Trevor Mauch here, delighting Awesomely with some helpful mindset thoughts…
So, while driving down the road, I randomly recorded a podcast episode for my “Carrot Cast” audience that was really well received and resonated with more people than I expected. It was about the planning process that my business religiously executes at the end of every year — it really sets us up to hit home runs in the year ahead in all the ways that matter.
And, it’s not just the planning process for a business the size of ours with the success we get to enjoy today… it’s for any type of business or investor. How do I know? Because I’ve been doing it since way back when I was just a one-man show, doing REI all by lonesome out of my home.
So, for you to set up your year for success, heres’ a concise summary overview of the annual planning process my business uses to crush each and every year.
If you’re interested in downloading the original podcast recording, have at it:
Plan for success…
So, what’s my planning process? Well, annual planning for me originally was when I’d sit down for a cup of coffee, grab some paper and write some stuff down. It kind of worked.
But the problem was I really didn’t have a structure of framework that I could follow, which made sure that I thought about the right things.
So eventually my process evolved into what we do now: a 2-day planning retreat for the business, and I add a 1-day retreat for myself personally. I strongly encourage you to do both.
Now, if you’re a 1-person operation, amazing, you can probably wrap those into one day — first half business, second half personal.
And, no matter what, you need to pull away from your physical location. Don’t do this at your house. Don’t do it at your office. Get away from the clutter, filing cabinets, papers, messy desks. Ideally, it’s a spot that’s inspiring and where you can focus.
Structuring your retreat.
Ok, here’s how to structure the retreat and what type of things to focus on.
The first thing I do is celebrate the wins. Sure, there are things you didn’t accomplish no matter how big or small your operation, but you don’t want to start in a negative state about what you didn’t get done.
Even if you only nailed 1 of 6 things, celebrate the crap out of that one thing. And it doesn’t even have to be a metric… what if you or someone on your team made a big mindset shift? That’s a win to celebrate.
So, write those wins down, celebrate those wins, internalize them, have gratitude for them, because that’s where you need to be most of the time.
The S%!& exercise.
The next thing you’re going to do is something I call the mind-expanding shit exercise — yes, that’s literally written in our planning agenda.
If you have a team, here’s where you have them bring in their month-over-month budgeted targets vs. actual financials, which I then put together in a little slide deck and ask people about it during the presentation. What I’m looking for at this point is data that shows trends and tells a story.
When we look at the budget versus actuals, maybe it shows that someone had an amazing first 6 months, but your last 6 months were stagnant and then dipping. Perhaps a team member hit their deal number, but maybe 3/4 of those deals were the first half, and the last half was really hard, and it’s starting to go down.
That’s an issue, because now that goes into your threat column — that trend isn’t good. That needs to be one of the most important things your company focuses on for the next year. You’ll need to talk about the things that will reverse that trend.
So, look at all the trends and stories and see where you’re getting positive momentum, where you’re stagnant and where you’re falling backward — address them all.
Okay, so the mind-expanding shit exercise is when I do something called 10x thinking. We read the written company vision and discuss where we can take this company. And for all of the main things in the company to 10x, we consider:
- What would have to happen?
- What would the company look like OR what would the company need to look like?
- What would I need to look like as a leader or team member for revenue/deals/customers to increase 10 times?
- Would we need to add to our team?
- Would we need new systems?
- What would break?
- Would we need a board?
- Do we have any gaps in the company or our systems?
- Do we need a new marketing plan?
- Are there any milestones we need to include?
Write it all down and choose the most urgent items for the 10x exercise for the next year.
So, the first day of our planning retreat is reviewing work… the next day is the mind-expanding stuff. Where do we want to go? Expand it back out now we shrink it back down to Cook. Okay, cool.
Set objectives.
Next, do some math to figure out where you want to take this company… what some of the most critical metrics are… what percentage of growth you want and why it’s important to grow that much. You need reason behind every objective. It can’t just be a number.
And think outwardly, too: What contributions can you make in your communities?
For me, I want to create more capital to start investing in other companies to be a beacon for other entrepreneurs to create amazing socially conscious businesses that mean something but are highly profitable and really help make a big difference in the world.
See, I can’t make as big of a difference if I don’t continue to grow. I want my business to be about the impact, not the income. I want my business to be a massive contributor that adds humanity to the world.
I believe business isn’t something that drains your energy… it gives you energy. For me, business isn’t something that you chase, it’s something that helps to drive and fuel you — you don’t fuel it.
Your turn.
Ok, right now, plan your annual planning retreat. I’ve just laid it out for you!
Follow my process, so you can hit the reset button on your business, gain clarity and alignment with your team… and reenergize so you can head into the next year ready to make a massive impact.