I recently attended a conference session about creating 1 year, 3 year and 5 year 
plans for your business. The speaker, Liz Weber, posed some very interesting and introspective questions. I wanted to share with you some of my key takeaways and how I’m using them in my business, and with the wedding and event businesses with whom I consult.
My biggest takeaway was that my 1 year plan can be written in ink, but my 3 year, 5 year (and longer if you want) will be in pencil—or dry-erase marker if you prefer. While I have my 1 year plan written in ink, I keep the white-out handy (as when I do the NY Times crossword puzzle in ink).
As I look back at my current business (a little over 4 years now as an independent speaker, author, consultant and sales trainer) I can see that I’ve changed my business model and product/service mix a few times. There are certain services I used to offer that I no longer do. There are others that have been added to my product/service mix that I hadn’t imagined 4 years ago. Still others proved to be either not profitable, or not enjoyable for me; both good reasons to vote them off my island.
Gooooooooal!
I hesitate to use the word “goals” because my uncle once told me that setting goals is self-limiting. The way I interpret that is to do the best we can, every time. Don’t limit yourself with a number or target. While I look at the numbers and know what minimum I need to cover my expenses, the upper limit is not something I want to set. It’s what I’ll achieve if I give it my best shot—every day. Whether you use the word “goals” is up to you.
You can’t hit a target you can’t see
If you do set yourself a target, you need a roadmap to get there. I was recently consulting with an entertainment company who told me about the number of weddings & events they wanted to do. Comparing that to what they are currently doing, they’re going to need to ramp up their staff of entertainers, plus their back-end team and infrastructure. Getting to that aspirational number is not possible with their current team. They’re already doing a pretty good job of filling their calendar in the busy months, and in the wedding business you can’t reach your goal if it means filling 52 Saturday nights a year for each member of your team. It’s not a realistic road map. You need to look at the busy season (easier to do if you’ve been in business for a while) and calculate your realistically available inventory. How many weddings and events will you need to do to get to your target? Can you do that with your current staff? Can you do that with your current equipment/facilities? If not, what will it take to get there and what steps do you have to take to get there?
Show me the money
If your target is a certain dollar amount the same questions apply. What’s your current average sale? If you don’t know, just make a spreadsheet of all of the weddings and events you did over the last year and calculate an average. On a side note, that’s a good exercise to do anyway, so you’ll know how many events you actually do and the revenue they bring in. If you want to take it one step further, you can calculate the profit on each event to see the difference between volume and profitability.
Create the road map of how you’re going to get to your target dollar amount. How many of each type of event will you need to do? Can you do that with your current staffing? Are you getting enough leads to fill those slots? If not, then what steps will you need to take to reach that target?
Life gets in the way
When you’re doing your future planning you should consider personal as well as professional goals and aspirations. It’s much easier to afford that big vacation if you’ve been putting aside money each month. It’s even better to have the time blocked off on your calendar, having already figured that into your above targets of money and number of events. The same goes for college and retirement savings. Time is the one factor that is not only limited, but you can’t play catch up. The compounding effect of time has one of the biggest impacts on future investment returns.
Leading by example
Accountability is a big factor in staying on track. Sharing your goals and aspirations with others makes you accountable to them when they ask “How’s that going?” My current list includes writing my next book, becoming fluent in Spanish and a new business idea (stay tuned for that one, it’s about to launch). The book is in progress, I’ve been studying Spanish for almost 3 years (he estudiado hace casi tres años) and the new business has the website and backend started. Oh, and I hired an assistant earlier this year because there was no way I could do everything I wanted alone.
What’s on your list?
A good place to start is to make a list of things you’d like to accomplish, personally and professionally. Then prioritize your list and keep your top 3 or 4 items. Working on just a few things will make it easier to take action. If this sounds a lot like the story in my mini-book “Don’t Paint the House” or stories in “Your Attitude for Success” it’s because they are. There are very few big goals that we can achieve in a day. Most take planning and lots of small steps that have to first happen. Breaking down big projects into smaller steps make them seem more attainable and gives you little “wins” every time you take tangible action on them. I wish you much success in whatever you decide and I look forward to hearing your stories of success.
Do you need help or guidance?
Many wedding and event pros, just like you, reach out to me for help and guidance. I can lend an impartial ear and be your personal advisory board, whether you’re a team of 1 or dozens. From business direction to pricing, your website to sales, businesses like you, large and small have benefitted from spending time with me. How do I know? Here are just a few of the things they’ve posted on my website after their consulting session or private sales training:
Thanks again Alan for making me more successful by showing me how I can easily refine or change what I am doing!
Nancy Vance, Chisholm Springs Events, Edmond, OK
Alan is amazing! I have been listening to his webinars for years and never even thought we can approach him because he is too big to even consider spending time with us and teaching us his strategy or approach in this industry. On the contrary, he is a normal person, fun and friendly 🙂 Very knowledgeable, professional and it felt like he knew our business and the struggles we go through better than us. We got so much information that is going to bring our business to the next level.
Mugu Radu, Philadelphia String Quartet, Philadelphia, PA
We not only discussed our website, but also our sales approach. Since then, we have increased our inquiry to tour ratio. Alan is informative, innovative and passionate about online marketing. Investing in his onsite training was the best decision we could have made. Thank you Alan!
Melissa Birch, Moffitt Oaks, Tomball, TX
Want to read more comments like these, click here. Want to find out how I can help you? Call, email or complete the short contact form on this page, 732.422.6362, international enquiries 001 732 422 6362.
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