Build a 30-60-90 day plan

"Reduce your plan to writing.  The moment you complete this, you will have definitely given concrete form to the intangible desire."                                                                ~Napoleon Hill

Quite some time ago, I wrote about how to write a business plan.  This time, I want to touch on a critical part of the Business Plan:  your 30-60-90 day plan.  The basics to writing a business plan can be found in a multitude of places.  Government website, Slideshare, and Google and Slideshare provide you with oodles of samples to get this part of your Business Plan nailed.  If you are planning to launch a start up business, a leadership venture, a new job or a sales territory, you need to map out what you will get done.

Source:  Slideshare

The 30-60-90 day plan takes the time to map out what you plan to tackle first, later, and down the road.  It is a living document that is reviewed constantly, updated continuously and referred to habitually.  

This of it as your first day on the job, in a new role, taking on a project, or a division, or launching a new project of service.  It doesn't magically happen over night.  Your plan allows you to stay on track and disregard activities that can distract you from achieving more in less time.  

It isn't unusual to stumble upon something that you hadn't accounted for that will delay your schedule.  If you assign a time line, you will easily see whether you are on target, falling behind or way behind. 

 Sometimes delays are good. They tell you that your timeline was unrealistic, some tasks took a lot longer than anticipated due to holidays,labor shortages, materials not ordered, policies not factored in, purchasing requirements not met, inventory short falls, delivery channels taking longer or any other roadblocks.

Going through this exercise may mean that there is an important criteria or function that was completely left out.  It could mean you have to scratch out everything you have done/set out to do so far and begin anew.  Don't through out the original one because it may be needed later on or the tasks are more applicable now in this new one.

You're starting to see the picture.  You cannot successfully launch, start, implement, purchase anything if you haven't accounted for requirements necessary to meet your goals.

Slideshare is a great online resource.  It is a subsidy of Linked In.  Although you may pass over it because you think you are a master powerpoint creator, the nuggets there include great templates to follow as you are creating your own.

All you need to start with is a spreadsheet in .xls with three columns:

1. 30 days- what will you accomplish within the first 30 days, factoring in scheduled weekly meetings, holidays
2. 60 days - are the items you will discover while completing the first 30 days.
3. 90 days is the finish line - this may be something you start with and then work backwards.

"A goal properly set is halfway reached."
                                 ~Abraham Lincoln

I'm a fan of starting out with what I want to end up accomplishing.  So you can write your final goal under the 90-day column and then work backwards. 

As you start to find out what will be required, whether it be funds, personnel, budget, activity, training.  It becomes easier to recognize how long it should take you to finish one task.  

When you find out that some tasks are going to take longer, it is simply a matter of moving it from the 30 days to the 60 days, but not without out tracking the tasks or requirements in the first 30 days to get started.

I found this example on Slide Share to give you a head start and emphasize how easy it is to lay it out and then start getting to work.  This roadmap is designed for sales, however, it can be adapted to launch a business, product, sales coverage, distribution channels, etc.

Everyone can promise rainbows and miracles but the true professionals can outline how they are going to get the job down.

This doesn't have to be difficult.  You can start out with one or two bullets on each column.  I promise as you start to work through to the final result:  your goal; you will be adding, removing, postponing and recalculating just about everything when you dig in and work your plan.

"A good plan today is better than a perfect plan tomorrow.                                                       ~George S. Patton

Selling BULL**** and whoppers

"With integrity you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide.  With integrity, you will do the right thing, so you have no guilt."                                                                              ~Zig Ziglar

Hi former Sales Manager

You must be REALLY important to me because news landed center page, not just a corner in the top right hand side of my Linked In page!

Well, you are, damn it (ah, excuse me, darn it). Who saw this young blonde bimbette actually packed a solid punch on delivering what she said she would (or make up for times you said "we would" in front of my biggest, happiest clients).

Yeah, those times, you impersonated Bill Gates, your hero and go from zero to instant vision faster than I can hit SEND button on my Smartphone (Apple and Samsung are fighting over name placement on this article so you may see some editing happening later on).

Come to think of it ... who REALLY taught me the art of telling BULL**** stories that knock prospects off their thrones not because of the whoppers, but because we had to figure out how to deliver on that bull**** that actually amounted into something.

Remember, teaching me about how to respond to RFPs? It went something like, let's go for a beer and talk. I may have not recorded anything but they left me a lasting impression. Yeah, those were the days, where you figured out how to really flip out the competitors by promising something so ludicrous that even they couldn't assemble enough talent in droves to try to make meet expectations that insurmountable you gave in your pinky finger.

So what's happening now? Have you forgotten you are Canadian!!! Or, are you trying to turn Calgary CANADA into the Seattle of the great Canadian northwest?  We could sure use an infusion of something other than our declining Canadian dollar. Not to mention, because we only whisper about it now in Calgary, or else we may get bitten by the disease called "FALLING OIL PRICES".

Well, listen to this ... if it ain't the most amazing yet amusing coincidence ........ my youngest daughter's diztziest friend is working at our biggest competitor from back in the day. If I had it confirmed years ago, what you already suspected, that our competitors would become so distracted battling those extreme promises they came up against from us, they all turned or were already pot heads.

Now I think about it. Drugs wasn't in our vocabulary nor did it invade our lives or workplaces. We were just beyond-kids-old-enough-to-have-them characters building the dream. Yeah, big commission cheques, awards, free travel and corporate celebrity status from the numbers posted. I think Canada really jumped out on the scoreboard and some of the regulars bumped their heads.

I don't want to get you too antsy when I have to tell you that that ditzy friend of my daughter's I was telling you about? Well, she went to a prominent institute (insert name upon payola) and, like me, learned from the best. Who you reckon? Well, BeanoCappicino, yeah you guessed it. Imagine that, Beano teaching our youth on the ways of the world. Amazing, profound way she has of touching people, pushing them, and making them remarkable contributors in our society.

No problemo, I am barely mentioning that they're only 20 years (OK, so almost 30) younger than us. They don't  have mountains to climb, lions to slay, and be on forefront of the internet curve.  They can Google or ask "Suri" anything deployed instantaneously.  I admire their confidence.

That reminds me of your "don't ask for permission, ask for forgiveness" rule of management? All because those memos from the Ivory Tower in overnight courier bags were going three cities daily. Little did anyone of us know that instead of having a pile of unopened envelopes, unfolded memos, piling up on your desk ... if people e-mailed you, they couldn't tell that you just hit DELETE without reading!  Yes, you were a rebellious visionary.  You have that in common with Steve Jobs, except with the shower and shoes.

I truly do wish you all the best in your new venture. Even if I wonder if the tales get taller or the tails get longer?

Well, if truth be told, you did teach me a lot.  Primarily, if you are going to promise bull**** you better be sure it can be delivered.  Admittedly, I felt safer under promising and over delivering.  Then again, you certainly pushed me outside my comfort zone to realize sometimes a little B.S. can catch a customer's attention!

Continued success,

Jeannette

"The supreme quality of leadership is unquestionably integrity.  Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office."                                                                                                         ~Dwight D. Eisenhower

Networth, self-worth, share-worth

Have you ever noticed (with the exception of a very few  only share their OWN stuff, post, share, photo, info and rarely acknowledge others unless it is within in their own post, share?  

I'm discovering who those people are now and debating the worthiness of keeping them in my sphere of  people because selfishness, self-promotion and ego are not  I enjoy being associated with. 

 I wonder if those same people even will read this and a light bulb go off in their heads, so wrapped up in their own messages/images that they cannot see the trees due to the forest they are crowded in.  I guess social media has made me skeptical in a few instances.  Thankfully, there are so many endless possibilities that one can't help continue to be optimistic on one's quest for knowledge at their fingertips.

The perfect example that seems to be working is Donald Trump.  It appears that this approach is considered not arrogant but earned, met with optimism rather than skepticism.  Why would these people help others when they are so wrapped up in their own agenda of helping themselves?

Even if I don't unfollow because I may get a minimal like on my comment or share, I will continue to monitor this trend I've uncovered.  You, yourself, may have wondered yourself.  As a newborn social media enthusiast, not quite at the doorstep of deemed an influencer, you probably follow far more others than they follow you.  Don't worry, I "get" that you perhaps consider their posts, tweets, and the LIKE on the many platforms worthy of sharing with your own tribe on your own journey of self-discovery which often results in influence.  Almost by accident.  Ironically.

I am debating to shelve these people and put them back in the fold like so many others like us.  Taking the chance that their information will float into our sphere.  Certainly, the intuitiveness of Google, Facebook are starting to float them before us more frequently as we demonstrate a keenness in that particular topic or information trend.

I will tell you a BIG known secret:  these people are being told that they have merit.  Absolutely by volumes of followers, amount of shares and even invitations to write or use their talents for brands still behind trying to cope with this fantastic forum of freedom of expression.

Image courtesy of:  slidehunter.com

Upward Sloping Curve Template for PowerPoint

With social media still in its infancy, the cycle or the curve is still on the upswing.  History has proven that the most successful are at the early stage of the upswing and others written about and studied to learn from as they plummet on the inevitable downswing.  Staying relevant will determine the speed of which you decline.  It may take you much longer to get to the top of the curve, but the odds are the longer it takes you to climb the mountain, the more likely it will be that you will float behind those nose diving downward.

I would say those unaware will get caught offguard like the forefathers of vision who end up on the cutting room floor of education, documentaries and so on.  Books, accolades and history will bare witness to the ones who stayed hungry and humble without losing sight of their beginnings as a lingering taste to remind them.

Donald Trump, for President? Does net-worth, self-worth spell vote worthy?

You don't have to follow those people that boosts their positions, egos and fame.  You will see them enough as they cloud the web waves of domination.  Like Trump, they are always there as a continuous reminder that they are.  

I've decided to remain humble and hungry.  I want to climb strongly, steadily and float when the curve declines to be on the ready for the next force to be reckoned with.  I thank you for allowing me to be your captain as you read my blog, to be your guide.

SIDEBAR:  Do you ever happen to notice that whatever press con-ference or media opportunity Donald Trump is pounding his importance on, his wife doesn't walk beside him like she is his partner, but behind him.  It may communicate that he considers few men or women are worthy to walk beside him.  That is a fairly predictable personality pinpoint that foreshadows what his true character may be.