Business Plans are Useless: 3 Step Process That Ensures Your Practice Meets Goals

It's always amazing to me when someone starts a business (in this case a healthcare one) they feel that a business plan is what they need to set things in motion. Let me me tell what a business plan really is.

Every heard of a "to-do list?" Basically a list of all the crap you'll never get done, but you continue to add stuff to it. Same thing goes for a business plan. If you've never opened a business before how will you know what to project in your business plan?

Most people make an educated guess as to how they "think" they're business is going to look in a certain amount of time and the amount of money they will need in order to craft said business.

No one ever hits those marks. 

So, here is a 3 step process of structuring your business so it meets its goals AND makes running it, satisfying. Too many business owners end up with their business being their biggest pain point. Here's how to avoid that.

1 - Identify your personal vision

You are your business. Not your face or your skill set directly, but your vision for what your business stands for. You can only determine what your business stands for if you know what you stand for as a person.

Here's an example from myself and my business: The vision for my business is that people will stop having unnecessary spine & joint surgeries while eliminating the need for over prescribed opioid medications. 

I firmly believe in helping others get back to their desired lifestyle following an injury. So many people feel as though they are defined by their injury and lose some sense of a full life. It gives me joy and energy to help people get back to a life without limits from pain. 

Do you notice how the vision for my professional life and the one for my business align? It's like being in a healthy long term relationship with my business. That is a business that makes you want to go to work every day and it helps avoid making your business a pain point in your life. 

2 - Identify 90 Day Goals

It makes no sense to write a business plan that maps out what your business will look like in 12 months, 5 years, or even 10 years. Who the hell really knows what that will look like? There are way too many variables. After all, was a pandemic projected in your 2020 business plan? 

Instead, determine what the top 3-5 things you could accomplish in the next 90 days are and put together a plan to deliver upon them. What 3-5 things would drive your business to the next level and what steps do you need to take to get it there?

I suggest putting up a whiteboard for the visual affect, but you can use an app such as Trello - divide it into 3 columns. In the first one write the (steps on sticky notes) necessary to reach each goal for next 90 days. The second is an "in progress" column and the third is a "completed" column.

Write your items on sticky notes in the goals column and then move each sticky note to "in progress" when its being worked on and add the initials of those responsible for delivering on it. When it's done, and only when it's done, does the sticky note get moved to the "completed" column.

 3 - Daily Goals

Each day you should have a 15 min huddle with your team to determine how things are progressing through the process on the white board. You should have a pulse of everything going on in your practice each day - that does not mean you should have your hands in everything.

DO NOT BE THE HELICOPTER MOM IN YOUR OFFICE. Give specific tasks to your team to complete and give them the time and space to complete them. Your job as the owner is to remove any obstacles that may stand in their way of completing the task. 

Closing

At the end of each 90 day period you assess the progress towards your goals. Did you make it? Why or why not? This is not supposed to be a judgmental moment, but rather a moment to reflect on what you did well and what you could improve upon in the next 90 days.

And most importantly - is the direction you're going still matching up with the vision for your life?

Your business plan is not worth its weight. Your actions will always say more about you as a business owner. In order to take the right actions you must know the direction you desire your practice to go. Otherwise, it's like taking a family road trip with no destination or time frame in mind.