Too often we hear about the importance of having a comprehensive business plan when you launch your business or enterprise. And all too often, we don’t have one.
Though I’ve been a full-time business owner since 1995, I’ve never had a full-fledged business plan like the one you’d take to the bank to try and get a loan.
Instead, I created and used a more simplified approach to planning in both my traditional business of nearly 20 years, and also with the direct selling business and team I was previously a part of for 9 years, as part of my business mix.
Using VGSA gives you a structure and a framework for the “think-through” work that often is the backbone of a successful, prosperous and growing business. It is can also be applied to your personal life or a special project, if you don’t want to apply it to a business or don’t have a business to apply it to.
V stands for VISION.
Forward into the future in your mind, describe what you envision for the project/idea/business. If you went to a theater to see a movie and it was starring “the desires of your heart and the fulfillment of the future reality of that project/idea/business,” describe what you’d be watching/seeing. A vision and goals are not the same, though we tend to treat them interchangeably. Goals have a dated timeline, are specific, and describe specific outcomes or ends. While the vision contains the goals and is the description of the “future reality” that you want to bring about. i.e. if you were a runner, and had a vision of completing a certain marathon, your movie would show you running the marathon, having great form, being cheered on my people on the sidelines, crossing the finish line with your arms raised triumphantly over your head, etc…..
G stands for GOALS.
A goal is a statement that has a timeline/date, a specific outcome/result to be produced or achieved, and includes a quantifiable component (i.e. dollars, numbers, etc.). i.e. if you were a runner, you might have a goal of running a certain distance within a certain number of minutes and seconds by a certain date. Or it you were on a new eating program, you might have the goal of releasing a certain number of pounds by a certain date, or establishing targets for certain body measurements by a certain timeframe.
S stands for STRATEGY.
Your strategy is a conscious, thoughtful approach for fulfilling on your goal(s). Using the above examples, your eating strategy to support the weight loss may include increasing your water intake two-fold; eating only live, whole colorful food; and eating by 7:30pm each night.
A stands for ACTION.
Specify the actual action steps for that support the execution of EACH strategy.
For if the strategy is to increase water intake two-fold, the supporting actions may include purchasing a 20-ounce water bottle that can be used in the car and at your desk and then filling it up and drinking it 4 times a day, starting with your first full bottle in the morning before you leave your house for the day. Your action might include writing out a grocery list and then purchasing your live, whole, colorful food at an organic market or specific grocery store.
See how it works and flows together? The key is to think it through and then WRITE it down. When you’re done, you have a workable, simplified strategic plan to follow.
