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Spring has sprung, and with it, the usual flurry of spring cleaning. From organizing your closet to deep cleaning your kitchen, we're sure there's plenty for you to do. But we've got one more item to add to your list – spring clean your business plan.
If you're like most advisors, you spent some time at year end reflecting on your goals, both personal and professional. As a business owner, you likely took the time to break down your 2022 business objectives, examine your budget, and plan out the course of your calendar year. And while we applaud the effort you put in then, the best way to ensure that your yearly goals and plans are carried out accordingly is to check in on them every now and again. We recommend reviewing them quarterly, but ultimately whatever works best for you is the best way forward.
Spring, the season of budding flowers, rising temperatures, and fresh starts, is the ideal time to give your business plan the attention it deserves. Here are three ways to get started.
Review your progress
The best place to start is with the basics. Go back to those goals and objectives that you thought through at the start of the year and review the progress you’ve made. Make a highly organized business plan that includes overarching big-picture goals, quarterly goals, monthly goals, and even weekly goals. Breaking large goals into bitesize pieces makes them more attainable. If you were vague with your planning in December, it's not too late! Look at the progress you've made compared to the goals you still have ahead of you, and map out the rest of your year accordingly.
Tidy your records
Yes, part of spring cleaning your business plan involves scrubbing. Whether you're a paper person or your computer desktop is covered with files and documents, comb through your records and organize them. Not a naturally organized person? It's okay if your records get messy from time to time! But taking the time to tidy them up at least once a quarter is a great way to keep the task from feeling overwhelming. The biggest perk of organization is that, although it may take time to come up with a system, once you have it in place, it's a major time saver – no more digging through stacks of paper or sifting through emails.
Refresh your marketing strategy
We frequently stress the importance of marketing, but we understand that as an independent financial advisor you have other tasks that take precedence. As motivated as you may have been when putting together your marketing plan for the year, it's easy to let it fall by the wayside a few months in. Check in on your marketing efforts and take note of how well you are keeping up with your goals. How might you improve upon your efforts? Again, bite-sized goals are key. Challenge yourself to write one newsletter and two social media posts per month. Set a goal to sponsor a local event annually. Secure a speaking event to get visibility in your community. Even the smallest efforts add up to make a big difference.
Bridget Grimes and Katie Burke co-founded Equita Financial Network out of a need to fuel business success while empowering other women in the financial services industry. Equita became the first platform solely focused on women-led financial planning firms, designed to encourage women to make the leap into launching their own practice and provide solutions to support them every step of the way. Equita is a way for like-minded women to not only share resources and run their business at an affordable cost, but to also share ideas on everything from best practices to help with questions regarding client issues.
Equita Financial Network provides a supportive community of like-minded female financial advisors who drive each other to succeed. Interested in learning more about membership? Reach out to us today!
Advisor Perspectives welcomes guest contributions. The views presented here do not necessarily represent those of Advisor Perspectives.
