A potential client enquiry lands in your inbox. Someone invites you to speak at an event. A collaboration opportunity comes up. A new idea pops into your head.
How do you decide which one deserves your time?
I LOVE a planning day where you take time out of the business to step back and prioritise your upcoming year, but equally important is what happens every day in your business.
Every week, the business owners I work with make lots of decisions: which projects to say yes to, which opportunities to pursue, which ideas to develop, how to spend limited time, and whether to launch something new or improve what they already offer.
Making those decisions is much harder if you’re not clear on where you’re heading.
When I talk about strategy, I’m not always talking about a detailed five-year plan. Sometimes it’s simply a handful of bullet points on a Post-it note next to your desk. This Post-it note can act as a reminder of where you’re heading so you don’t get pulled off track.
Read on to find out more about creating your own Post-It Note Strategy.
It doesn’t need to be complicated. Start by writing all your ideas onto individual Post-it Notes. If you can colour-code them by theme, even better.
Then organise them into rough timeframes:
- Next few months
- Next 12 months
- Two years
- Three years
You’ll probably realise that some ideas belong in a parking lot rather than on your immediate plan. I often suggest having both a short-term parking lot and a long-term parking lot, so you can capture ideas without feeling like you have to act on them immediately. You may also realise that some of them need to go to the scrap pile!
Once you’ve sorted everything, look at your ideas for three years’ time and ask yourself:
If everything went really well over the next three years, what would I want my business to be known for?
Choose the three things you most want your business to become known for.
For example:
- Moving from one-to-one services to group programmes
- Becoming known as a speaker in your industry
- Writing a book
- Building a product-based business
- Growing a team
- Working fewer hours whilst maintaining your income
That’s your Post-It Note strategy. It should be simple and easy to remember.
Now comes the important part. Everyday strategic decisions are the small choices that move you towards those three bullet points.
Imagine one of your goals is to become known as a speaker. A client enquiry lands in your inbox, but so does an invitation to give a talk. The client work may pay more today, but the talk might move you closer to your long-term goal. The strategic decision isn’t always the one that makes you the most money today. Sometimes it’s the one that creates more opportunities in the future.
Neither option is automatically right or wrong. The difference is that you’re making the decision intentionally rather than simply reacting.
The same idea applies when you’re deciding:
- Which client projects to accept
- Whether to invest in a training course
- What to focus on this week
- Which new offers to develop
- How to spend your marketing time
Without a strategy, every opportunity can feel equally important.
With a simple Post-it Note Strategy, you’ve got a filter that helps you decide where your time will have the greatest long-term impact.
These decisions may seem small, but they’re the ones that gradually shape your business.
One of the biggest benefits of working with a mentor or strategic sounding board is having someone who can keep bringing you back to your bigger picture (and help you figure out what it is in the first place!).
When you’re in the middle of running a business, it’s easy to become busy rather than intentional with your priorities. Having someone challenge your thinking, ask difficult questions and help you prioritise can make those everyday decisions much clearer.
If you’d like help turning your ideas into a clear business strategy (and making sure your everyday decisions support it) I’d love to help. Take a look at the different ways we can work together here, or book a free introductory call to see if we’re a good fit.
