What will tomorrow be like a year from now?

If you have a franchise or are thinking about buying one, or if you have any kind of business, you need to have a plan and a map.

What will tomorrow be like a year from now? If you don't have a picture in your head of what you want your future day to be like in 365 days, you can't expect things to be any different than they are now. Is it easier to put a puzzle together if you can look at the picture of what it is supposed to look like or easier to just pick up pieces and start putting together a picture? Of course it is easier to have a picture to look at! You have 365 pieces, or say 730 half day pieces to put together to make your picture look like what you want it to by this time next year.

Let's stop and make a mental picture. What is your business like? How many customers do you have, or how much revenue are you bringing in each day? What are you doing on a typical day?

OK, now let's think about where you are at now it relation to the picture of next year and let's set some goals. Let's divide the difference in customers or revenue in half and set that as a goal for 6 months from now. Let's divide it again. If you want you can map it out monthly.

We have our goals, now let's look at the time and/or money it will take to reach each of those goals and commit to expending the resources. Do you need to hire more help, or buy new equipment? Put that in the plan. Continue to fill in the variables you have in your circumstances until you see the whole picture. When will you have time off? Put that in. You have to have the details of the picture for it all to fit.

OK, here comes the hard part. Make your goals known to others. This will help you stay on track and be more committed. Tell the people you work with, your spouse, your mentor, and anyone else that will ask you how you are doing. If you have a franchise, tell your field representative your goal. Post your goals around the office, in your home office, on the refrigerator, anywhere you will be faced with them everyday.

Lastly, build in rewards along the way. Besides hating to tell people that you aren't doing what you said you would do, you need more incentive. Reward yourself with time off doing fun things, buying yourself something you have been wanting, whatever it is that motivates you.

The old saying "You don' t plan to fail, you fail to plan" has been around a long time because it is so true.

Paint a picture of your future, then make it come true.

Fran