Plan to Have a Plan: Creating Your Five-Year Business Goals
When you created your original business plan, how far into the future did you extend that plan? Though it's easy to get caught in the daily grind of your business, long-term goals and advanced planning are important to keeping your company on track and in the right direction instead of just spinning its wheels. Here's how to determine your five-year business goals and break those goals down into attainable steps.
Where is your business right now? How does that compare to where you thought you would be at this point? Taking the time every once in a while to examine your progress and revise your actions makes it easier to achieve those long-term goals. Start by considering where you want to be in five years with your business, making sure that it's reasonable. You may not have a nationwide chain of your restaurant in five years, but is it growing well enough to open a couple new locations?
Once you know where you should be, you need to break down that larger goal into smaller goals that are achievable on an annual, quarterly, and monthly basis. When will you need to look for new locations? How much capital will you need to raise for each new locations? How will you handle hiring management and staff to keep them operating? The answers to these questions help you determine your action plan.
Breaking it down by year, you may want to build capital in the first year, scout and purchase the first new location in the second year, open that new location at the beginning of the third year, get it operating profitably in the fourth year, then scout, purchase and open the second new location in the fifth year. Now break it down into quarterly and monthly actionable goals.
By taking time for advanced planning of long-term goals, you'll be much more likely to achieve those goals over the course of your business' operation. If you're not quite sure where to start or whether the goals you want to try to achieve are attainable, AccountRely is here to help. Our business professionals are always ready to help you make solid plans for your business, just contact us today to get started.
