Are you following along with Lent in preparation for Easter coming up or preparing for Passover celebrations? We haven’t talked about it on this blog at all yet this year but as we get much closer to both celebrations (Holy Week begins on Sunday for Christians/Catholics and Passover begins Wednesday), preparations are really kicking into high gear for many people. While not everyone does it, I do follow along with some practices and opportunities of Lent, so for the past 6 weeks I’ve been contemplating the events that happened historically next week and giving extra consideration to my faith as a whole. I’ve had some Lenten practices for quite a few years now, yet for some reason despite how busy and tiring this Lent season has been in my overall life, I’m feeling surprisingly at peace and ready to honor Holy Week and Easter.
What does this have to do with business? Yes, both of these holidays are huge business: you can’t miss the Easter candy in stores, can’t miss signs for egg hunts with many local groups, there are big signs outside churches sharing about their upcoming services, and every grocery store you go to has a section dedicated to foods for Passover. But what has stuck with me more this year is about the season of preparation I’ve been working through. Most business owners don’t wake up one day and buy a storefront or throw up a shingle sharing about their services or buy a whole bunch of stuff and start trying to sell it. No, most business owners think about it for weeks if not years and do research into what’s working and resources they need to be successful. And while there are some things you just can’t prepare for (a recession or global virus for example) the more prepared you can be both generally and daily, the more likely you will be successful.
So what does that look like? It could include having a clear to-do list with priorities for the next day that you write up at the end of the day. It could include dedicating time at the end of your day to send off emails with questions and things you need answered or done for things you will be doing tomorrow. It could include cleaning up, restocking shelves and reordering items before you close for the day. It could be having a weekly schedule for different tasks you do different days of the week to help your business run smoothly including specific people you touch base with each day or specific days each week. It could having a monthly plan and outline for your marketing so that you’re set up to go all month long instead of putting it off because you don’t know what to market.
Why is planning so important? Because it helps you be more aware of what’s going on, it helps you be on the same page as the rest of your team, it helps your team be in the loop with what’s going on in the business, it gives you an amount of peace with knowing that things should mostly run smoothly and you’ll have fewer fires to put out, it gives you the ability to plan for the future instead of just focusing on the present, and planning helps you meet and even exceed customer expectations because you’ll be able to deliver on time, as expected, consistently, and/or even early. So as we finish out another month I encourage you to incorporate more planning into your business so that you can have more peace and freedom and greater success as well.