To stay ahead of the eight ball, you need to be prepared and always evaluating. We have talked about a getaway, this week I’m going to go over some key components that should be looked at during your getaway.

So, you are ready to have that quarterly getaway. You got the hotel booked, travel arrangements made, your employees are taken care of and got things handled while you are gone.

You want to grab these reports:

1. Quarterly Profit and Loss Statement by month
2. Your budget for the quarter
3. Your One Page Business Plan that has your Vision, Objectives and Action Plans
4. Any notes from Business conferences
5. Any notes from books read
6. Your planner

Study your Profit and Loss report and see where your numbers are. Are you happy with them? Are you charging the right amounts? (With the inflation that it is, small business owners need to raise their prices as well). Was there an increase in expenses that you didn’t realize? Now compare your Profit and Loss to your Budget. Did you hit the marks? What adjustments need to be made? I highly recommend you go over this with your Accountant, so you can get an accountants/third party person opinion.

Review your Vision, Objectives and Action Plan did you accomplish everything that you wanted to in the previous quarter?

Go over your notes from business conferences, and your books your read, and see which ones fit your vision and how you want to include them into your objectives and action plan.

Once you have reviewed the previous quarter and your notes, now is the time to update your objectives and action plan to include new ideas and ones that didn’t get finished.

If you want, get with another business owner, go over what you came up with and bounce ideas off of each other, get their opinions.

Schedule a time to meet with your team, your business coach, significant other/spouse, etc., and go over what you came up with. Get their feedback, and if there are no adjustments needing to be made, you are ready for the next quarter.

And this is what I do on a quarterly basis, to stay ahead of the eight ball, to improve my business, to keep up with the vision of the business.

Most importantly, take the down time and enjoy your surroundings, go out to eat and enjoy a good meal, go see a play, maybe a comedy club. Wherever you went, go, and learn something new about your surroundings, and make good memories.

If you did this, send me a note, and let me know how it went. If you need help or advice on how to get ahead of the year, contact me at www.pinabiz.com for a free consultation.