Have you noticed lately that weekday traffic is practically nonexistent and cars move at a snail’s pace on the weekend?   Vacation season is here and commuters-turned-beachcombers are headed to the sandy shores or mountain-lake resorts for some R&R. 

For many of us, planning for our summer vacation began in January.  We searched Google and Yahoo for the perfect place to unwind some six months down the road.  We had checklists for everything – what to do, where to eat, and what to bring. We even had a contingency plan just in case Mother Nature didn’t cooperate. 

I’m curious.  Why is it so easy to plan vacations yet so hard to plan our business?  Somehow business planning just doesn’t seem to fit anywhere into the entrepreneurial real estate agent’s DNA.  Oh yes, we set financial goals and even convert the dollar goal into units.  Then we go about our merry listing and selling way, hardly thinking through the process of how we’ll get from point A to point B.  Sometimes we hit the number and sometimes not.  But would we hit the number more often if we planned?  I believe we would. 

Business planning takes relatively little time and offers big returns.  I’m not a planner by nature.  I learned the hard way, through the school of hard knocks and bad markets. I’ve since trained myself to make the time for this very important exercise in my business. I keep it simple.   I start with a situation analysis to identify my position. Then I move on to goal setting  – I stretch enough to challenge myself and still remain realistic.   The final step is to plan the activities to make the goal happen.

This works for me.  Everyone has a different method of achieving their goals.  I’m interested to hear what works for you!