363: How to plan for your next 99 days - for small business owners

Why The Next 99 Days Matter

SPEAKER_01 0:04

Well, hello friends, it's Kimberly. It's episode 363, and I am so glad that you're here today because we're talking about what to do with the rest of your year. From today, what are you doing? At the time of the recording this or when this is actually going to be released, there's going to be like 99 days left for the whole year, okay? And we know we've got Halloween, we've got Thanksgiving, we've got Christmas, it's all coming up, and then New Year's Eve and all that good stuff. You have to think about your business, what you're doing, and how you're going to handle it. Today's the day that you're going to actually think it through because it's probably come on a lot faster than you expected. And it is crucial that you plan out the rest of the year so you don't go crazy so that you can serve your customers well. And so you can actually sell as much as possible. If you're new here, welcome. I'm so glad that you found this podcast. I have no doubt it's going to help you along your business journey, whether in the idea stage, starting or going, this is for you. And maybe you've even been in business for a long time. I'm so glad that you're

Where To Plug In And Get Resources

SPEAKER_01 1:04

here. First of all, you can get plugged in if you scroll down in the show notes below. Like right now, look, like if you're an Apple Podcast, you can see I've got the links. I've got a Facebook group that's called the She's Just Getting Started group that I recently renamed. It was called Women Starting Businesses and Podcasts, Doing What We Love, but I recently just changed it to match the handle and make everything cohesive. My Instagram handle is She's Just Getting Started. And so it all matches. So you can remember it really easily. So, anyways, check that out. And you can come in the group. I've got some fun posts that I'm kicking back up every week. We kind of had the same posts for years, and now I'm kind of switching things up a little and change the name and all that good stuff. So I'm excited about that. And we'd love to have you in no matter what stage of business you're in, whether you're dreaming or whether you're a veteran business owner. So come on in. And then I also have some free downloads if you are starting a business, growing a business, even thinking about starting a podcast. I've got some information there that you can grab. And also, too, as many of you know, I just opened the She's Just Getting Started shop. And so you can go to she's just getting started.com and see all the cute things there that are just really fun and stylish gift style items, maybe for your desk, even mugs, t-shirts that all are on purpose, right? They are something that's meaningful. Maybe it's something that's personalized, maybe it's something with I'm just getting started on it, but there's more things to come. I just started out super simple and I'm just so happy and so excited for those of you that have already ordered. So thank you so much. So, anyways, that's it. Okay, on to the episode.

Holiday Buying Starts Earlier Than You Think

SPEAKER_01 2:46

Well, hello, friends. I'm so happy that you're here. We're talking about what to do with the rest of this year. You have got to actually think about this. I know a lot of times the holidays just kind of come. Like everything just appears, and you're like, oh my gosh, I didn't really prepare. I didn't do things ahead of time. The truth is, things need to start happening now. People are already buying holiday gifts. They are trying to get things done for the fall and end of year. And so maybe you offer a service, maybe you offer physical products. Either way, people get in the buying mood this time of year. Now, September, I remember from my gift boutique days. And y'all know I just launched my new gift boutique. So I'm just, you know, hitting this moment right now. But in the past, September was always kind of, I mean, it was busy, but it wasn't like so busy. Things really started picking up middle of October and then November, December, we will see with this round of having another gift boutique if this is the same thing. But if you're a service provider as well, like obviously, I've had coaching business and uh, you know, had group programs and all that stuff, and things would get busy in September, October. People were in the mood to accomplish and do. And I know a lot of times we think, oh, that's only January, you know, everyone's trying to do things. No, you'd be surprised. People want their home decorated and looking nice for the holidays, for guests, for travel. Um, maybe they've saved up money this year so that they can do things to their home or work on self-development or buy products, whatever it is, get gifts ready for the holidays. So this is a time people are starting to ramp up their buying and it's happening. So you need to be planning. What do you want for the less than a hundred days left of this year? What

Set A Specific Realistic Business Goal

SPEAKER_01 4:41

do you want out of it? So I think that's the first thing to think about for your business today. And what I wanted to talk about was kind of go through a few of these things that you can take with you, some action steps. I think the first thing is like, what actually is your goal for the rest of the year? Maybe it's to figure out or nail down your business idea. Maybe it's to actually get a Shopify store open and you're going to sell products, or maybe it's you really wanted to hone in on your service service offering and really start telling people about your business so you can start getting more things. Maybe your goal is to start public speaking more or to start a podcast or a YouTube channel or, you know, whatever it may be, but what is your goal? Is your goal to add more products to your mix or maybe add one more service offering? Is your goal to talk to more people, network with more people? What is really your big goal for this year? Is it to have your biggest revenue year yet? I mean, if you've been in business a while, that is probably your goal. Like, how can I make the most profit this season with the least amount of stress? I think being very specific about what your goals are for the rest of the year is very important. So it shouldn't just be, I want to get more sales. It should be, how can I make more profits? And again, let's have a caveat without being totally stressed out and working, you know, 24 hours a day. I don't want to have my business run my life. Or maybe you say, you know what, this is the time of my life where I can put in, you know, 14-hour days, uh, go for it. If this is the time of your life, you can do that. Um, but you know, most people can't. But I think you want to be reasonable and say, okay, if I work six, eight hours a day, maybe I have to work 10 hours, you know, how can I still maximize my profits? Do I need a higher help? What do I need to do? So think about that today. Do you need seasonal help? Do you need somebody that's gonna come so that you can bring in sales and not be working 80 million hours a week, right? So, what is your overall goal for your business this season? Okay. I'm not talking about January and February because that's gonna come a whole new thought process, okay? Because you're gonna be taking a deep breath after the holidays and recovering. And then you're gonna kind of have fresh eyes on what's going on. Plus, the industry, the market, the online world, everything is changing so fast with AI. So everything is coming at us like at insane speeds. So anything could happen by next February or March. So that's why we want to focus on just kind of these next hundred days up until December 31st. What are your realistic, honest goals for your business? If you have a specific number, you can say that, like I need to make 10,000 this month or 20,000 or whatever it is, or make my first thousand, whatever it is for you. There's no shame in your game. Let's just be real and let's be honest about it so that you can actually achieve it, right? So I think think about that, that you have to have your goals written out. So, what are your goals for the end of the year? Okay.

Review What Drains You Or Fuels You

SPEAKER_01 7:49

Then I also want you to kind of look back at what has happened this year so far that has drained you or what has made you happy? What has made you feel exhilarated? What have you achieved? Me getting my online store up, my journal made, my cards made. Um, I have these 52 truths, this deck of cards that is for business owners. It sits on a little acrylic stand, y'all. It's so cute. You have to check it out. I'm about to be recording some videos and really talking about these cards a lot more because I think every business owner should have these cards. And you may think I'm talking about a deck of playing cards, and I'm not. I'm talking about on your desk display cards with all kinds of truths and then references to podcast episodes that you can listen to too. But I think they will make you reflect on what you've accomplished this year and what you need to do going forward. But I think thinking back to this year over what you've accomplished and what has drained you is super important. Okay. So we're gonna look at our goals, number one, for what we want for the next hundred days. How do we want our life to look? Do we have money goals? Do we just have, you know, I need to like hit this milestone or I need to get my store open or my podcast up or I need to start networking more. I need to do public speaking, whatever it is. That's number one. Number two is look back at what was actually exhilarating and what was draining for you and make sure that you understand that. Because if you don't, then you're liable to be doing things that aren't productive or aren't fun, aren't rewarding, aren't fulfilling. And you don't want that. You want your next hundred days to be happy because the holidays are coming up and you need to be in a good mood and you need to be available for your family or your spouse or your kids or anyone, your friends, you need to be present and not be thinking about other things all the time and working all the time and not being yourself, right? Okay.

Pick One Finish Line Priority

SPEAKER_01 9:56

And then I think one other thing you can do. I know we had like our overall goals for a business, but I think one finish line is really a good thing to do. Like if nothing else happens the rest of the year, what's one like finish line thing that you can accomplish? What can you get to the finish line on? Think about it. What's one thing? If you don't complete anything this year, but one thing happens, what is that? What is that? I think that's super important, right? For me, it's to get my journals in because it's the last item that I had that's my signature items. I had these truth cards, you know, got these done. The journals are done, but they are not here yet, which I'm so anxious to get them. I can't wait. Hopefully they'll be in November. We will see. But that is my one big thing is to like actually get that launched and out into the world. Like, if nothing else happens, I want that out because I know what that will mean for next year. So, like, if everything just fell to the ground, I just want those journals in because I know they will change the lives of the business owners like you who actually use them. And so you have to think about that. What do your customers need? What do you need to move forward? What is gonna be that one thing that's gonna help you? Okay. Okay. So pick one finish line item that is like the most important. Okay. So we had our big goals. We also looked back at what was exhilarating or draining so that we could make adjustments. Number three, we we're gonna pick one finish line thing that we can do and that we can accomplish.

Work Backward With A 14 Week Plan

SPEAKER_01 11:41

And I think the fourth thing is to really work backwards. Okay, that sounds weird. Work backwards, but you've got about 14 weeks left from when I'm recording this. And I think if you really mapped that out, like you could draw it on a piece of paper right now, like 14 blocks of weeks. Or if you have a, you know, an actual physical calendar, I would open it up and see the weeks and start marking, like, oh, I need to be running a sale in October to go ahead and get November sales. I need to have it decided in November what I'm doing for my Black Friday sales. Am I running those early? Am I sending out email marketing? Am I posting on Instagram? Like, you need to back into all of this because if you don't, it will get away from you. You will be like, wait, I've already missed the runway to be attracting people for holiday sales if you don't start now. So I'm having to think about that with the she's just getting started gift boutique. I'm having to start thinking about, okay, emails. I need to start, you know, talking about the products. And then I'm gonna be upping my language that is saying these are great gifts, right? Because everyone's buying gifts at the holidays. So you have to be doing that too, right? And you kind of have to be backing into it. And you're like, wait, Christmas is in December, and it takes 10 days for my stuff to get to people, um, or it takes me two weeks before I can provide my service. So I got to back into that. But then if there's, you know, the Black Friday sales, that's in no end of November. Well, I need to start marketing these like three weeks before that. So it's like early November, my marketing needs to be doing. So this is a huge task. I'm making this sound like this isn't that big of a task. It actually is. All of these things are really big tasks, but I need you to be thinking about them now because it will be here before you know it. It is about to be October next week, and that's it. Like it's gonna fly by, like totally fly. I always say every year after July 4th, it's basically Christmas because it just goes so fast. And so you have to sit down and kind of work yourself into this backwards, okay? And start mapping out and knowing, like, if you're going out of town certain days, what can you start doing ahead of that to prepare? Like, are you training a new employee? You better start training them now. So they are ready for mid-October, end of October sales, and then coming in November, it's full on. Everyone knows that shipping takes a long time sometimes with products that are really meaningful or personalized or special or whatever you offer. And people know they need to get in early and you need to tell them in your marketing that they need to get it in early, but it's up to you to get in there first and tell them, right?

Final Recap And Next Step Links

SPEAKER_01 14:41

So, y'all, what are you doing with the next hundred days? Let's go through this one more time. And I think it'd be really good if you sit down with a piece of paper and you mapped us out. Number one, what are your goals and realistic goals for this year? Realistic. I'm not saying I'm gonna make a million dollars this year in the next three months, and you've been booking a thousand dollars a month. Like, let's let's not be crazy. Let's be realistic and say, I hope to grow by this much, I hope to get this many sales, and I only want to work this amount of time if possible. Okay, without turning into a crazy person. So I think explicitly saying that, what can you do without blank? Okay, what's your goals without becoming crazy, without being exhausted, without being grouchy, all the things. Okay. Number two, look back on this last part of the year, you know, everything that's even happened this whole year in 2026. What was exhilarating, what was draining, maybe what you could stop doing or hire out for. I think those are smart because this is about to get crazy. Okay. Um, number three, I think it's pick one big thing that you want to have done this year if all else fails. I think that will make you feel good because if you can do that one thing and and actually focus on it, whatever that one thing is, a new product offering, anything, okay, you do that because you will feel happy, even if all the other stuff blows up. Okay. And number four, back into the rest of the year right now. Get out your calendar today and start realizing when the dates are, when you're traveling, and Black Friday and Christmas and Thanksgiving and all the things and back into it, move, move back like two, three weeks and make sure you're doing all the things that set you up for success. You may need to back up until right now and be like, what do I need to start doing right now so that my customers in November can get their stuff or I can provide my service or I can get them on the calendar, right? You have to be backing into it. It's the best way. So, ladies and gentlemen that are listening, make sure you are actually stopping today and thinking, what am I gonna do with the next less than 100 days that are left until the end of the year? Because you want it to be an amazing year. You want to feel happy, you want to love your business, you want to love what you're doing, you want to make people feel better, look better, help them in some way with whatever you offer. You want to be able to do that. And I know that you can. You just take a little time. So that's it. Y'all have a great day. Until next time, bye now.

SPEAKER_00 17:31

Now, this episode may be over, but our relationship does not have to end here. Head on over to Kimberlybrock.com, and yes, you can get more valuable information for your journey. And you know what? You don't need to go through this alone. I would love to help you. Thank you so much and have a great day. Bye.