So that Mayan fun is behind us and 2013 is a few hours away and I’ve been spending the past couple of relatively quiet weeks working on a plan for the coming year. Business plans… bleh!! A tough nut for any business, a special challenge for an independent business, and a nightmare for the creative-minded. I’ve always found it daunting to stick to a plan that just seems to underscore what I haven’t been doing right. So when I found a workbook-business plan for 2013 that supports, empowers and fits the artistic mindset, I thought I’d give it a try.
I know it sounds a bit “out there” if i tell you it’s filled with hand-drawn illustrations in rainbow colors, but that’s how its creator, Leonie Dawson, rolls. Not that it doesn’t ask the tough questions — it does. Numbers and money and stuff like that — all there. So while Leonie has a knack for turning a board room into a faerie ring, make no mistake — behind the sparkly bits she’s making me address the serious questions about how I got where I am (better than I’d thought!), and what I need to do to get to “there” — how much money I need to make, what sort of marketing I need to do, etc… It’s not easy, but so far I am actually enjoying this workbook, because by also focusing on what went right in the past year, it helps me to see the evolution and positive direction I’m moving in. And that, with its rainbows and stars, is part of what makes it so special.
Besides, to allow creative expression even in the plan, to enjoy the process … what’s wrong with that? My business isn’t a Brooks Brothers company so why do must I have a button-up biz plan, right?
Right now 2013 is looking kind of fun.
*In “full disclothesure” (hee!) I am an affiliate of Leonie’s, but I wouldn’t be if I didn’t think this planner was really worth sharing.