MBA2406 How to Prepare For a Successful 2024 + Free Ride Friday

0:09Heyo! Welcome to the$100 MBA show, the business podcast that always got your back with our practical business lessons. I'm your host, your coach, your teacher, Omar Zinhome. And today's episode is Free Ride Friday. On Free Ride Fridays, we give away a free ride to the$100 MBA program over at 100mba.net. If you want to win a free ride, just leave us an Apple podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw we call Free Ride Friday. Listen in on Friday to see if you won. We announce this week's winner a little bit later in the episode. In today's episode, you will learn how to prepare for a successful 2024.

0:44It's almost hard to believe, but 2024 is just around the corner. Are you ready to take on the year with a plan of action so you could be as successful as possible? Well, after this episode, you will, because I'm going to give you an action plan. I'm going to show you how to come up with the exact things to work on for 2024 to hit your goals. I'm going to show you how to focus and harness as much energy to make sure your business is successful so that you actually see forward momentum, seeing progress, but it's just not going to happen by accident. You got to make sure you have a strategy and that's what this episode is all about.

1:21Another year just flew by. Let's make sure another one doesn't fly by without some massive growth in our business. Let's get into it. Let's get down to business. When it comes to the success of our business for the next year, here's the truth. You are your biggest challenge. You are the person that you have to worry about the most. Why? Because distractions are the number one reason why you're not going to achieve your goals. And the reason why we get distracted is because we don't have a guiding light. We don't have something to refer to to say, is this what I'm supposed to be doing right now?

1:56And this is what this episode is all about. is to give you a plan of action so that you can refer to it anytime you're wondering, what should I be doing? What should I be focused on? Is this important? Should I do this thing that is in front of me, this opportunity that's being offered to me? Should I say yes to this thing? Well, it's not going to be ambiguous. It's not going to be a mystery anymore because in today's episode, I'm going to share with you a five-part strategy that I love to use to set up my next year to be successful. After this episode, you're going to feel inspired. You're going to to feel motivated, but most of all, you're going to feel prepared.

2:30You're going to be ready to take on 2024 and make it a success. Let's start with step one, and that is deciding on one big goal. This is what's going to shape your whole year. What is the one goal you want to achieve by the end of the year? If you accomplish this one thing, you're a happy camper by the end of the year. This doesn't have to be very specific, but it has to be clear. What does this mean? Let me give you some examples. One goal might be I want to increase my profitability. I want to be more profitable. Maybe one goal is I want to double my revenue, or maybe I want to double my customers, or maybe one goal is I want to launch this new product idea I have.

3:13Here's the key. You're only going to choose one, so make sure it counts. Why? Because there's a lot of things you're going to have to do. We're going to talk about that later to accomplish this goal. So for example, if you want to double your customers in 2024? Well, that's going to take a lot of different projects, marketing, sales, maybe product development, a lot of things you're going to have to do to contribute to that one goal. So think of what is the one thing you want to accomplish in 2024. Remember, business is a long-term game. If you do this every year for 10 years, you're going to crush it in 10 different ways in your business.

3:50Pretty cool. Now, part one has a counter question as well. This is actually very important. So once you decide on your goal, you need to ask yourself, why is this a bad idea? You have to question it. Why? Because by questioning it, you're going to see if it's worth pursuing. You have to be your biggest supporter, but at the same time, you have to be real. You have to actually poke some holes in this idea. Maybe that's not what you really want. Maybe there's something else. Maybe actually what you want is profitability, not just revenue. Write a laundry list of why this big goal might be a bad idea.

4:24Why will this be sort of a failure in your eyes? The reason why we do this is so that we can know what's ahead of us. Know what are some of the counter arguments of this goal. You might want to adjust it as we go through that questioning. All right. So step one is that big goal. Step two, what are the three big projects that I need to do very well to get me to that goal? What are the three things I will have to do in my business? See these things as projects that you would maybe spend three to four months on. So say, for example, your goal is to get more customers. Well, you're going to need more leads.

4:57So maybe you need to do some more content marketing. So you might say, I'm going to start a podcast that's going to get me more brand awareness. That's going to get me some more marketing. That's one project. Well, then once I get the leads, I'm going to need to sell them. So maybe I got to do more sales webinars, or maybe it's email marketing. Maybe it's running ad campaigns. The point here is that you need to decide on three projects you will work on in 2024 so that your big goal gets accomplished. Remember, it's better for you to focus and really do well on each project. Give the time it needs to make it a success than to spread yourself in on 10 projects and kind of drop the ball.

5:35A lot of people do this. They like one month they work on something like they work on their social media campaigns. And then after that, they drop the ball. They stop doing that. They don't even look at it again and they work on something new, like they start writing blog posts. And then a month later, they forget about blog posting. They don't publish again. And then they go on and start a YouTube channel. No, we want to work on projects that are sustainable so that we can reach our goals, so that we can actually support the mission of the year. So decide on three projects, three things you will need to work on this year to make the goal a reality.

6:06Now, this is where most people stop. This is usually where people say, OK, great. I have a goal. I know what I have to do. to accomplish that goal. I have some projects that are going to, you know, contribute to that goal. And they're like, okay, planning done. No, I actually have three more steps in addition to these two to make sure it actually happens. And step three is probably the most critical one. We got to hold ourselves accountable as entrepreneurs, as leaders. We can't just say things and not follow through. We also have to have a plan of action when things go wrong. Why? Because they inevitably will go wrong.

6:40This is something I've learned over 20 years of entrepreneurship, you will have challenges. Things will not go as planned. You need to be ready, just like some military general or something that's going to war. They need to have a plan for every scenario. You're going after this goal of yours. You got to anticipate the fact that there will be some landmines. So step three is you need to answer this question. What will stop me from pulling off these three projects? Again, what will stop me from pulling off, from accomplishing, from completing the three projects I need to pull off to accomplish the goal.

7:15And you need to make a laundry list. You need to be as honest as possible. You need to write things like, I'm going to get distracted. I'm going to see something new and change my mind. I might get overwhelmed. I might not have the money to pull off the things I want to pull off for these projects. Just write it all down. It's important for you to just actually document what are the things that could happen that will stop you from accomplishing those three projects. Once you've written all that down, you need to then write the counter. How will I prevent those things from happening? How will I prevent those things from happening so I am not stopped in my tracks?

7:52So I do accomplish those three projects. So for example, you might say, I might get overwhelmed because I'll start saying yes to other things that are not these three projects. So what are you going to do to prevent that from happening? Well, you might put a post-it note on your monitor asking the question, does this help accomplish the three projects? So anytime you get an email, a phone call, a DM on Twitter or X that says, hey, do you want to do this, that, or the other? If that thing doesn't help you accomplish the three projects, it's a no. This is really hard for a lot of people because they're not used to saying no to opportunities.

8:22I was one of those people. I'm still, somebody has to remind myself, you have to say no so you can say yes to the important things. So how you prevent those roadblocks from happening, those things from happening that are going to stop you from accomplishing those three projects. All right, we talked about the big goal. We talked about the three projects that will accomplish that goal. And number three, we wrote down all the things that are going to stop me from accomplishing those three projects and how I prevent it from stopping me. Number four, what needs to get done and who will do it? This is such an important part of the equation because we need to know how to get granular.

8:59We need to actually dissect what needs to be done. What is a to-do list for each project? And then we want to write down who's going to do what. Now, mind you, this was really important to me because it reminded me that I'm a business owner. I need to delegate things and make sure things get pulled off instead of me doing everything myself, even if it means me hiring a freelancer or somebody to help me temporarily to get the project done. So, for example, let's say you want to start running paid ads, maybe Facebook ads. Most business owners are like, OK, I can't afford hiring an agency, maybe.

9:32so I'll have to learn how to do Facebook ads myself and then do the ads myself. Wrong. You can't afford to do everything yourself. You will not get the other three projects done. You will not be able to run your business. You're not gonna be able to pull off all the decisions you need to make on a day-to-day basis. There's probably some on your team that can learn how to do this instead of you or you can hire somebody low cost that has good admin skills, that is a good learner, that you can buy them a course on running Facebook ads. There's like courses on Udemy on this topic for less than$100.

10:07And you can just get them to study this and give them access to your Facebook ads account, make them a user or a project manager. And you can work with a small budget to get them to apply what they learn. And remember, this is why we only have three projects so that you have enough time to do this right and get somebody else to do it and to experiment and to grow, giving yourself two, three, four months to make it happen. And once it's set up, they're going to continue to do it throughout the year. So again, what needs to get done? Learn how to do Facebook ads, do a test Facebook ad. Somebody can learn how to put the creative together, like, you know, create some ad images on Canva, write some copy.

10:44So this could be the same person that you're giving this test to, or it might be somebody else. It might be a freelancer on Fiverr. It might be somebody who else is doing it. But the point here is, is that have a plan of action, know exactly what needs to get done and who is going to do it. Okay, we've arrived to step five, the final step. Last step is when will it get done? When will each project get done? And what I like to do is have some milestones in each project. You might have three or four milestones for each project. I don't like to have more than four. And each milestone might be a level of completion.

11:19So for example, if the Facebook ads goal or project, you could say milestone one is to learn how to do Facebook ads, whoever that is, on your team and to run their first ad. Milestone two is to have multiple ads with an ad spend of$1 ,000. Maybe milestone three is to optimize these ads, lower the CPM or CPA cost per acquisition with a budget of$5 ,000. You get the point. Have some milestones and then take these milestones and plug them into your team calendar so everybody knows what they're expected to do so you have a plan of action and when it's going to get done. All the tasks, like take the Facebook course.

12:00If the course is going to take three or four days to accomplish or to learn or to go through, put those days in the calendar. Everything you need to do to accomplish the three projects that are going to align and help you accomplish your big goal needs to get plugged into the calendar. I'm always a big believer that if it's not on the calendar, it will not happen. This includes anything you need to do as well. Well, there you have it, guys. Those are my five steps to make sure you're successful in 2024. It's very practical. It's very down to earth. And yes, it's work. Actually planning for 2024 is work.

12:35You have to do it. So you're prepared so that you don't leave anything to the last minute to chance to how you feel in January? No, let's get it done right now. Let's recap. Step one, choose one big goal. Step two, choose three projects, outline those projects that are going to help you accomplish that one big goal. Number three, list everything that could possibly stop you from accomplishing these three projects. And how will you make sure that doesn't happen? What will you do to prevent those things from happening? Number four, what needs to get done for each project? Who's going to do it? Number five, when will this get done?

13:12Plug it into the calendar. Each step of the way, each project. There you have it, guys. Take this plan and run with it. My advice, do this right now. It's going to take you 45 minutes to an hour, but it's going to be well worth it. Get this done and have it in your rear view, ready for you for 2024. So you can enjoy the holidays. And when you come back from New Year's, you just implement. You just take action. It might be a good thing to meet with your team and discuss and show them your plan of action for 2024. That wraps up today's lesson, but today's episode's not over. It's Free Ride Friday.

13:43Let's see who won this week's free ride. And the winner is The Healed Truth. That's the handle on Apple Podcasts. The Healed Truth says, excellent podcast, perfect listening. Absolutely brilliant. I've learned so much from this podcast. The only podcast I listen to. Thanks. Thank you, The Healed Truth. Your mission is to email me over at omar at 100mba.net. You can claim your free ride to the$100 MBA over at 100mba.net. If you want to win a free ride too, just leave us an Apple Podcast rating and review and you enter our weekly random draw we call Free Ride Friday. Listen in on Friday just like right now to see if you won.

14:15It's that easy. Before I go, I want to leave you with this. You know that old saying, measure twice, cut once. Planning is a big part of success. Planning gives you that leg up, gives you that foresight, gives you that chance for you to think things through and understand not only what you're going to do, but why you're going to do it. This plan empowers you, motivates you, keeps you going throughout the year so you stay on track. Remember, when things come across your table, when things come across your inbox, and you're trying to evaluate, should you do it or not? Look at this plan. Does it align with the three projects.

14:49If not, it's a no. If it's a yes, it's a yes. What a relief. What an easy way to deal with that dilemma we all have as entrepreneurs. Thanks so much for listening and I'll check you in Monday's episode. I'll see you then. Take care.

15:19Thank you.