Planning for a great year!

Having a plan is the first step to success. If you don't know where you want to go ... how will you ever get there? Imagine going on a road trip and knowing where you needed to end up, but not having a map or gps to guide you. You might eventually make it, but you probably wouldn't take the best, shortest or straightest route. You could stop and ask for directions  along the way, and many will point you in the right direction,  but others will take you slightly off course. When you finally do arrive at your destination you might be late or tired (and ready to through the kids out of the car if you hear one more "are we there yet!"). Contrast that to a well planned trip. You know when you're leaving the house, you know which route your taking (you've got snacks and activities for the kids)! You arrive on time and ready to enjoy. Your business is just the same as the road trip. If you plan out your next year and follow the map (maybe making an occasional detour) you'll arrive at a successful destination. On the contrary, if you just get out there and "do" without a plan to back you up, you'll find yourself tired and disappointed with your final destination.

Here are few tip to create a successful business plan for 2011.

1. Have some end goals in  mind. Write them down and review them weekly or a least monthly to keep you motivated! These can be anything from an income level, reaching a number of customers, setting up key accounts, partnering with local businesses, etc. What is your picture of success for your company this year?

2. Develop a promotional calendar. If you plan your events and promotions right now, you'll know what's coming up next month and the month after. You'll be more prepared and you be more successful. The more detailed the plan is, the less work you'll have to do at the time.

3. Have a plan to complete your plan. The best plans fail if they are not properly executed. You have to know who's going to approach the businesses you want to partner with, who's going to pass out postcards and the fair, who's going to set the appointments, etc. For many of this, those questions are easy ... it's me! If that's your case, then you have to budget your time to make sure all of these tasks are managed. You'll have to be the gauge that says it's too much, I need to scale back or I need more, how can I ramp things up!

Over then next couple week's we'll cover these three steps in more detail to help you grow your business and achieve a new level of success your business. [poll id="3"]

Guest Columnist: Christina Roth Christina Roth is the owner of Summit View Communications, LLC a full-service marketing agency dedicated to helping small businesses grow through business planning and marketing. Ashe Design and Summit View Communications have joined forces to bring photographers tools and resources to market their business in a whole new way. We know that your expertise is in taking photos and capturing those special moments. We want you to spend as much time as possible using your talents. That’s why we offer our combined marketing and design services in affordable packages to help you market your business and events, and ultimately grow your business without investing a lot of time.All of our marketing kits and resources can be easily integrated into your business – keeping you behind the camera lens more!

Learn more about Summit View Communications by visiting www.SummitViewCommunications.com.