Planning for Business Success – Part 2

Adding More Content to My Business Planner

In my last Planning for Business Success post I discussed the steps I was taking to be more productive. 

Step 3 was setting up my business planner. I finished the editorial calendar for July, but my planner was lacking a lot of vital information.

How do I want my work days to flow? What do I need to accomplish every day? What goals will I want to reach in the next 90 days? What steps do I need to remember when publishing a blog post, or video?

Inspiration Needed

I wanted to make sure all of this was spelled out in my planner. Of course, the first place I look for inspiration is YouTube, followed closely by Pinterest.

I can not recommend enough checking out BohoBerry on YouTube, if you need some productivity inspiration. She primarily uses the bullet journal system, but she has lots of inspiration for everyone.

90 Day Goals

First things first, I needed some 90 Day Goals. I decided to keep it simple, and stick to three main goals. Of course I needed to make the page pretty, and it needed to have an inspirational quote.  I set my goals, and added the steps I wanted to take to insure I reach my goals. 

My Ideal Work Schedule

 

Next, I wanted an Ideal Schedule page showing how I want my days to flow. Since putting this page together I realized that I needed some help staying focused. A gentleman happened to pop up in my YouTube feed talking about just that. His channel is Thomas Frank, he focuses on study skills, but has lots of good content on staying motivated and focused. He recommended the Tide app. and I’m giving it a try. 

An App to Help me Focus

The Tide app. lets you set a timer of sorts for the amount of time you would like to stay focused. You aren’t still trying to multi-task, are you? If you break your focus to check a message, pop in on Facebook, answer your phone, etc you fail. No one likes to fail, but more importantly it helps you realize just how often you lose focus during a time when you need to get the important stuff done.

So, I have my ideal work day mapped out, I’ve set my three 90 day goals, and I have a nifty new tool to help me stay focused. What’s next? I need to set a weekly work schedule that will take into account  my other commitments. 

The Weekly Schedule

My weekly schedule needs to include the other commitments I have, and the hours I intend to focus on my business. I also need a side bar with my to do list for the week. I have broken mine down into different categories: YouTube/Blog, Admin Stuff, and Reading and Learning. 

Every weekend, usually on Sunday, I take the time to write up my weekly to do list. This will all go on the weekly side bar section in this new planner. 

Every day is broken down with the hours I intend to work, and the commitments I need to work around. I will be taking some time at the end of each day to review what I accomplished, and what needs to be accomplished the next day. 

In the past I have made the mistake of trying to fill in my entire week on a Sunday night. It rarely works. Someone will need my help with something, an appointment will get moved, or I over-estimate how much I can accomplish on Monday, and now need to move some items to Tuesday. 

In my weekly view I wanted to have a list of the things I need to do after filming a video, or writing a blog post. The process of filming, or writing, content is not the end. There is editing to be done, links and pictures need to be added. and you need to share your content so others can actually find it. 

A Day Off

I also intentionally added a day off to my weekly schedule. Since I work from home it can be as easy to find myself working every day, as it is to get distracted when I should be working. The pull of a new idea when I really need to write a grocery list so there will be food in the house, is just as strong as remembering I need to call the insurance company while I’m writing a blog post. Of course, maybe this is just my adult ADD brain, but I doubt it.

How It All Came Together

If you want to see a flip through of my, very girly, business planner so far, check out the video. If you enjoy this video, please subscribe to my YouTube channel so that you don’t miss my future videos.

 

More to Come

This planner, as with most efforts to be more productive, will be a work in progress. I will check in from time to time, and let you all know how things are going. 

Stay tuned for Part 3.

Dedra