We all want to get the new year off to a great start to make it more successful than the last. Follow these quick, simple tips to make sure you are going into the new year with ease. We make this simple and quick so you aren’t spending a lot of time learning how to complete this project. We truly want to save you time so you have more time for faith, family, fun, and fitness.
The tools you will be using for this project are:
Your 90-Day Planning system with the SmartLife Push Journals.
Excel Spreadsheet
Laptop
Pen
I suggest setting aside at least 2 hours for this project. Make sure you have a workspace free of distraction and you are comfortable to be laser-focused. So grab your tea, put on some soothing music on Spotify and let’s get started!
In an Excel calendar spreadsheet, type out major events for the upcoming year. You should have a tab for each month of the year with space at the bottom to write notes for that month. Include birthdays, anniversaries, vacations, school holidays, etc. If you create marketing content, be sure to write out themed days like National Siblings Day, etc. Knowing these types of national days will allow you to capitalize on the hype and popularity that day.
In your annual calendar spreadsheet, type out any launch dates for projects, promotions, courses, holiday sales, etc. This will allow you to start seeding for these events early on. You wouldn’t want to have a huge sale come up and only talk about it the day before.
Type in weekly tasks. If you write 1 blog per week or have team meetings every Monday, write this into your calendar. Any non-negotiables for the week should be written into your calendar so you don’t lose focus when life throws you curveballs. You will use this information to write in your PushJournal each month so include time each month and week to prepare in your PushJournal. More on this later.
In a different Excel spreadsheet, create a business budget and revenue projections. I like to list all of the business tools and memberships that I use to run my business. This includes website hosting, CRM systems, marketing budget, virtual assistant, business coaching, etc. Once I know how much it is going to take for me to run my business each month, I can use that information to reverse engineer how much I want to profit after expenses. If you have multiple streams of income like I do, separate each income stream into its own line item. I find this extremely helpful to look at each Sunday night to make sure I am on track with sales and not overspending on unnecessary business products or services. If you have been playing it small with your businesses and treating it more like a hobby, this is a MUST step to see growth.
Create a separate spreadsheet for business tools and resources shortcuts. I like to keep an inventory of all the affiliate links that I promote in one spreadsheet categorized by the brand it fits best with. I have a separate spreadsheet with a list of inspiring captions I want to use in social media posts. Whatever your business’s major assets, keep track of it in a spreadsheet.
Now that you have an idea of what your upcoming year will look like, let’s take it 30 days at a time. Grab your PushJournal and start watching the videos on how to set up your planner if this is your first time using it. The PushJournal comes in a set of 3 for a 90-day system. The videos that coincide with the PushJournal system will help you breakdown your calendar spreadsheet into 30-day increments. Next in your PushJournal, start writing in dates for major projects, goals, and non-negotiables for that month. Each month, you will spend a day planning out the next 30 days in your PushJournal and making sure it still aligns with your 12-month calendar spreadsheet. Expect to review your PushJournal each day to stay on track.
Start organizing your files on your laptop. Create folders for categories like business reports, email lists, social media images, marketing copy, etc. You will save time in the future knowing where to locate a file plus it will eliminate distractions that have you going down a rabbit hole. (Hint: You will also be able to easily access content that you can repurpose which will save you even more time in the future because you aren’t having to recreate content.)
Getting organized now will be a huge help in the new year. You will know which direction you are headed and identify major milestones you need to hit to reach your overall destination. While this will take some initial upfront work to knock out, in the long run, it will save you a lot of time. If you have a virtual assistant, this organization and planning will help you better delegate to them and reduce the time of you having to explain things.
After you have completed all this hard work, make a plan to look at the overall picture every Sunday evening before the start of your week. This is when you will review your weekly non-negotiables.
Set a few hours aside to do this and you will save days in the new year! Maybe even weeks.
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