Beginning at the Finish Worksheet

byTCPublisher

128 followers

6 years ago

If you want to get somewhere you firstly need to know where it is you want to go. Obvious really, but something that is often forgotten when starting a business, or when the business gathers initial momentum and you get really busy with day to day operations.

My own perspective is that up to now I have busy doing, without enough direction or purpose and hence my “start over”. I realise I need to treat this as a business, not a hobby. This blog reflects that as I decided to give my forward planning a bit more structure – to be more strategic.

As the Chesire Cat said to Alice – “if you don’t know where you are going, any road will get you there.” Or the opposite view from Yogi Berra of the New York Yankees – “You’ve got to be very careful if you don’t know where you are going, because you might not get there.”

I am also mindful of the reality that if you spend all your time thinking and planning, you will achieve very little. Action is the key ingredient, and a poor plan vigorously executed will beat a great plan that never gets any momentum.

As part of my strategic management consulting business, I would often take clients through a vision formulation process. The essence of this is to know what business you are in, who for, how you can be better than the opposition and what your vision (or long term goal) is.

To help me create a better foundation for my on-line business, I have adapted this process into a new worksheet. I am calling this “Beginning at the Finish”.

The philosophy is that once we have a broad direction in mind, it is easier to then break this down into smaller milestones along the way. This really is the heart of strategy.

Sounds straightforward, but as usual, nothing is as simple as it sounds.

The following is the blank worksheet I have developed and used.

I hope anyone who reads this finds the worksheet useful.

“Beginning at the Finish” Worksheet

Strategic Vision and Purpose for Business Owners

“If you don’t know where you’re going – be careful, you might not get there.”
Yogi Berra (New York Yankees)

This worksheet is intended to guide new affiliate marketers through the strategic thinking process of building a successful business. A focus on longer-term goals and the alignment of daily and weekly activity to relevant milestones is a critical element of success.
This worksheet should be reviewed on an annual basis, and if you have a number of niche sites, completing a separate version for each site will be instructive and help keep you focused.

Part I: Purpose

1. Why did you start this business? Why did you choose Affiliate Marketing?

Typically, this is to make money, but what else motivated you? e.g. additional income, to leave a job you don’t like, to build a retirement nest egg. There are many reasons, but as the business progresses, it is easy to lose sight of these.








2. What does the business do? What niche do you operate in, and customer needs does it fulfill?

Every business exists and prospers because its customers have a need (or want) for its products or services. Be clear about not just what core customer needs you meet, but also what alternatives exist.

Part II: Customers

3. Who are your customers?

How do you describe your typical customer, who needs your products or services the most? What segments exist?








4. Why should they do business with you?

How will you meet their needs better than others? What type of feedback would you like to receive? How would you like them to talk about your business to their friends? This is about competitive advantage.

Part III: Vision

5. What does success look like to you?

How will you know you have achieved what you hoped for? This section is as much about the dream as it is the goals that you strive to meet along the way.

Part IV: Expectations

6. What are your income expectations?

No one wants to work for nothing – so a comparison with your current (or latest) income earning should be a minimum base – e.g. if you are on a wage of $50k p.a., this equates to roughly $30 per hour. A typical start up business will lose money until it builds its customer base. We suggest keeping track of the hours you spend on the business and charge them at your hourly rate. You might need to put in hundreds of hours before you see a return, but if you shouldn’t be spending thousands of hours to earn hundreds of dollars.






7. What are your longer term and medium term goals?

This is the end game – where you want to get to. What do you see when you visualize success? Use 3 time frames – 25 years, 10 years and 5 years. Allow for the fact that compounding growth rates will build a larger business over the longer term than you might imagine possible today. Be bold for the longer term, and reasonable for the shorter term.

“Perfect solutions of our difficulties are not to be looked for in an imperfect world”
Winston Churchill

“Vision without action is merely a dream. Action without vision just passes the time. Vision with action can change the world.”
Joel Arthur Barker