The business plan, your compass - when did you last read it?

Wonderful future! I hardly dare to write like this when many entrepreneurs and leaders have to balance ever tighter budgets with high performance requirements. And I'm not suggesting that we at Contrast are slipping on any shrimp sandwich at the moment.

What I mean is that it feels extra important to find faith in the future, in the midst of chaos, and dare to look ahead. Because the light is there, somewhere, ahead...

We spent a full day doing just that on Tuesday. We peered into the unknown, into the future of Contrast: we started creating our next business plan. If there's one piece of advice I'd like to remind you of in times of crisis, it's this:

⭐️ Never underestimate a good business plan! ⭐️

 

The first course in business administration at university included "Business Plan" as a module. The business plan is one of the most basic elements of any business. Yet it is often forgotten in everyday life. 

I know from my own experience.

There was a period when strategic thinking took a back seat to the short-term perspective of "money now, not later". 

It was an expensive lesson. 

 

This is how we manage the business plan today:

🎯 We set long-term goals (3 years) and create action plans that we then check off regularly.

🎯 We set out a direction like a compass and follow it more or less slavishly. There is nothing haphazard in what we do, everything follows a well thought out plan. 

🎯 We set realistic goals for the business and what needs to be done to achieve them. It can be about organizational development, strategic recruitment, development of the offer, digitization, new segments of customers and so on.

🎯 We start from the business plan to continue with setting other strategies, such as marketing plan and sales strategy.

🎯 We are starting well in advance. Our next version of the business plan will be ready in summer 2024. 

🎯 We let the creation take time. Writing a good business plan has to take time. But it is NOT a waste of time.

🎯 And last but not least: We bring in outside help. I know that many CEOs think that they are less good if they take help, but it is actually no stranger than buying in accounting help today. You don't have to be the steel man who can do everything. Our rock Victoria Hubertsson keeps us on the right course when we have buried ourselves too long in customer projects.

 

Then I would like to remind you that there is something very satisfying about looking back at the last business plan and all the checked off checklists... You see exactly what we have achieved. It gives a positive sense of forward movement and momentum. It's powerful.

Success is about constantly moving forward, where you want to go. Systematically and structured.  

Hang in there! And above all, keep the business plan close.

 

Stuff,

Ola