SP Stephanie PollockMedia

BY STEPHANIE POLLOCK

THE TOOLS I USEto plan my business growth

TOOLS I USE TO PLAN MY BUSINESS GROWTH

Evernote — Evernote is the keeper of my business dreams, goals and plans. I brainstorm, curate all my ideas, organize my plans and create a structured suite of notebooks for my strategic priorities. I consider Evernote to be my digital brain - if there’s anything I want to know about my plans, I check Evernote first.

Here are a few things I keep in Evernote:

• Idea captures (whenever I have a new idea, I putit here)• Swipe files (for inspiration)• Templates (for my regular business functions)• Program curriculum & launch plans (any newproduct/program gets a new Notebook stack with allthe details as they evolve)• 90-day goal cycles (I put my 90 day goals in anEvernote note to track my progress)• Blog / podcast ideas and drafts

Now that Evernote and CoSchedule sync, I create most of my content right in Evernote.

PRO Project Plan — When it comes to actually map out a workback schedule for a big project, I use my PRO Project Plan. I use this to reverse-engineer my success and ensure no balls get dropped by trying to keep all the big (and little) details in my head.

Asana — Once I’ve mapped out the project plan, I put the details into Asana. This helps me stay accountable to my deadlines, bring in team members responsible for certain elements and having a running list of tasks. It’s a free project manager that has become a lifesaver in my business.

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When it comes to planning the future of my business, I have a few core tools I use to make the planning process easy. Here’s a behind-the-scenes look at my planning process.

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MY proPLANLearn more

CoSchedule — A core component of my business is publishing new content on the blog, podcast and social media. To keep track of all this content, and to plan ahead (vs. wondering what to publish at the start of each week), I rely on CoSchedule - an online editorial and marketing calendar that syncs seamlessly with Wordpress, Google Docs and Evernote. I absolutely love this tool.

Wall Calendars & Sticky Notes — Once my plans are in place, I love to have a big picture visual of what I’m working on. So I head to staples and purchase a big wall calendar (I like this one) so that I can see at least six months at a time. I post them on my wall, and then use coloured sticky notes to represent various components of my business (launches, events, speaking, etc). This is immensely valuable for getting a bird’s eye view of my coming year, so that I can be mindful of bottlenecks or open spaces that need to be filled with revenue generators.

My PRO Plan — And finally, when it comes to making the key strategic decisions for my business, I use all the resources and tools I created for My PRO Plan. This program is designed to help business owners create a roadmap for their business, and I use it every year (sometimes every six months) to make the important decisions and get focused and clear on what matters most.

Interested in learning more about My PRO Plan?

Check out the program here: