plan. It can be a lot so early in the year to put that pressure on ourselves.

The pressure to change everything, the pressure to have our whole year sorted before the end of January and be you’re already making money already putting these ideas and plans into life. And let’s, let’s maybe not do that this year.

Let’s maybe think about how this year can be easeful and joyful. How working in our businesses can actually be super enjoyable. And just maybe a bit different from those of us who’ve maybe burnt ourselves out or found ourselves running around in circles or feeling frustrated about what is and isn’t happening throughout the year in our business. 

Just a thought.

Let’s Bring Ease Into 2022

Because the more pressure that we put on ourselves, the more likely we are to get overwhelmed. The bigger picture that we’re trying to think all year round, especially at the start of the year. The easier it is to kind of come to February and just be so exhausted and over it. That can kind of stop that spiral for the year. 

So it is a great thing to do at the start of the year, but I also think it’s something that we can do all throughout the year to keep on track. To make sure we’re keeping in alignment with what it is that we want with our values. With our strengths. And with what – success or joy or fun or whatever it is that we’re striving for in our lives. That we’re actually checking in with that all year round.

The thing about setting those big goals about doing the big visioning about thinking and energising what it is that we want to bring to life for the year is not just about having a goal that we can tick off at the end of the year. It is so much more than that. And whilst that might be something that absolutely motivates, inspires, and energises you to build momentum and do all of those things throughout the year. 

The thing I love about this being in the possibilities is about the energy that we start to build around our ideas around our creativity, around our desires and how we want to show up and be in the world and move through the world, the impact and contribution that we want to make. 

And so that’s why I love this idea of getting in early. Getting that fresh, renewed energy of a new year and starting to energise and play in that now. But also having times throughout the year to come back and revisit it.

Take a Step Back and Review

So taking that step back. Reflecting on what the past 12 months have been. Starting to play in the possibilities of what’s to come and what we want to bring to life this year. That is a great starting point. 

And that is absolutely where I start when I’m doing any planning in my business. When I’m working on my one-on-one clients, what we’re starting to think about is always the bigger picture. But that can get so overwhelming if we try to plan an action and do all the things throughout the year from that place.

 Once we’ve taken that step back to see that bigger vision, the next thing that I love to do is to break that down, because I know that if I think that I can plan out a whole year and stick to that plan, my flowy intuitive self is just never going to do that.

Break Down Your 2022 Business Planning Into Bite Size Pieces

And for years, and years, and years, I tried to stick to it. I tried to go against that nature and it never works. I find diaries and planners and journals years later with notes and ideas of things that just never ended up happening. Because that’s just not how I work. 

You might work really well with a year plan. What I really like to do is I like to think of three months at a time. And so I’m not even thinking about April. I have just been thinking about what is happening from January to March this year. I’ve kind of got a bit of an idea and I do like to pencil things in and little ideas, but there is no attachment to that being anything at this point in time. What I like to do is I like to plan out my three months.

I like to focus on one big project or launch per quarter. I know that there is a tendency for many of us to go to go. That’s not enough. That is not going to, I need to be doing that every month. And that might work really well for you. I know for me that the most overwhelmed, the most burnt out I have felt is when I have tried to rush everything and smash a launch out in just a couple of weeks.

And what I have started to do over the past couple of years is to actually build out a launch and build out a project and give myself that time and space so that it feels ease and it feels natural and sustainable versus just trying to go, okay, I’m launching this in two weeks. I’m just going to go for it now. So what I like to do, I like to think about the quarter.

Plan It Out

I have a list that I have both on Trello and in a physical diary. Where I keep all of the other projects and ideas that come up for me. And I make a decision in the moment as to whether this is something I can fit in this quarter or more likely, and more realistically, it’s something that I’m going to shelf for next time. For next quarter, for next planning session that I’m going to do towards the end of March. 

But what that does is it gives me the spaciousness to actually ebb and flow with my energy, with my inspiration, with just the way that I work and also gives me some clarity.

So I have a very specific direction and purpose of focusing on what I’m doing, where I’m at, what I’m sharing with my people, and also what I’m bringing to life at the same time from there, once those bigger pieces are in place for the quarter, I kind of feel like everything makes sense after that, what it is is going okay, those like anchor points are there throughout the quarter.

I know what I’m leading up to. I know what I’m building up to and now I know, oh, these are all the things that I need to focus on to be ready for that. These are the behind the scenes things I need to set up. The website updates that I absolutely need to make. These are the emails that need to be written over the next 8 to 12 weeks.

And these are the pieces that are the most important that are going to mean that my energy is going into the most important things. Then everything else just kind of just goes on a list somewhere that I will look at on days where I have extra time. Or if I’m feeling inspired to do some other stuff behind the scenes. Where I just need to take a break from what I’m focusing on and pick something off that list.

Build Up To Your Lanch

But what I’m doing is I’m focusing on the most important things at a time. Trying to let go of some of the other stuff, and then thinking about what is my content, how am I showing up on social media? 

What are the things that I need to start thinking about that are going to build this long runway up to my launch or my big project or my big reveal or whatever it is that I am focusing on? 

And that is when it kind of makes sense. I did this with a new client the other day. We spent a couple of hours planning out her main offer that she was going to focus on. And then reverse engineering, everything else, what changes behind the scenes and on her website needed to be changed.

Even brainstorming out those content ideas and then moving them around. Making sense of them to build out that journey, to bring the right people along. “Hey, if you liked this piece of content, well, then you’re going to love what I’ve got coming up in a couple of weeks.”

Stay Focused

And then once we’ve got that focus, we also can start to think about what are the little goals around that? What are the metrics and the things that I’m going to track or measure that just helped me to realise, am I getting distracted by shiny things? 

Am I getting distracted by what other people are doing and comparing myself with them? 

Or am I kind of at least working towards some of these goals that I have?

And that is going to be different for everyone based on what your personal goals are. What motivates you and what it is that you’re building for success on your terms. That might be the basic metrics like your income or your number of clients.

Or it might be certain things that you want to keep an eye on or check in with to make sure that you are living in alignment with your energy.

Or you have time throughout your week and month to be doing things that bring you absolute joy. Instead of just working all of the time and how you’re going to just check in with that. Then that set up and building out that launch, the content plan starts to be kind of organised.

Then what you can do is you can break it down into more monthly or weekly or daily steps and actions and focus then on what needs to get done this month? After that, breaking it down to what is the one thing I’m going to do this week?

And then it becomes a weekly and daily steps, with one to two things to do every day or every week, depending on what you need to get done. 

It’s so much more manageable, so much more sustainable. And really not that much in the grand scheme of things. Then, oh my gosh, I have to do 50 things this week in order to have my launch ready to go next week. It also means that you’re giving your audience space too. 

So instead of just suddenly hitting them with something that you’ve been leading up to. It’s something that you’ve been talking about it, you’ve been sharing it.

You’ve been talking and creating content around the offer or around the launch for enough time that the people who are ready for more are kind of ready to go. Instead of, oh, hey, I’ve got this idea and then it’s happening tomorrow. It just makes it a little bit more sustainable, a little bit more manageable when we break it down. 

Want To Get Your 2022 Business Planning Sorted?

So there you have it. That’s how I do my business planning. 

And what I have found is that when I started doing it last year, or last couple of years, it has meant that there’s just so much more energy and so much more space throughout the week. It has meant that launches feel nourishing and actually manageable. Instead of this idea that we have been shown online.

That launches a stressful they’re late nights and early mornings, and there’s so much going on. And instead, actually being able to create that introvert friendly launch plan and allow ourselves the space. The downtime, the energy that we need to be able to know that in three months in six months in 12 months. When we want to do it again, it is not going to completely burn us out and destroy us.

I would love to hear your thoughts. Have you done launches like this before? Have you done business planning like this before? Is there anything that I’ve said today that has given you an idea or sparked some thoughts about how you like to plan out your year? 

Let me know. I would love to hear if you have questions about anything, please also let me know. And I know that it can be really easy to say, oh, just plan it out. Just think of your offer, think of your ideas, think of your content and your admin behind the scenes. And you’re good to go and that when you walk away from this video and then sit down at the computer, it can start to still feel overwhelming. And so because of that I’m hosting a four hour intensive for the Excel members and my VIP one-on-one clients.

I decided to make it an offer that you can jump onto. And so I wanted to make this four hour workshop available to you as well. 

If you’d like some help reverse engineering, maybe your first or your next launch for the year. Or thinking about your behind the scenes and your admin and all your setup stuff. Working out your launch activities and how you’re going to build energy and momentum towards your launch. Or thinking about your content and the behind the scenes to make this your best launch ever. So if you’re interested in that, I will pop the details below and I will catch you next week.

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