Functional Planning

Functional Planning Online Business

HOW TO CREATE BUSINESS MARKETING PLANS THAT GET RESULTS!

In todays video I want to walk you through how I create my business marketing plans. Specifically what I want to show you today is my complete marketing plan for august, the process I follow to create the marketing plan, the tools I use to do so, and what the final outcome looks like.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH THE VIDEO NOW

If you’ve been following closely to my content, you may know that in the month of August I set out a new content schedule for my business. So every single day I am posting content to one or another of my platforms. That includes my Youtube channel, my blog, instagram and my email list as well.

So that is a lot of content to generate, outline and create. But, content is the major marketing strategy that I use to grow my audience, attract my ideal customers and of course sell my products!

Of course, all my plans are kept neatly organized inside my planner, so, lets jump into an overhead view so I can show you the exact tools I am using to create my marketing plans, plus the process I follow to get the end result of all the amazing content like this video that you get to enjoy from me!

First, let’s talk about the planning tools I use for my business marketing process.

It should be no suprise that I use the inserts from the CEO Strategy Planner. Specifically, we are going to be looking at the marketing plan set of inserts.

The first step of my process for creating my marketing plan is to do a content brainstorm.

So using my Content Brainstorm pages, I highlight the month the brainstorm is for, then I fill in the content categories I want to create for. My content categories as you can see are Planning, Business and Energy (which refers to mindset and manifestation content).

Then I will start coming up with content ideas for each category as it pertains to the 5 content outcomes listed down the side of the insert. So the outcomes or subtypes of content are Educate, Entertain, Inspire, Inform and Interact- all content should fit into one of those subtypes no matter what your brand or message is and I think its a best practice to come up with a range of ideas that fit all 5 subtypes in order to grow a steady and engaged following.

So I literally go through these types one by one and start generating ideas.

How can I educate my audience on planning this month? How can I educate them on business this month, and the ideas go in their appropriate box.

Then, once I have lots of ideas generated and filled up this spread, I can start creating the marketing plan itself.

Again, using the monthly Content Planner Insert I select the month, and then fill in the boxes for specific things I have going on in my business.

So, for products, I like to fill in what products I am focused on selling for the month. Now obviously, its great for me to sell all of my products, but I can’t talk about everything everyday, so this helps me focus on perhaps what’s new or what’s on sale or what is timely. For August, I was focused on 2021 Inserts because they were new and timely, and also the CEO strategy planner because I ran a sale on it in August so it would be good for my content this month to be focused on those things.

Next opt-ins I am focused on. Some businesses have only one or a few opt-ins, I have a lot, so I like to list the ones I am focused on promoting in the month here.

Then, campaigns. What organized marketing efforts so I have to execute this month? So, for me, August was all about my new posting schedule and as part of that, also a live weekly email. So, that work was a priority and the campaign I was working on.

Then we get to the Platforms and Content Section of the insert.

So here I list out the platforms I create content for.

I have three columns listed because its a great business strategy to use 3 different platforms, but if you use less or you use more feel free to adjust as needed.

So I fill in here, Blog, Youtube and IG/IGTV.

My new content schedule has me blogging twice a week, tuesday, thursday, posting one video a week to youtube on saturday and then posting three days a week to instagram , monday wed and friday with one post on wed being an IGTV post. I don’t normally worry about planning out IG stories or the new reels because they are less of a focus for me right now but as always plan what you need to plan do what works for you.

So referring back to the content brainstorm, I will pick out posts topics and decide which content is best suited for a blog post, which a youtube video and which for IG. Then I just listed out my selections for my editorial calendar in each column. I make a little checkbox with my highlighter and I add the date for myself for reference as well, but that is all of my content planned out for the month.

Now in addition to these two steps, I also like to track my content on a Content Tracker Insert. I have one for each platform where I will list out the content title and keep track of what work I have completed for it. this is great for when I am bulking work which I normally always do, it helps to know what steps I have competed and what I have left as I do my work.

Then finally, I will also sometimes, but not always use a Content Outline Insert to organize my ideas. Now, because my work is all done on a computer, I normally write everything out on my computer, but sometimes I just like to see plans for content, especially youtube videos, mapped out. It just makes it easier for me to create an outline sometimes if I can organize my thoughts like this ahead of time.

These outline pages have space for three pieces of content and have a place for title or subject, sate, the key points I want to make, the call to action, any opt in I might be sharing and a place to list out additional media I need to include.

So, one more little piece I would like to show you us how my marketing plans fit in with my overall Monthly Business Plans.

My Q3 Business Plan Insert lists the big picture Focus, Marketing and List Building activities for each month. So, then I have a break down of my Monthly Business Plan for August where I map everything out including my content schedule, important dates and events and the key business tasks I have to complete.

So, that is how I create marketing plans for my business and the tool I use to get the job done, the CEO Strategy Planner.

The final thing I want to drive home with this video before we wrap up is that although I make my plans and set them up and outline content, etc, I am not afraid to change my plans as needed. I might map out all my content for my editorial calendar but later in the month I might switch a post out because I have something more important that has come up for me to say. So I want you to know that just because you make a plan doesn’t mean it can’t be edited, but overall, I think its a great practice to outline your business plans like this and make a solid effort to stick to it.

So many people starting a business right now make plans and when they don’t see immediate results they change the plan and still don’t see results and then they get frustrated that planning doesn’t work. Planning does work but you have to stick to your plan more often than not and above all stick to the same strategies consistently to see results. Just because one of my youtube videos for the month might not get the attention I hope for, doesn’t mean I stop making videos. I don’t ditch the strategy entirely. Progress and results with business planing come from sticking to the right strategies and learning what examples work and don’t work within the frame of the strategy itself.

And thats why I love the CEO Strategy Planner, because its giving you a framework for online business and digital marketing strategy and then you have the flexibility to play with your marketing and test out and try new things. But at the end of the day you know what you are doing and why because have you have a line of sight to your objectives!

So I hope this information has been helpful. If you want to purchase your copy of the CEO Strategy Planner, remember these are strategic business planning inserts and worksheets you print at home from a PDF file you purchase from me. Purchase your copy today and get started making your marketing plans using the same strategies that brought my youtube channel to nearly 100,000 subscribers and close to 10 million views, my Blog to over 1 million page views annually, and my Instagram to over 25k followers.

xoxo,

Functional Planning

THE CLEAR PLANNER TREND | How to get the look in your planner

In today’s video I am breaking down the clear planner trend and helping give you some tips for how to achieve a similar look with your planner!

WATCH THE VIDEO NOW BY CLICKING HERE

→ MENTIONED IN THIS VIDEO

✔︎ Clear PVC Planner

✔︎ AB Clear PVC Planner

✔︎ Clear Discs

✔︎ Clear front/back cover

✔︎ Clear disc agenda cover

✔︎ Vellum Paper

✔︎ 2020 Dashboard

I hope you enjoyed this video and I would love to hear about any other planner trends you would like me to cover in future installments of this series!

xoxo,

Functional Planning

Discbound Planners 101 | How to Get Started with the Discbound System

In today’s video, I am showing and teaching you all about Discbound Planner Systems. I will be covering why they are my most used system, the different branded systems, the essential elements you need to know about and how to put everything together to create your own custom planner.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

On and off throughout the years, my planner binding method of choice has been the discbound system. If you are not familiar with the disc binding concept, it is similar to the idea of a spiral notebook, but instead of a solid metal spiral holding the notebook together, you have metal or plastic discs that can pop in and out of a cover. These discs being removable means that you can add and remove paper to your disc bound system as you like, so long as the paper has been punched with a disc binding punch.

As you may already know, the current planner I am using was created with the help of the disc binding system and I want to teach you more about the system so you can see just how easy it is to customize your own planner or notebook organization system. I will of course be leaving resources to as much as I can throughout this post to help you get started.

First, lets talk about he BEST Features of a Discbound System

  1. Customization: The main reason I love using a discbound system as my planner is because it is completely customizable. I can create my own custom planner inside the binding and add and remove items on a whim. I find the disc binding to be very secure, but also easy for you to add and remove elements at the same time.
  2. Interchangeability: The next feature I love about discbound system is that they are interchangeable for the most part. In just a moment, I will outline some of the most popular discbound planner systems to give you an idea of the options available, but with each system the discs, refills, accessories are interchangeable so you can pick and choose what you want to use from one collection or another to build your perfect system.
  3. Flexibility: The final feature I love about discbound systems is that they fold over onto themselves like a spiral bound notebook. I love this flexibility because I am someone who does like to fold a notebook over to write. Although my personal discbound planner is kept inside a notebook cover, I frequently remove my planner portion from the cover to write in it, and of course I fold the system over like a notebook when I do!

Next, let’s talk about The Most Popular Discbound Systems

As I mentioned earlier, there are a number of discbound planner systems out on the market currently. Here is a list to help you browse some of the most popular systems to find the right elements to help you build your perfect system.

Now, let’s talk Discbound Planner Essentials

  • Discs: The major element of a discbound system are the discs themselves. Across the different branded systems you can find a variety of sizes, colors and materials like plastic or aluminum.

In terms of disc sizes, across different brands they range from 1/2” to 1.5” diameter

  • ½ inch discs hold 50 – 70 sheets of paper
  • ¾ inch discs hold 90- 120 sheets of paper.
  • 1 inch discs hold 110 – 150 sheets of paper.
  • 1½ inch discs hold 140- 220 sheets of paper

Now, in terms of materials, you can get discs in either plastic or aluminum and they come in a variety of colors and finishes. Plastic discs tend to be the most affordable option, however, I prefer aluminum because I find that there is a smoother page turn with aluminum rather than plastic.

Also, in terms of ease of use, I find that smaller discs are easier to turn the pages on, but thats also what I’m used to using. With larger discs I find I need to be more deliberate when I flip through pages, but I do still use the largest size discs with some notebooks because I need the increased capacity.

As with everything in life, there are benefits and drawbacks to each option that you choose.

  • Front/Back Covers: Each different branded system for discbound has a variety of different binding covers from thin plastic covers that make simple notebooks to thick leather covers with built in organization elements. Even Etsy and Amazon sellers now make personalized or custom covers for discbound systems, so you can find a style that fits your personal preference.

Even if, like me, you are using a slip style cover, you still need to use a hard cover to anchor the system into the cover. 

I’d also like to mention here that with the majority of discbound systems (not including Mambi’s Happy Planner) there are two main sizes of planners and covers. First, is Full Size Letter, which is also compatible with A4, and the second is Junior Size which is Half Letter and also compatible with A5.

The Happy Planner has 3 proprietary sizes of covers and pages:

  • The Classic Happy Planner covers are 7.75” x 9.75” and the pages are 7” x 9.25”
  • The Mini Happy Planner covers are 5.125” x 7.5” and the pages are 4.5” x 7”
  • The Big Happy Planner covers are 9” x 11.25” and the pages are 8.5” x 11”

So, please keep this information in mind when purchasing Happy Planner covers, inserts or accessories- the brand is not 1 for 1 compatible with other discbound planner systems on the market.

  • Punch: Of course, if you are interested in creating a customizable system like me, you are going to need to get a discbound punch. I recommend getting one from the system you use most. I personally use the Arc version and love it because although it is a bit larger, it has wonderful guides to help you punch a variety of sizes of paper. When it comes to choosing a punch, I recommend choosing a sturdier punch even though they can be more expensive. My arc punch was maybe $40-50 but it is at least 6 years old so that was an investment that held up for me. If I had to purchase again, I might choose the levenger punch, because its also very sturdy and perhaps a little more compact. But avoid the travel size punches, i’ve not heard the best feedback about those. 
  • Cover: Although there are a variety of discbound system covers as mentioned earlier, I also use a leather notebook cover to protect my system. My current cover comes from Chanel and is no longer available, but I also have notebook covers from GiGi New York or Graphic Image NY, and I’ve even removed the rings from a Filofax to create a cover for my discbound system. The key with using covers is that you need one that has a back slip pocket to anchor your book to. Unless you are using a cover like this discagenda by dokibook, that actually anchors to the discs themselves!
  • Other accessories: There are many other accessessories available to help you create your custom discbound organization system. Things like, page markers, dividers, pockets, etc. I recommend browsing the selections of each brand to see all the fun extras you can add to your system to make it personal to your needs and desires.

How to Create a Custom Planner with the Discbound System

Another very necessary element of a discbound system are the inserts or refills you use. Now, as you may already know, I use the Master Plan System of inserts from my own shop to create my planner system, but most of the major brands already mentioned also sell calendar, project planning and note taking pages and refills, so if you are not into creating a custom planner with printable inserts like I do, you do have some options. More and more, however, I see that sellers on Etsy are also giving the option to purchase pre-printed and pre-punched discbound compatible inserts, so you have that option as well. Just make sure to check the size compatibility for your inserts with the system you are using before proceeding with this option.

If you are interested in a creating your own custom planner using the discbound system, here is a video tutorial I created that walks you through the very simple process. Definitely check out this video and the links I’ve left in this article to help you find the different elements of your ideal planner system so that you can build a planner that is all your own and custom to your needs!

So that is everything I think you need to know about discbound planners to get you started. I hope this information has been helpful to you as you evaluate the option of a discbound planner system for yourself. Of course if you have any other questions about the system, feel free to leave me a comment and I’ll do my best to help you get the information you need to create your perfect planner system! 

xoxo,

Functional Planning

How to Create a Functional Monthly Plan

In today’s video I am walking you through my monthly functional planning process. Watch as a plan my month and share exactly what functional planning principles and guidelines I integrate into my monthly calendar.

CLICK HERE TO WATCH

When I first developed the methodology of Functional Planning back in 2016 I defined a set of parameters to use as a guideline to ensure your planner and the way you were using it were functional. I assigned 3 roles to the functional planner:

1st is to Schedule Events
2nd is to Track Tasks
3rd is to Plan Actions

Now, in the way I execute on the Functional Planning methodology, the Monthly Calendar Spread is the way I choose to keep track of scheduled events and items.

Here are a few popular types of events you might want to ensure you are scheduling into your planner, specifically on the monthly calendar.

  • Reoccuring Events: A scheduled event that happens on a consistent frequency
    • Things like bill due dates, trash days, paydays, events with a predictable pattern- for myself as a content creator, this may also mean using my monthly calendar as a place to map out the days content will be posted so that I remain on schedule with those items.
    • Now with reoccurring events, a major tip I always share is that although it might be nice to schedule everything in your calendar- unless you need the information for reference or because you are taking a specific action related to it, I think less is more- especially in a monthly calendar spread where space is usually limited.
  • Appointments: A non routine event that takes up a block of time in our schedule
    • Things like doctors visits, classes, meetings, anything that will take up time and you may also need to prepare ahead of time for. You will keep the schedule in your monthly calendar, but then any associated tasks or prep should go on a master task list for the month or directly into the daily or weekly spread you use.
  • Special Days: Holidays, birthdays anniversaries etc
    • I know some people might keep a list of holidays or birthdays on a separate reference calendar, but I think its good to transfer that information to your monthly especially because its much more functional to see those days in your calendar so you can plan accordingly. I can’t tell you how many times I missed a special event because it was on some other list I wasn’t in the habit of checking regularly!
  • Due dates: If you have projects or work with specific due dates, I also think its important to keep these on your monthly calendar. Again, you will likely keep specific task information on your Master Monthly Task List and transfer it to the day or week it belongs to as well, but having that big picture view of your month is important.

And I want to be clear, it doesn’t matter what type of monthly calendar you are using. Here I am using a Month on 1 Page, but, these parameters still apply for Month on 2 page as well. You will still be tracking the same types of events, but depending on your spread, you may have more or less room for detail- choose the monthly spread that works for you, and use whatever means works for you to mark down information on your monthly. If that means writing in appointments or using highlighters or color coding to indicate things wonderful. I use some stickers to help me indicate specific things on my calendar. Just do what works for you and what you like. As long as you know what everything indicates create whatever shorthand works for you.

Of course, in terms of the monthly spreads I use that are designs from TheCharmedShop.com my monthly calendar is always followed up by a Master Task List for the month.

Like I mentioned earlier, task tracking is essential to the functional planning methodology and on a monthly basis I make sure to compile a full list of tasks that apply to the month and transfer them to this master monthly task list. The tasks that go on this list may be individual tasks but they may also be projects taken from my project planning or business planning inserts. Sometimes with projects there are really too many tasks to list out on the master list individually so I find it acceptable and still functional to list out the project itself so long as you have those individual steps of the project broken out somewhere for reference.

I’ll also make sure to populate a top 3 priorities for the month as well. The concept of prioritization is also a major element of Functional Planning. Not only do we always need to know what is on our plate, we need to have some sense of hierarchy. Having a monthly top 3 gives me clarity throughout the month that no matter all the little tasks or projects I might touch- I am clear on the fact that the priority ones deserve the most attention to ensure they are completed.

So that is how to create a functional monthly plan. I hope this information has been educational and inspiring. If you would like to purchase my Monthly Calendar Inserts, I will leave you a link below. Of course you can expect that I will be creating more content on functional planning in the future that walk through weekly and daily planning as well as project planning and more.

→ MENTIONED IN THIS POST

✔︎ My Exact Planner System
Choose Month on 1 Page and Week on 1 Page Option

✔︎ Get the 2021 Dated Month on 1 Page Insert

✔︎ Get the 2021 Dated Month on 2 Pages Insert

Best wishes for increased productivity and success for you in the future!

xoxo,

Functional Planning Productivity

NEW 2021 Planner Inserts are here!

Hello My Charmed Ones!

Today I have some very exciting news for you!

I am very pleased to announce that the 2021 Planner Insert Collection is now officially available on The Charmed Shop!

Click the button below to shop the collection of printable inserts now.

New & Noteworthy

There are over a dozen new print on demand insert options in this collection ranging from new calendar and agenda spreads, to new a la carte insert options and even a few new bundles.

The biggest change that has been made in The Charmed Shop for 2020 onward, however, is that all the PDF inserts have been reformatted and when you purchase a design you get BOTH the Half Letter AND Personal Size File. Included with each purchase is also a highly detailed set of Print Instructions that will walk you through printing your inserts at Personal, Half Letter, A5, Full Letter and A4 size!

AND that’s not all! So many of you have been asking if my inserts can be printed to fit the Happy Planner and it’s proprietary dimensions of 7in W x 9.25 in H and I am pleased to announce that the answer is now YES!

I have included a dedicated page on The Charmed Shop with full print instructions for printing your inserts at home for Happy Planner… and of course, these directions work for many other varying size insert as well!

2021 Master Plan System

One of the most significant changes to the 2021 Planner Insert Collection has been made to the Charmed Life Master Planner. Now called the Master Plan System, this print on demand functional planning system now includes multiple different options for Monthly Calendars and Weekly Agenda spreads. For monthly spreads you can now choose between Month on One Page Calendar or Month on Two Page Calendar. For weekly planning you can now choose between Week on Two Pages, Week on One Page or Day on One Page inserts. There are also options for you to purchase all the monthly or weekly insert options as well at a special bundle price. All the print on demand inserts have been reformatted to be even easier to print at home, and are a breeze to mix and match. It’s never been easier to swap and customize your planning system to fit your evolving planning and organization needs as the year progresses!

2021 Planner Insert Launch Party

Now, of course to celebrate all the new planning goodies launching in The Charmed Shop, you are invited to the LIVE Planner Launch Party I am hosting on YouTube TOMORROW Saturday July 11th @ 2pm EST. I’ll be emailing out a direct link to the launch party on Saturday morning to those on my email list if you are interested in joining me. During the party, you’ll get a chance to see all the new inserts in action and ask me all your planning and productivity questions!

So, I hope to see you LIVE on Saturday for the launch party and get a chance to introduce you to each of the new inserts in The Charmed Shop personally!

Of course, all the new inserts are now available so click the button below to start shopping now!

xoxo,

Functional Planning

2021 Planner Launch Update + July Free Planner Insert

Hello My Charmed Ones!

I hope you are all staying safe and healthy at home with your families during this quarantine time.

Today I want to give you an update on a project I am working on, specifically, the launch of my 2021 Planner Inserts and I wanted to share my latest monthly freebie from my shop!

But the first thing I would like to express before we get into all that is that Black Lives Matter.

Now, if you take any issue with that statement, I don’t think I’m the creator or business for you. My channel, my platforms, my business, work and mission in life is to help people identify and move closer to their goals and dreams for their best life ever, and if you objectively cannot see or understand that a significant population of people have been intentionally and systematically stunted from that opportunity that many of us take for granted, than this isn’t the place for you and I encourage you to take time away from my content and learn more about the Black Lives Matter movement. I’m going to leave some resources linked here for you to check out if you need them.

Now, let’s talk 2021 Planner Inserts!

So, I am in the process of updating my 2021 Master Planner inserts and I am going on a completely new direction with the format of my master planner system. I don’t want to give anything away too soon, but I am adding more planner spread options to the master planner and also turning it into a more flexible functional planning system by giving you mix and match insert options.

It is my intention right now, to hold the live stream launch party for my inserts on Saturday July 11th @ 2pm eastern standard time. At that time, you’ll be able to purchase the newly formatted designs and I will walk you through all the options and how this new system works.

So if you would like to join me live for the launch, please mark your calendar for July 11th @ 2pm!! Those of you on my email list will receive the direct link to the event that morning.

Now, with that being said, I also wanted to reach out to you in my community, to see what other inserts you need for your system that I don’t already offer. I know over the last few years I have been streamlining my planner options down as my planning needs changed and became more streamlined, but I’m seeing things differently now and changing my own planning system up, and I want to start creating a more varied and flexible system that will work for more people. So, please let me know in the comments what types of inserts you would like to see from me. Do you need a specific layout that doesn’t exist or that you think I would improve the design of? Are there supplemental inserts you would love to have in your planner outside of just calendar spreads and project plans. I am going to be releasing a Finance bundle with this launch, which was highly requested, but you tell me what you need and want in your planner because I want to create it for you!

Speaking of things I have created for you, if you didn’t know, each month this year I have been designing and releasing new free printable inserts, and my freebie for July is ready for download. It is a set of print on demand half page lists. I love a good half page list, they are a great way to add a task list to your planner spread if you are running low on room, or perfect for making a shopping list to take with you while you run errands. I love them and of course I design and use my own, and I wanted to share them with you. I recommend printing out and prepunching a bunch of them to keep on hand. Or you could even laminate them and make them reusable. Here is a link to a video I made a few years ago on creating reusable to do lists if you are curious.

Here is the link to the July Freebie Printable Half Page Planner Task Lists!

I wish you all the best for a productive June and I hope to see you at the Live 2021 Planner Insert Launch Party over on my Youtube Channel on Saturday July 11th, 2020 @ 2pm ET!

xoxo,

Business Functional Planning Personal Development Productivity

#ICYMI May 2020

Hello My Charmed Ones!

How was your May?

I have to admit, this month was something of a struggle for me. Being at home on lock down since my birthday in March, it’s been a mental battle staying productive and positive for so long in such unusual circumstances. So, if you have also been struggling, my heart goes out to you as well and just know you are not alone. So many people are struggling right now in so many different ways, but just know that your feelings and experience are valid and worth taking the time to acknowledge and understand.

Despite the mental anguish May brought to me, I have to admit, creating content for you was certainly a welcome outlet and reprieve from my own mind. This month I created 12 pieces of content for you that I hope you were able to enjoy and learn from, but if you missed something, don’t worry, I have catalogued it all for you here in this post for your quick reference.

As always, I do hope this post is useful to you, and I do find that for those who like to share my content, this is always a great post to share with friends, family and co-workers because it gives a nice overview of a months worth of content on various topics with easy links to everything new! So, don’t hesitate sharing this post above all because it really is a nice bit of reference for all the content and information I publish in a month.

ICYMI: IN CASE YOU MISSED IT!

• My Home Office Tour
• Entrepreneurial: My Formula for Consistent Action
• INSIDE MY BUSINESS PLANNER
• 10 Things Creative Entrepreneurs Should Keep in their Planner
• 10 Books that Changed My Life
• How to Plan a Marketing Campaign for Your Business
• 6 Assets that are More Important than Your Business Plan
• How to Find Balance as a Small Business Owner
• How I Built My Business Website | Blog, Shop & Membership/Course Sites
• 5 Mistakes I Made In My First Year of Business
• MY LIVE CLASS SCHEDULE FOR THE REMAINDER OF MAY 2020
• FREE Television & Movie Tracker Printable Planner Insert *

*Indicates an associated download

I hope this roundup helps you locate any content of mine you may have missed this month. I’d love to hear which content was your favorite from the month and what you’d like to see more of from me in the future. Please leave me a comment below and share your thoughts!

xoxo,

Functional Planning printables Productivity

FREE Television & Movie Tracker Printable Planner Insert

Hello my Charmed Ones!

June is right around the corner, so you know what that means? Time for another fun monthly freebie!

When I was outlining the designs I wanted to create for my new round of freebies this year, I original had listed that I wanted to create a printable travel packing list for June just in time for summer in the northern hemisphere. However, things change of course, and with most of the world still on lockdown and social distancing, I thought that insert design wouldn’t be the most applicable. Instead, looking at my own life for inspiration, I realized I was watching a lot more shows and movies now and that I needed a little tracker to help me remember all the titles I wanted to watch and their schedules. So, that is what I decided to create for us for June. A Television and Movie Tracker insert!

The Television & Movie Tracker Insert is a FREE Planning Printable you can use to keep track of all the television shows, series and movies you want to watch. The versatile design makes it easy to list out the title of your show or movie, then circle the day of the week the show airs and below that the time. You have room to denote the network or channel for reference, whether you have your DVR set to record the show and finally if you have watched it. Simple as that- now you have one simple insert to use as reference when you are planning out your week so you make time for all the shows, movies and series you are interested in!

The insert is delivered as a printable PDF file sized for half letter 5.5″ x 8.5″ without cut lines when printed at 100% scale, but feel free to print in larger or smaller scale as needed.

Click here to download your copy of the FREE Television & Movie Tracker from my shop, and while you are there take a little look around and see if there are any other inserts, tools or classes you might be interested in. I have been spending a lot of my time during quarantine researching and taking classes myself, so now it a great time to improve your productivity skills or brush up on your goal setting process to help keep your mind active and your intellect increasing.

And of course, if there is anything you need from me, any questions you have for dealing with your productivity or life during this challenging time, please let me know how I can support you and bring you the solutions or resources to make things a little easier for you!

Stay safe, healthy & productive at home!

xoxo,

Functional Planning Online Business

6 Assets that are More Important than Your Business Plan

The six business assets more important than your business plan

The 6 Business Assets that are More Important than Your Business Plan

One of the most popular questions I get asked whenever I talk about online business building is always about business plans. For one reason or another, the concept of a business plan, what it is, why it’s necessary and how to create your own, always seems to be a primary concern to beginner business owners and/or those who are curious about online business and thinking about starting their own. When you are first getting started creating a business, you have dozens if not hundreds of tasks on your plate all at the same time. If you are lucky, you may have help with your workload, but that still means you have many priorities to balance in order to get your business off the ground. Your business plan is just a document that explains what you are trying to do with our business, which, often times when we are getting started, is a hard concept to define! Until you truly have your business up and running, it doesn’t help you with anything, nor does it legitimize your hard work and effort. For that reason, I think there are way more important items and business assets to tackle before you ever even worry about your business plan. Today, I want to talk about six such items that I think you should have in order as a small business owner before you even worry about writing a business plan!

Website

If you are operating a business of any kind, online or off, having a website is a must. When people hear about your business, products or services, the first thing they are going to do is Google you to find out more about you and unless you have thrown a stake in the ground with your own website and claimed your distinct area of the internet, you are loosing a very powerful opportunity to engage with potential customers and clients. People will search for you online and make many instant decisions over whether or not they want to purchase from or work with your business based on information they find or do not find online. For this reason, putting the necessary time and effort into your website to ensure it provides an accurate and intriguing face to your business is a must!

If you want to learn more about how to build an inexpensive professional website that looks like it cost thousands, click here to learn more about this specific subject! 

Business Model

Another term that I often find thrown around along with business plan is business model. Your business model is the way in which you plan to make money with your business. Remember, until you earn money from your effort, you don’t actually have a business, just a hobby! Your business model is a defined strategy for how money will flow into your business. Until you have your business model worked out and begin earning a steady income from it, there is no reason to even think about a business plan! Until you truly begin earning income from your business, so many factors are up in the air. Spend your time thinking about ways you can earn income and execute on those actions before you worry about your business plan.

Adding income streams and building revenue for your business is no small feat. Try some of these tips to generate passive income to help you build capital. 

Products and/or Services

Your products and/or services are definitely the most important part of your business! Like I mentioned earlier, if your business isn’t earning revenue, it’s not a business, so ensuring you are creating and offering the right products and services is crucial. Your products and services go hand in hand with your business model. Working to develop not only great products that people are eager for, but also defining the right methods for distribution and production (which are essential elements of your business model) will help you to maximize your revenue and grow your business.

If you will be creating products and are interested in learning more about starting an online shop, this dedicated video on the topic should help you get started. 

On the other hand, if you are interested in starting a service based business or adding services to your product based business (this is something that I do!) then these tips can help you get your services off the ground. 

Customer Service Systems

Your business runs on systems. They are the actions or sets of actions you take on a regular basis to perform your business tasks. As a business owner you could have systems for processing payments, systems for paying bills, systems for managing tasks and creating products. Or systems for working with clients! There are a variety of systems that business owners use to manage their day to day workload and keep their business running, and the more deliberate and thought out you can make these systems, the easier your work will be. The most important system that you will want to spend a good deal of time and thought on is your customer service system- those actions you will take to manage customer service inquiries and interact with or troubleshoot issues for your customers and potential customers! Because the success of these systems has a direct impact on your business revenue and growth, this is the first system you should define once you begin making money from your products and services. It will go a long way to helping you develop a customer-centric culture within your organization, and will be your best form of PR!

To learn more about systems for your business, watch this video on systems and workflow! 

Daily Work Schedule 

Perhaps you don’t think of your daily work schedule as an asset for your business, but the truth of the matter is that your time is your ultimate business asset! As a business owner who works solo or even has a team of people working with them, the way you choose to spend your time working on your business is critical to its success. You should first strive to define all the necessary work for your business and then understand which actives and tasks are the highest use of your time and executive function. You will want to do all you can to maximize the time you spend performing duties that actually earn your business revenue and streamline or delegate administrative items that keep the business afloat but don’t earn. If you were to place an hourly rate on your time and an hourly rate on the different activities that need to be accomplished for your business, you want to do higher value work more often!

If you are new to business and want to understand more about how you should be spending your time effectively, here is more information on the subject. 

If you are trying to get your business off the ground while you still work a full time or part time job, here are some additional tips and tricks to help you balance the workload. 

Visual Content

The online marketplace is saturated with content, there is no doubt about that, but there is a clear trend illustrating that visual content and visual platforms are where businesses get the most bang for their buck! If you have minimal time to produce content, even promotional or marketing content, spend your time wisely and focus on visual mediums and platforms. Places like Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube command the most traffic and attention online, so learning how to optimize your business for these types of platforms will give you a competitive edge. To optimize your business visually, you need to get very clear on your visual branding and start using graphics and styled stock photography to tell your brand story. Sharing visuals of your products or styled images that define your services, help your potential customers connect and engage with your business.

If you want to learn more about using photography and visual content to elevate your brand and business online, click here for more information on my styled stock photography course created for creative business owners and entrepreneurs!

Still think you really need a business plan? Try the Ultimate Collection of Business Planning Inserts instead! The CEO Strategy Planner will help you create an actionable business plan instead of just a one page business summary!

Don’t let the idea of needing a business plan hold you back from moving your business forward, especially in infancy stages. You have more important work to do for getting your business off the ground and writing a business plan before you have clear proof of income and concept for your business is a waste of time. With time your most precious commodity, everything you choose to spend it on should be moving your business forward or growing your revenue! So, know I want to hear from you! When starting your business, what did you consider to be the most important activities you spent your time on? If you are thinking about starting a business, what’s currently holding you back or causing you pause? Let me know in the comments below!

xoxo,

Functional Planning Online Business

How to Plan a Marketing Campaign for Your Business

How to Plan a Marketing Campaign for Your Business

Today I want to talk to you about how to plan a marketing campaign. Some of you may already know that within my CEO Strategy Planner, there is an insert dedicated to creating a marketing campaign for your business and that is the process I am going to share with you today. If you already own the CEO Strategy Planner, perfect! You will be able to use your insert to map our your own marketing campaign quickly and easily with the help of this little tutorial. If you don’t already own your own copy of the CEO Strategy Planner and you are someone thinking about or currently trying to manage campaigns, you’re going to want this insert because it really is a tremendous tool to use to streamline and execute your marketing campaigns.

Before we get into the process itself, I just want to introduce you to how I use marketing campaigns and ease your mind a bit if you are someone who is overwhelmed at the idea of planning and executing one for your business. So, a marketing campaign can be any time sensitive promotion for your business, products or services. Think of it like a dedicated period of time where you are going to share marketing materials to attract your audience and create buzz around your products. I think a lot of times business owners just getting started can get overwhelmed with marketing campaigns because they think they need to do all the things in order to execute on a success campaign, but I’d like to reassure you that you can plan a simple, elegant campaign for your business that hits your goal without having to go overboard on content and messaging. In fact, I think simple is best when it comes to creating a successful campaign. I like to err on the side of simple instead of complicated because I’d rather have a simple campaign that I complete than a complicated campaign that overwhelms me and doesn’t get finished.

Now, in order to execute on a marketing campaign, you are going to need at least one online platform that you use to attract and talk to you customers. For me personally, I have a few different platforms that I use. I have my blog, my youtube channel, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and of course my email list. When I am planning a campaign for myself, I might use all of these platforms, but if I’m trying to keep it simple, I like to stick to just a few. At the very least you need one. And there needs to be an active audience on the platform you choose. That’s important. You see, there are two ways to market online. You can pay for ads to send your message to new folks that might not already know you, or you can market for free to the audience you have. The later is what I do and thats the process I am going to show you how to plan right now.

Planning a Marketing Campaign

Step 1: Name Your Campaign

The first step to creating your marketing campaign is to name it. I know it seems like a little thing but when you are planning out your marketing for the month or quarter you need to have a name or designation to use that clearly refers back to the different campaigns you are running. So make sure you have a clear name to use that is descriptive but simple. A recent campaign I finished was called CEO Strategy Planner Launch– it’s clear what product was being promoted and what type of campaign it was, a launch.

Step 2: Define your objective

For every marketing campaign you need to have a clear objective that you are trying to reach. It could be the number of sales you are trying to make of a product, the amount of money you want to earn, or even the amount of followers you are trying to gain. If I didn’t mention that before, campaigns don’t necessarily have to be able making money, they can be about gaining followers as well. Again, they are just a dedicated period of time where you are focused against marketing your business in some form or another. As an example, for my CEO Strategy Planner Launch campaign, I set a target for the number of units I wanted to sell during the launch period. It’s always good to have objectives defined, but if you feel unsure about where to start with setting them, I recommend trying the good, better, best method where you define what objective would mean you had a good result for your campaign, which would be better, and which objective would be the best case scenario. That way you can start learning how to set expectations for objectives like this.

Step 3: Outline your key messaging

With every campaign and objective there is going to be some key messages that you are trying to share with your audience. This could be information you are trying to share, or it could be a call to action you are trying to get your audience to fulfill. For example, if you were creating a campaign to sell a product, one of your messages might be about the limited time sale price or bonus’ the customer would receive. Another might be the key outcome your audience can expect to receive from purchasing your product, and a final message might be the end time for the promotion. We want to outline these key messages for a reason- so that all the messages we send out, all the posts, videos or emails associated with your campaign hit those few key points that you want to drive home. Knowing these message points going into a campaign makes it much easier to create all the different posts and updates you will end up sharing during the campaign itself.

Step 4: Define the start and end date for the campaign

Again, a simple detail but a very important one. After all, marketing campaigns don’t last forever, so you need to define the time period where the campaign and it’s objective are going to be your top priority. The time period you define for your campaign is going to be up to you and your schedule and the objective you are trying to reach. You could be holding a one day sale in your shop, planning a week long launch event or focusing on increasing your IG following for a month or more! Whatever the time period you think makes sense, define it so you aren’t working on this campaign forever!

Step 5: List out the marketing assets you will need for the campaign

A marketing asset is any digital promotion material that you can use or reuse as needed during your campaign. I break my assets into four categories. First, are Copy meaning text that I might use for blog posts, emails, or social updates. Next, are Photo meaning pictures or graphics I will use. I also use Video assets, pretty self explanatory but any video content I need to produce to go along with the campaign. Finally, I have an Other category where miscellaneous assets might be listed, like sales pages on my website, email landing pages, or opt-ins. Creating this list is important because its like the pre-campaign to do list of all the things you need to create to successfully market your business and meet your objective.

Step 6: Define the metrics you will track during the campaign

So, I’ll be honest, this step is one that I think a lot of business owners miss when they are planning a campaign but it is a crucial element that you can use to not only track the effectiveness of your campaign, but to also learn from to make future campaigns more successful. So, a metric is some factor that you are going to track to understand the success and impact of your campaign. Going back to my example of my CEO Strategy Planner Launch, I used the metrics of Sales, Email Opens and Email Clicks to measure the effectiveness of my campaign. Sales is an obvious metric. I had set a sales goal as my objective so tracking the target sales vs actual sales would be a good indicator of how successful the campaign was. I chose email opens and email clicks as well to gage the engagement of my audience. But I could have chosen from any number of other metrics as well. Video views, clicks on a specific tracked link, etc. If you are just getting started with marketing your business, some of this might be new to you, so take it slow and just strive to understand key factors that you can track to use a metrics for the success of your campaign.

Step 7: Compile a list of all broadcasts

The second full page my campaign builder from the CEO Strategy Planner is dedicated to a Broadcast Tracker. This is essentially a master list of all the messages I will need to send out during a campaign. Again, we are preplanning these messages out so this master list is important. On this list of broadcasts I make sure to track the date the broadcast will go out, you could also list out the time if that is important for your promotion as well. I list out the platform for each message so I know if its a blog post, video, IG Story or post or email, etc. I track the message itself, by providing a brief summary of what the message is about, and finally I track it’s completion with a checkbox. Looking at my CEO Strategy Planner Launch campaign page, I had 14 broadcasts that I made over a period of six days that spanned four different platforms, so that was a lot of communication to not only create, but ensure I was posting on time for my launch. Having a list like this helps me manage my workload going into a campaign and manage my daily expectations because I can see what the most important thing to do for my campaign is each day.

Well, that is exactly how I plan a marketing campaign for my business. I hope this information helps you to create your own marketing campaigns in the future, and of course, if you need a simple, strategic tool to help you make these plans, I highly recommend checking out the CEO Strategy Planner inserts. Not only do you get access to the Campaign Builder and Broadcast Trackers mentioned earlier, but you get a total of 60+ different business planning inserts to help you make a strategic plan for your business. The CEO Strategy Planner covers everything from Brand Vision, Yearly, Quarterly, and Monthly Business Plans, to Marketing, Objectives, and Finances as well. So, get your copy of the CEO Strategy Planner today because this is the ultimate business planning tool with everything your business needs in one bundle!

xoxo,