Creating a simple strategic plan might sound harmless enough until you actually sit down and try to figure out what the heck it is and how it fits into your side business.

It helps if you've already got your goal card set up (aka your ‘non' one-page business plan) and set your vision, mission, and values for your business.

But even still, creating a simple strategic plan can feel a little like this:

I know, those puppy's are so darn cute! I'll let you look at them a little longer…

Ok, time to focus my friend!

If you're looking to craft your own job escape plan, then you need to get a strategic plan in place fast. Without it, quitting your day job to pursue what you're passionate about is going to take you a lot longer to achieve.

Crafting a Simple Strategic Plan in 3 Easy StepsCreate a strategic business plan for your online business

The basis of creating your strategic plan (or roadmap) is as follows:

#1: Review your goal card aka one-page biz plan

Write down all the activities you're planning to do over the next 12 months to achieve your goals. Again, these are just the high-level ones, like write 10 bestselling books or create a signature course.

Write everything down that you're thinking about doing in the next 12 months and in particular, in ideas you've had floating around for a while but haven't actioned.

Read: How to Create a One-Page Business Plan

#2: Review your vision, mission, and values

Do the activities and ideas you have outlined above align with your vision, mission, and values? If they don't, then they go to the bottom of the list.

If they do, then they stay at the top of the list, ready for you to figure out when you're going to do them.

Read: Set Your Vision, Mission & Values

#3: Schedule your activities

Now it's time to schedule everything you've got on that list into your simple strategic plan. I used Keynote to outline my strategic plan, but you could use MS Word, Google Docs or Powerpoint, whatever works best for you.

Next, you'll write down all the months on the left-hand side of the page. Then review your activities and plan out when you're going to do them.

You should also include any time you plan to take off on your strategic plan so that you can work around this too.

To see how this all comes together, watch the video below:

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Now it's Your Turn

Creating your own simple strategic plan isn't as daunting as you think. It just takes a bit of planning and strategic thinking. Instead of doing things ad-hoc (which has always been my mode of operation), try planning with intention and considering exactly how long it will take you to do something.

Don't forget to allow for any vacation time, or any other event that might impact your business.

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Lise Cartwright
Lise Cartwright

Founder of Hustle & Groove and your creative business strategist. If you want to get notified of new posts just like the ones you see here, then make sure you join the awesome H & G community — Join Now!

    3 replies to "How to Create Your Own Simple Strategic Plan (and why you should)"

    • […] If you don’t have one created yet, then you’ll need to do this first. Check out this blog post to start your own strategic plan. […]

    • Alexandra Wolff

      Hi Lise

      Love your stuff! Just read your new book Mind the Chatter… saved my weekend – and probably the months ahead!

      A BIG Thank You!

      Best

      Alexandra

      • Lise Cartwright

        Thanks Alexandra, glad you enjoyed the book and that it saved your weekend, that makes me so happy to hear 🙂

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