I sat down to figure out a plan for 2010—to ride the momentum of 2009 and avoid the mistakes from my first year in business as a freelancer—and I realized something. I can’t possibly plan my next full year in business (or quarter for that matter).
What I can figure out is a loose strategy for how to approach the year. Beyond this simple seed of planning, I’d better not waste time trying to predict the future. If you asked me in January 2009 for a simple snapshot of my company—just one year ago—I would have never described where I am now.
The only real full-term plan is to stay adaptable, observant and nimble in order to see where things are going in the present and keep the business nourished as time moves along and conditions, growth and expectations change.
It can be hard to build momentum as a freelancer. What can you do to help yourself along during the year ahead? Start by only setting expectations for the near term. As time passes, so does your perspective. Learn to trust your future self. Just get your company to the next step with the best resources and no preconceptions. Rinse and repeat.
When things are going well, you’ll know it. If things are going wrong, you’ll feel it. Wasting time on tomorrow’s problems only keeps you from success today.
You are your company’s caretaker. Learn what you can do right now to make your company grow.
Take a look at the world you’re working in—you don’t exist in next quarter yet. Try to establish the best possible starting point wherever your find yourself. Have a good idea of what should happen, but don’t waste time predicting what you’ll be doing six weeks or six months ahead. If things don’t work out the way you expect, you’ll adapt.
Strategizing is key. But don’t plan. Don’t kid yourself into thinking you can follow a blueprint. There is no blueprint. Just make a sketch and work from it. Then, a month or so into your strategy, take another look at your sketch and make a new one. Learn from what went well so far and figure out what needs to go.
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I’ve been thinking about how to reorganize for 2010 and this makes a lot of sense to me. I think I’ve concentrated too much on making “plans” and not enough on execution and in-the-moment efforts.
What would you suggest as a good length of time for which to plan? How far ahead should I look to stay motivated and smart but not get bogged down in expectations?
by Jacob A. on January 09, 2010 at 4:20 pm