It’s that time of year again. You know the time that you’re still thinking about the year ahead and how you can do things differently to last year. Then you realise that it’s already the middle of February and in no time at all a quarter of the year will be gone!

I have spent a lot of time in the last couple of months really thinking about the direction I want to take the business in and how I can go about it.

At the end of last year I was convinced that the answer to all my stress and lack of time was to get staff. I started to put the process of creating systems and procedures in place with my VA and thought that I’d come back in 2010 frantically searching for people to take things off my hands.

Instead, Bronwen from http://www.thevirtualassistant.com.au/ started scheduling and organising me within an inch of my life and, it became apparent that my biggest problem was lack of organisation. And, with a small amount of discipline, which she’s very good at, I am managing to keep on top of things and put time into making it grow.

I have come to realise that there a few other things I need to put into place before I go down the path of staff, not least making sure that those systems and procedures are well in place, both on the internal business side and on the client side, but that necessity may be closer now that I have time to properly plan my next moves. Something that I really haven’t done at all, ever!

Not that I don’t know where I want the business to go. I have a very clear vision in my mind of the kind of business I want to end up with. But, that’s big picture stuff. You know corner office, picture windows, overlooking the Bridge from the north side, great team of talented bright young things, and a long list of fantastic rugby clients!

But, where’s my map to get me there. My next move certainly won’t take me to the gorgeous sandstone building in North Sydney that I picture as my office address one day. There are many other things to take into consideration such as whether it’s practical to be more than half an hour away from the kids’ school and the thousand activities I have to get them to in a week.

This is where I need to spend my focus now, and before any more of this year disappears. I need to know what my plans for business development are, how I’m going to address the issue of wanting to move into an office, whether it’s a viable option for the business and the steps I need to take to make sure that I’m way ahead at the end of the year. I’ve made a start already with Julia Bickerstaff’s book, How to bake a business. But actually getting that pen and paper out is already proving to be something that keeps being put on the back burner!

This month’s workshop, Writing your Business Plan, will be perfect for me, mainly because you actually get to start working on your plan there and then so it’ll take away that first procrastination that is inevitable every time you think about writing a business plan.

Until next time.

Karen

Karen Morris is the Working Womens Network media office. She runs Inscriptions Media, a copywriting and PR Consultancy, is a contributor to Flying Solo and is a wife and mother to three active boys. She loves life and work and has an insatiable appetite to learn all things new, especially all things 2.0.

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