Welcome back to the Strategic Planning series with Isabel Alexander. In this episode, Isabel delves into the crucial steps of creating a realistic strategic plan that goes beyond collecting dust. Join her journey as she breaks down the process, offering valuable insights and a modified methodology.

Show Notes:

1. SWOT Analysis:

   - Explore your organization's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats.

   - An honest assessment is essential for crafting a realistic strategic plan.

2. Action Plans and Incentives:

   - Establish milestones and celebrations to make the journey rewarding.

   - Set up action plans and incentives for yourself, your team, and your company.

3. Accountabilities and Communication Rhythm:

   - Appoint individuals accountable for specific goals, even if you're a solopreneur.

   - Establish a communication rhythm for reviewing progress, addressing issues, and ensuring alignment.

4. Celebrations:

   - Embrace the importance of celebrating achievements.

   - Fuel your energy and motivation by acknowledging and enjoying your successes.

Listen in as Isabel shares tips, experiences, and the joy of strategic planning success. 

About the Host:

 

Isabel Alexander

Your Next Business Strategist and Transformation Catalyst

 Isabel Alexander's journey from modest beginnings to global recognition epitomizes entrepreneurial resilience and innovation. With over five decades of experience spanning diverse industries, she has become a driving force in shaping economic landscapes worldwide. Noteworthy accomplishments include founding a multimillion-dollar global chemical wholesale business and earning accolades such as Canada's Top 100 Most Powerful Women.

As a mentor and advocate, Isabel empowers women entrepreneurs through initiatives like the Lift As You Climb Movement and podcasts, guiding them from startup to maturity. Serving as Chief Encore Officer of The Encore Catalyst, she dedicates herself to coaching and educating emerging entrepreneurs. Her involvement in organizations like RenegadesReinventing.com and Femme on Fire underscores her commitment to leadership and business development.

Additionally, Isabel's advisory roles with government bodies and trade associations, such as Chair of the Canadian Association of Importers & Exporters, highlight her influence in shaping trade policies and fostering international relations.

Driven by her mantra, "Lift As You Climb," Isabel embodies the ethos of mutual growth and empowerment. With dual citizenship in Canada and the United States, she values her extensive family and embraces global connections through travel and professional engagements. Isabel Alexander's narrative serves as a beacon of inspiration, illustrating how visionary leadership and strategic advising can drive global entrepreneurship and economic independence forward.

Founder:

Lift As You Climb Movement (www.facebook.com/groups/liftasyouclimbmovement)

and

Chief Encore Officer, The Encore Catalyst (www.theencorecatalyst.com) – an accelerator for feminine wisdom, influence, and impact.

also

Author & Speaker ‘Who Am I Now? – Feminine Wisdom Unmasked Uncensored’ https://whoaminowbook.com/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/isabelannalexander/

 

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To register for a coaching with Isabel

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Welcome back.

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I'm Isabel Alexander and we're continuing our series on strategic planning.

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If you have been following along the last, I don't know, four episodes, maybe

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five, I talked about why you should have a strategic plan as a woman business owner,

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as a solopreneur, small to medium sized business enterprise, and how to and I'm

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sharing my own journey, my own education, my evolution was falling in love with the

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process of having a strategic plan that is real, that works, that is something

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more than a piece of paper that gets shoved in a binder and collects dust.

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Recapping.

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We've talked in episodes about the importance of having a strategic plan,

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and I've been summarizing the steps that I went through personally learning

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about strategic planning when I hired a very expensive business consultant

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who brought a book to my boardroom called Mastering the Rockefeller Habits.

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The book is written by Verne Harnish.

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I'll link to that book, but before you get distracted and think, oh my god,

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another fucking book I have to read, I'm going to break it down for you.

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I'm going to continue to break down the steps, because I would

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like you to have the advantage.

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Thinking about percolating, as I say, why these steps are important

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and get your stuff collected in your head before you tackle it.

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And if tackling creating a strategic plan for your company is a little more than

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you're ready for the first time, or maybe you've created one in the past using

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a different methodology and it didn't prove to be worthwhile, reach out to me.

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I'd be very happy to talk to you about doing that because I have personal

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evidence on how AMAZING the results are, the impact is, when you know where you're

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going, and you have a map ahead of you, and you have measurable signposts along

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the way, that really mean something to you, and your team, and your stakeholders.

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So we've talked about core values, and the importance of that is a

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foundational piece and strategic plan, creating from those core values, your

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purpose and your mission, big, hairy, audacious goals, objectives, primary

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long term, medium term, short term, and way out there in the future.

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And we talked about creating measurability in terms of focus around monthly,

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quarterly, annually, whatever the cadence is that works for your business.

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I didn't mention before, but of course that means knowing how to create

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really implementable, successful goals.

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And that's a structure that is often called SMART goals.

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I've learned over time to modify that acronym and make it even more relevant.

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to our kind of business and success and our personalities

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as women business owners.

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I touched a little bit on KPIs and critical numbers, but I want to talk

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a little bit more about those again today because I don't think I gave them

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enough importance in the last episode.

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I cannot begin to stress how vitally, essentially, important it is to know

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your numbers as a business owner!

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You have to!

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As, as yucky as it may feel, as annoyingly irritating, time consuming,

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oh, I don't want to face the truth.

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You have to know your numbers, and you have to know the critical

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numbers for growth going forward.

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What are the things that are most important for your business?

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number of transactions, number of customers, dollars per sale

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lifetime value of customers.

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It's all very specific to your business and so I can't talk

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about that in generalities.

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I'd have to talk to you about what's most important, what's most relevant for you to

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measure, but what I can say is, you have to measure because if you don't know where

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you're going, you will not get there.

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And then one day you may find yourself at a place that is very unpleasant.

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Establishing metrics is very important and it makes it a lot more rewarding.

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Moving to today's content, the focus here is in terms of following this process or

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at least my modified methodology, the next steps are to learn about SWOT analysis.

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I don't know why my Zoom is making thumbs up here, so hopefully that made you smile,

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but thumbs up because SWOT analysis is extremely important in this process of

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creating a realistic strategic plan.

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The term SWOT is like I don't know, so old, it's grown a beard,

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but it's still very important.

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And that is to do a really honest assessment of what are your

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organization's strengths, what makes you different, unique, special, more

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valuable than anybody else similar?

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What are your weaknesses?

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Oh my God, what are your Achille's Heels?

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Where can circumstances, market whatever conditions Bite You In The Ass?

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Where Are The Opportunities That You Have Not yet explored but are possibilities?

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What are the threats to exploring those opportunities?

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And that's almost a full day, at least a couple of hours, session

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that I go through with my clients.

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Because the more you peel back the layers and The more you dig into those areas,

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the more there is to explore and consider.

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And so it's very important that you are guided through that process because

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you can't see what you don't see, when your nose is too close to the screen.

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So having somebody else be the facilitator of that conversation for you and be the

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scribe so that you're in flow and they're capturing it is extremely important.

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That's a tip I learned.

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So helpful to me.

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The next part of this beautiful formula with Verne Harnish's plan is

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setting up action plans and incentives, because there have to be rewards.

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Otherwise, it's just grueling and grind.

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Establishing for yourself and your team and your company, Milestones and

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celebrations are extremely important.

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I can't tell you how much fun I have with that and the currency return on

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that is with your team, with yourself.

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Because if we're just only ever working, and we're never celebrating,

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you know what happens with that!

Accountabilities: 00:08:59

establishing who is going to be the captain of

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that particular accountability;

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and it's tough if you are a solopreneur, cause you think, you

Accountabilities: 00:09:14

have to be the only one and you have to be responsible for everything.

Accountabilities: 00:09:20

That isn't going to work, sister.

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I got to tell you, you've got to appoint some other people to be

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captain of that particular squad.

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So if you don't have a team, you don't have employees or staff or

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contractors working for you, then think about who are the subcontractors, the

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service providers the technologies.

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That you can put in charge and be accountable for that

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particular goal, rock, process.

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Communication rhythm.

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That's another aspect of this process that really makes it work is establishing

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the rhythm of reviewing progress, addressing the issues, and making sure

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you're on track, ensuring alignment to your values, and why you established

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that goal, and do you still feel aligned with that, is that the right

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thing, or have circumstances changed?

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Oh my gosh, there's some great processes for small companies!

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One of my favorite memories when I think back to my company was our daily stand

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ups and the haka that we developed to get everybody pumped and energized for that.

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More on that when we talk in person

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The final part of all of this is It wouldn't be worth doing if it wasn't

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worth celebrating, because after all, if you're planning, that means that

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you have an intention to arrive at a destination, and when you arrive at that,

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you must celebrate it with all your might!

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Otherwise, you just don't have the energy, the propulsion, to keep going

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to the next level, the next summit.

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I believe that all of this put together, all of these points create a very

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successful formula and a how to create a meaningful and result oriented strategic

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plan for any company of any size, and I really encourage you to embrace this

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thinking and try it on for yourself.

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I look forward to hearing about your success and celebrating because I want

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to buy the dress for the gala where I'm showing up to celebrate your success.

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I am all about lifting and climbing and building success

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ladders for others and woohoo.

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I love a good party.

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Thanks.

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Talk to you soon.