2 Tips For Creating A One Year Growth Plan For Your Startup Business

25 April 2016
 Categories: , Blog


If you are just started out running your own business, you may decide it is time to create a one year plan for how your business will grow. However, you may be unsure of how to get started. If so, use the following tips for creating a growth plan for your business.

Make Realistic Goals For Your Business

The first thing you should do before creating your growth plan is to decide where you want your business to be a year from now. Sit down with a sheet of paper and a pen, or open your computer to a word processor, and start writing down what you want out of your company.

While picturing your goals, make sure they are realistic ones that are achievable. For example, you may want to be a millionaire by this time next year, but this may not be possible within the time between starting your business and a year from now. Instead, your goal may be to increase your sales by 25 to 50 percent each month.

Once you have made your goals, write down next to them a short plan of action for achieving them. Using the example above, steps may include advertising your business, joining the chamber of commerce to get your brand out, or giving loyal customers a discount card to keep them returning.

Set Milestones To Measure How Well You Are Doing

Once you have an idea of your yearly goals and a rough sketch of how to implement them, another step is to set milestones that measure how well you are doing. These could be weekly, monthly, quarterly or biannually, however often you feel will keep you on track. These milestones give you a chance to reflect on how well you have done so far, as well as make adjustments to bring your goals to fruition after a year.

For example, if your goal was to increase your sales by 25 percent per month, and you started handing out discount cards to loyal customers, you may have seen only a 15 percent increase in your sales. For the next milestone period, you may decide to place advertisements in your local newspaper.

Using the tips above can help get you started on planning out how to grow your business over the year. However, if you are still unsure of how to devise and implement your plan, you may want to contact a strategic growth consulting firm to discuss various plans and options for your particular business.   


Share