Is your business ready for anything?

Lately there’s been a lot of preparation in our house. I don’t know if you’re aware but very very soon I’m going to be having a baby, so there’s been quite a lot to do! We’ve had to get everything out of the loft that we could reuse for this baby, buy things we didn’t have, make lists and find homes for everything. We are pretty much sorted now.

Preparing for a baby is pretty crucial before they arrive. Imagine if you had a baby and didn’t have any nappies, clothes for it to wear, somewhere for it to sleep? Your life would be thrown into chaos and you’d have to get hold of all the things you need pretty quickly. Similarly when  planning your business or creating your brand, you need to spend time on preparation and planning in order to be ready for whatever is thrown at you. (Click to tweet)

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Your business image will evolve with you, but if you have a good starting point then it will help you out so much. It’s a lot easier to attract the right clients if you know who they are and what they’ll be interested in than it is to try to blindly attract people to buy from you without giving much thought to who you want to work for and what will get them interested.

It’s a lot easier to have your business image planned out so you can whip a flier together that’s on brand when you suddenly need one than to fiddle around working out how things should look in a fluster. If you know what your colours and fonts are then this will take you a lot less time and the planning required up front will be worth the effort.

It’s also easier to use social media if you’ve already worked out what your message is and who you’re hoping to speak to, easier to create graphics for this for the same reason, easier to write blogs once you know who your audience are and to meet your goals if you’ve set some.

Planning is very important.

It doesn’t have to be that you end up with pages and pages of preparation either, a little preparation will go a long way. One side of A4 to help you determine specifics for your business image and some thoughts jotted down on your ideal client, your thoughts and goals is a good start. You can always add to this and change it as you go.

With the baby, I’ve made lots of lists and worked through them one by one to get everything ready on time. Maybe you just need to make a big list of all the things you need to get together to make sure that you’re ready for anything. This could include:

Having a logo designed

Knowing your brand colours

Choosing the font(s) you’re going to use

Buying the equipment you need for your business

Having professional photographs taken

Designing business cards

Writing your about page copy

Creating a freebie to encourage people to sign up to your list

Joining an online programme

Attending a networking event

Setting up your social media platforms

Getting a proper email address

There will be loads of things you can write on your list. The important thing is to do SOME planning, so that you’re not surprised and rushing around like a headless chicken later on.

What do you need to prepare in your business so you’re ready for anything?