It’s that time of year when you need to have a look at your business and reflect on the impact that 2022 has had on it. Has it been good, or great? What have you done as a small business owner to grow and expand? Once you’ve unpacked some or all of these questions it’s time to look towards 2023 and consider how you’re going to grow and build on your business in the new year. Take some time this month to think about your business, and form a One Page Strategic Plan (or OPSP) to have a concise overview of your plan for next year.

Let’s begin with what an OPSP has in it – according to the Growth Institute, an OPSP is a tool that “Allows you to communicate more clearly with everyone in your organisation. The main thing it does is to help you make sure that everyone on your team focuses on whatever is most important right now.”

Based on Verne Harnish’s Scaling Up Model, the OPSP helps you focus on your business’ goals and scale. Four Key Decisions must be made: Strategy, People, Cash, and Execution. To gain a better understanding of what you can achieve with them, we’ll break them down into chunks. Keep reading to find out more:

Strategy

Your strategy’s success is measured by growth and revenue gained from having the strategy in place. Assess your 2021 strategy and brainstorm ways to make it better and generate more growth and revenue. Take away what’s not working.

People

This refers to your employees. Reflect upon how your employees did during 2021, were they happy, attentive and hustling in high-gear? Or did you notice a few bumps and slumps along the way? This may be a sign to employ more people to lighten the load and help the business in the right direction.

Cash

Cash is a fairly self-explanatory part – how are your business’ finances? Do you need a new year’s cash flow boost? Maybe some funding to replenish stock? Or even to give your hard-working employees a raise? If your finances aren’t looking too hot, consider getting business funding to set you back on the right track.

Execution

Think about how much you work and in relation to how much profit your business generates. If you’re working from dusk until dawn with no breaks, and your profit margin isn’t sky high, you need to reassess the execution of your work. Perhaps it’s time for more employees to take the workload down a peg, or you need to chill a bit – whichever comes first.

To set your goals for 2023, you can plot these reflections and ideas on one page. This is a great way to put your ideas and thoughts on a page quickly for reviewing in a later business meeting. For now, it’s the holiday season, so enjoy your OPSP while sipping on your favourite holiday drink.