The 2015 business plan

I've been working on my 2015 business plan lately.

I'm going to be making significant changes beginning next year* (probably late spring or early summer), and the plan I'm developing is a major part of it.

In fact, I'm (sort of) developing two business plans for the year since the first portion of the year will be continuing what I'm doing now, and the second portion of the year will be a major shift.

I've never had a "real" business plan, though I've always had objectives and plans to achieve them. But with the shift in my work in 2015 (and what that change will mean from behind the scenes), it's important to have something significantly more formalized.

So I'm working on tweaking my mission statement and value proposition, doing market research, and thinking about all I'm going to need to make this change happen successfully.

I was hopeful that I'd be able to launch the change at the beginning of 2015, but because of all that's involved, later in the year works much better. I'll be able to unveil everything by the end of July.

In the meantime, there's a lot of administrative work going on in between projects for clients, and I'll have my business plan in my files by the end of next month.

Is it time for Thanksgiving break yet?






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*I'm not ready to talk about the change that's coming. Yet. But I will give you a hint: it's going back to doing some of what I loved about the office job I had before I moved back to Florida.

Bringing 2013 to a close



We're in the last little stretch of 2013 now. November and December always seem to go by quickly, so I've been thinking lately about closing out the year (in terms of writing) and preparing for 2014.

I'm excited about 2014. I have big plans for my career in freelancing as well as fiction, and I know that planning ahead will help me achieve the goals I've set for myself, and pushing ahead to bigger and better things for my family and myself.

So as I'm getting my paperwork organized to file away for 2013, I'm looking ahead to my business plan, goals, and expectations for 2014. What do I want to change? What should stay the same? How can I make sure that 2014 is a better year than 2013 was?

Over the next two months, I'm going to take some time to finalize my 2014 business plan. Having a written plan helps me stay focused on what I want to accomplish, and it allows me to take what's there to write actionable goals for each month as we go through the year. Plus, it reminds me that my work is a legitimate business and not just a hobby or something I do only for fun.

When you're self-employed, having a business plan year-to-year helps you keep track of what you have to do each month. For example, when I set my goal for my 2014 income, I'll be able to break that down into a monthly income, a weekly income, and a daily income, so I'll know exactly how much work I need to do each day to hit my goal. The same is true with bringing in new clients. If I want to sign (for example) twelve new clients in 2014, I know I need to sign at least one every month.

Then, at the end of each month, I'll compare what I did with what my goals/expectations were so I can evaluate how the year is going and make any changes that are needed.

Do you have a business plan in mind for next year? What are your personal and professional goals for 2014?

Back in the office....

The last couple of weeks have been hectic. I had a lot going on in my work and personal lives, so I didn't blog as much as I'd have liked to. Sorry about that.

But I am getting back into my "normal" routine this week. I know that my routine could very well change soon, but I'll deal with that when/if it arises. In the meantime, I need some semblance of normalcy.

I was actually out of the state on Wednesday and Thursday last week. I had some personal business to take care of in Florida, so I flew down on Wednesday evening, took care of the business on Thursday afternoon, and flew home Thursday evening. It was a bit of a whirlwind trip, but very, very productive in terms of what I needed to accomplish. I'm really, really happy with how things turned out for a lot of reasons. (Vague, I know. Sorry.)

Anyway, because the trip was so short and because I wasn't checking any baggage for the flight, I decided not to bring any work with me. I just brought what I needed for Thursday (and my journal--come on... I'm not a savage), and left everything else to wait until Friday morning. I figured that if there was something that came up, I still had email access, so I could deal with it as much as possible remotely, and get to the rest of it when I got home. Thankfully, nothing came up.

It was very strange being fully out of the office for those couple of days, though. Since 2008 I've been a freelance writer from home. That means that even when I'm "out of the office," I can keep working, take stuff with me, and never really be on vacation. But I didn't take any work with me on this trip. So I had time to do some journaling--which I really needed--and I even listened to part of an audiobook on the flights. I watched TV in the hotel room. I people-watched. It was strangely wonderful.

If I am offered full-time opportunity I applied to in May, this will be more like my life. Yes, there will be times I'll be working outside of normal work hours, but overall, I'll have a more "normal" work schedule. I'll be able to make plans with the kids or with friends for the weekends. I won't have to think about work 24/7. (Okay, let's be honest. When it comes to writing/work, I'm going to think about it pretty much all the time. But you know what I mean.) It will be strangely wonderful.

That's one of the things I miss about working at my alma mater in Admissions marketing. I got to do what I loved, but I had the ability to end my day.

Well, I survived being fully out of the office for two days, and now I'm fully back in the office. I have about nine projects on my desk I'm working on (I'd love to get at least half of them done this week!), and there's the whole updating-my-calendar thing that desperately needs to be done, too. It's going to be a busy start to a busy week, but I sure am glad to be home!

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