There are a few skills that are absolutely critical for you to possess to successfully scale your business this year.
They help you get better results in less time and with less complexity and uncertainty.
They help you run a business that is lean, luxe, and leveraged.
The first is strategic planning (I share about the others in additional posts in this scaling series).
And if you’re thinking, um, I have a project manager or ops person for planning… there is a critical piece that only you should do.
Even if you have some incredibly smart and talented strategists, mentors, or team members that you work with, you ultimately own the decisions on the strategy part of strategic planning.
Strategic planning isn’t just about setting some goals and creating a list of things for people to do.
It’s also not about spending days upon days creating the perfect plan of exactly what you are going to do and how you are going to do it.
Effective strategic planning is the ability to connect the big bold vision that you have down to the day to day activities that you and your team will focus on.
It’s about being able to sort through the hundreds, if not thousands, of good ideas that you have to find the one exceptional one to pursue that's going to make the biggest impact.
It’s about being able to discern between bright shiny objects and distractions and the things that are actually going to propel your business forward and get you to your vision and goals in the most aligned and leveraged way possible.
Then it’s about surrounding yourself with the right team and supporting systems to implement on that vision with clarity and focus.
You can wing your way to 6 figures or even multi-6 figures, but you can’t wing your way to multiple 7 figures and beyond (nor should you want all the stress and uncertainty that comes with winging things, even if you could).
So what do you do when you want to scale successfully?
- You start with developing a clear vision.
- Then you implement a strategic planning practice that fits your business and that encompasses marketing and growth, delivery of your products and services, and operations.
The reality is that there are few that do, which is why I developed the lean strategic planning framework...
I developed it specifically for scaling businesses who need something highly effective, yet lightweight and adaptive.
And who need something more than personal productivity now that they have a team, but something far less than the complex and restrictive planning frameworks that come out of large corporations.
It is a framework that both scales with you, and that is designed to help you scale.
Lean strategic planning is one of 9 interconnected engines that help a business scale sustainably.
These engines are what we implement together with our clients inside our signature Simplify to Scale (S2S) program.
We structure our mentorship program different from most, giving both you as the CEO and Founder access PLUS we give your right hand person in your business access too, with unique tracks designed for each of you.
Because while your business may need all 9 engines including lean strategic planning, the good news is that you don’t have to implement it yourself.
Inside the Visionary CEO Track, you get scaling support and strategic advisory through 2x per month calls, and inside the Implementation Track, your right-hand Ops person gets training and support to implement all 9 engines into your business for you.
So you can focus on vision and strategic decisions, while your team implements them.
So you can achieve your goals and revenue targets with confidence and clarity instead of hope and determination.
And so you have a place to get strategic advisory and support from me on all the ups and downs as you scale, along with access to a small circle group of your peers for connection.
Want to implement the lean strategic planning framework into your business to help you scale?
I am now accepting a small number of businesses into our next cohort of Simplify to Scale kicking off in February.
S2S will completely transform the way you grow and scale your business. There is no other mentorship experience like it.
Learn more and see if you are the right fit here.
by Crista Grasso
Crista Grasso is the go-to strategic planning expert for leading global businesses and online entrepreneurs when they want to scale. Known as the "Business Optimizer", Crista has the ability to quickly cut through noise and focus on optimizing the core things that will make the biggest impact to scale a business simply and sustainably. She specializes in helping businesses gain clarity on the most important things that will drive maximum value for their clients and maximum profits for their business. She is the creator of the Lean Out Method, 90 Day Lean Out Planner, and host of the Lean Out Your Business Podcast.
