Business Growth Tips For Mindful Business Planning
The Studio 77 business approach is a little bit different from your classic business model, and today I’m going to take you through some of the ‘non-businessy’ ways that I plan and manifest the business.
Whilst I use the classic business methods like goal setting, marketing planning and design sprints, I also run Studio 77 with a more holistic approach in mind. So in today’s blog we’re going to talk about the power of planning, manifesting and creating a clear vision for your business without writing pages and pages of boring business plans.
Just as a caveat, I do think business plans are important for businesses that are aiming to get investment and looking many years into the future, but for a web design company like Studio 77, I prefer to use my more fun ways of planning…
Create A Vision Board For Your Business
The first step to manifesting is having a clear vision, and one great way to translate your vision into reality is to create a vision board. For those of you unfamiliar with vision boards, they’re a board where you put on all the things that you want to achieve or manifest in the year.
Every January I create a vision board with photos and words cut out of magazines, I put on things that I’d like to achieve that year. Whether it be a client or an industry I’d like to work with, or places I’d like to travel to with the business, or even items or things that I want in my life, whether it be a cute dog, or a fancy pair of earrings, you can tailor your vision board to your deepest desires!
“We don’t spend enough time asking ourselves what we want to achieve and have in our lives, and if we don’t know what we want, then it’s even harder to achieve it.”
It’s a really fun Sunday afternoon task, carving out the time in your diary to look introspectively and think about what you really want from your business or your life. We don’t spend enough time asking ourselves what we want to achieve and have in our lives, and if we don’t know what we want, then it’s even harder to achieve it.
Once you’ve made your vision board, put it somewhere where you’re going to see it. Seeing it every day, subconsciously builds it into you that that's what you want to do, so you actively start looking for things to make your vision come true. You’ll start seeing ‘that thing’ you put on your vision board everywhere, and start to realise that it’s actually way more achievable than you thought it was in the first place.
I try and change my vision board once or twice a year, as the things I want to manifest either happen, or the things I wanted to manifest become no longer relevant to what I want to achieve!
Combine Your Vision Board With Planning
So we can’t just stick our vision boards up, stare at them and expect magical things to happen. We now need to take action to make our vision board become a reality, enter: planning.
Look at your vision board and translate those things that you want to manifest into goals and then break them down. For example, I have my year goals, which I break down into quarterly goals, which I break down into monthly goals, which I then break down into weekly tasks. Sitting down and doing this, takes a couple of hours, so again, you’ll need to carve out time into your diary to organise your dreams. But by investing two or three hours into what you’re going to do in the next three months, saves you a heap of time in the long run.
“When you look long term into the future, it can seem quite scary, but when you break it down step by step into these little bite-sized bits, it makes it much more achievable and easier for you to get to where you want to be.”
When you look long term into the future, it can seem quite scary, but when you break it down step by step into these little bite-sized bits, it makes it much more achievable and easier for you to get to where you want to be.
When you combine the powers of manifesting and visualisation with some form of planning, it just really helps bring all of those ideas to fruition because you're just so in it. You're so committed to it that you will actively always look for those opportunities that are going to get you to where you want to be.
Don't just put the vision board up and let it stew, you have to actually put it into what you're doing on a daily, and weekly basis so that you can achieve your goals, otherwise they do end up just being pictures on a board.
Create Affirmations
In order to manifest, you have to be the type of person that is able to create what you need, and this is where affirmations come in.
Affirmations are ‘I am’ statements written in the present tense, expressing what you are. For example, ‘I am a great business woman’, or ‘I am making healthy choices everyday.’
Imagine you want to be an influencer, but you see yourself as someone who can't get any followers or can't build a buzz around yourself. You see yourself in one place, but you're trying to get to another place. How are you going to get to where you want be? You have to affirm, you have to elevate yourself.
Say “I am positively influencing those around me” or “I do have influence”, and as you start to say those things, you start to believe them. You'll be closer to the status that you want to be at because people will start seeing you the way that you see yourself. We are what we say we are, so we need to be careful with how we use our words when we speak to ourselves.
“You’ll be closer to the status that you want to be at because people will start seeing you the way that you see yourself. ”
We often accidentally negatively affirm ourselves without even knowing it. I’m sure you’ve been guilty of saying things like, “Oh, I'm so stupid” or, “Oh, I'm not good at that” or, “Oh, I'll never be able to do that.” If you tell yourself that over and over again, then of course you're not going to be able to do that.
We need to be mindful about the way we speak to ourselves, we wouldn't say the stuff that we tell ourselves to somebody else. I'd never tell someone, “You’re not good at that.” Or “you’re so stupid” We've got to stop saying that these negative things to ourselves.
Try writing down five affirmations, that you can say to yourself every morning as soon as you wake up, and see what effect it has on your day.
Celebrate The Small Wins
As a solo business owners, it’s easy to overlook, and even forget, to celebrate the small wins that we have everyday. We often celebrate the big wins like, booking in a new client, or securing that retainer contract, but there are so many small things that go uncelebrated in small businesses, but not for much longer!
I write down one small thing everyday that I am proud of achieving, whether it be something along the lines of, ‘I received some lovely feedback from a client’, or ‘I finished all my work by 6pm’. Sometimes the win is as small as ‘I replied to all my emails today’
“By celebrating the small wins, we enhance our self-confidence, increase our motivation and feel more successful – because we are!”
By noticing and celebrating the small wins, we start to feel happier, and we fall in love with that we’re doing even more! It enhances our self-confidence, increase our motivation and makes us feel successful – because we are!
Implement these holistic approaches to your business and you’ll be surprised of what comes your way when you’re focused on achieving your goals.
One final piece of advice, when you’re manifesting, you just have to be ready to accept and have your eyes open for all the opportunities that are around you, because they’ll be coming at you thick and fast!
