Last week we did a Year-end Review and took a look at what happened in our business this past wedding season. We wrote down and reflected on what went well and what didn’t go so well. This week, it’s time to take what we discovered to plan for next year!
Keep reading for your free Annual Planning Template!
Before we go over the steps for our Annual Planning, I want to briefly outline why it’s important to do an Annual Planning because often, wedding floral designers skip this part! I didn’t do this for too many years. I was never a New Years Resolutions gal, so I never understood why I needed to do Annual Planning for my business. I just went with the flow and did what I thought was good as I tried to navigate the new year. Because of this, I kept going around in circles, I never took the right steps to improve and to grow my business.
Why It’s Important to Do Annual Planning for Your Wedding Business
- Annual planning helps you prioritize what’s most important for your business
- It gives your business a roadmap to success
- With this roadmap, it gives your business direction
- Annual planning defines your objectives
- It gives you measurable goals
- It gives you control over your business
- It allows your team to get onboard and be on the same page as you
Download your Annual Planning Template and let’s create a roadmap to success for your wedding floral design business for next year.
Why Are You in Business?
First things first, WHY are you in business? What is your WHY? or WHO is your why? What is your motivation to be in business? Once we’re very clear on this, this is our push to keep going and keep showing up even when the days are tough.
For me, I love to be able to set my own schedule (if done right, of course, a lot of business owners work even more than a full-time 9 to 5 job). I am not the type to have to report to a certain location (office) at a certain time (9am) every day! No thanks! After I had my son, HE is the biggest reason I keep going and he’s the one who pushes me to keep showing up, keep evolving and keep doing better.
- What is your why?
- Who is your why?
- Has your why changed since day 1 being in business?
- Is this what you really enjoy doing?
- If you didn’t have any worries in life, would you still be in business and do what you’re doing now, i.e. being a wedding floral designer?
Look Back on Your Year-end Review
If you haven’t already done your Year-end Review, do that before you do your Annual Planning for 2022.
These were the categories we looked at last week:
- Business
- Personal
- Spiritual
- Health
- Education
- Financial
For each category, the things that went well, ask yourself:
- What went well?
- How did you do it? How did it happen?
- How can it be repeated?
- Are they money-making activities? Double down on them next year
For the things that didn’t go so well, ask yourself:
- What didn’t go so well?
- Why did it not go so well? What happened?
- How can you not have that repeated?
- What do I need to change/adjust?
- What is a better way of doing it?
- Do I need to invest or find help to do it better?
Now, Set SMART Goals
Now in each category, set 1 to 3 top goals you want to work on per quarter (every three months). These goals should be SMART goals. Take these points into consideration when you set the goals.
S – Specific
M – Measurable
A – Actionable and Achievable
R – Realistic, Relevant and Results-oriented
T – Time frame
Example of a SMART Goal
Let me give you an example!
If you go back to my previous blogpost to see some of the things I wrote down for my own business reviews, you’ll see that one of the things I didn’t do so well on was “Not sending out client thank you cards right away after their weddings”. I believe this is very important to get right for my client’s experience and journey so I’m going to set a SMART goal for this.
Example of a bad SMART goal: I want to send client thank you cards
Example of a good SMART goal: I want to send out client thank you cards within one or two days after their wedding with the QR code to my Google Review printed in the card. I will purchase 30 thank you cards for 2022 by March 31 and pre-write all of my current clients’ addresses on the envelopes by April 15. I will also purchase the stamps by April 15 and pre-stamp the envelopes. First thing on the Monday after a wedding weekend, I will write the thank you card and give it to my assistant to mail it out by Tuesday.
See this blogpost for more about setting SMART & CLEAR goals for your wedding flower business.
Now it’s your turn!
Cheering you on!
