If you were to go on a journey to a place you have never been, but feel intuitively that it is a better place then where you are, what would you do to prepare?

First, you would create a plan right?

Where am I going?

What am I going there for?

Why am I going there?

How will I get there?

We want to take advantage of the natural time when smart business owners plan for their future and that is why we are going to run our customized for the mortgage industry Strategic Planning program called BUSINESS PLAN 2010.

The result of the three month process will be you having a very thorough, yet succint business plan for 2010, your roadmap if you will.

Through the personal guidance of our Head Coach, and Canada’s Top Mortgage Broker for 2008, Greg Williamson, you will go through 5 modules to create your plan.

What activates all motivation and intention is the answer to the question Where?

To establish strong ground for your new plan it will be important to determine WHERE you have come from, WHERE you are presently (particularly in the phase of growth in a mortgage business) and most importantly WHERE you are going.

The Question of “WHERE are you going in your business?” has three answers:

1. Long-term ATTENTION on your business reflects an exciting statement of your long-term vision. What is your NEXT BIG GAME?
2. The next answer lies in the question “In the next year what is your unique selling position to enroll customers and referral sources into your business?”
3. Finally, the last answer lies in the question “In the next 90 days what ‘role’ do you need to play in your business?” Said another way is “What type of professional do you need to grow into?”

The basic motivation to build, operate, and support your next BIG GAME is the answer to the WHY? module

The questions of What is your motivation?  What’s most important to you? Why do you want to play a bigger Game? are answered three ways:

1. Our lower purpose in the mortgage business is writing mortgages for people and receiving money for it.  In order to effectively enroll sustainable and loyal customers and referral sources into your businesses you need to align your interests with that of your customers and referral sources.  Therefore, we need to answer “what is your higher purpose?
2. The mid-term answer to the why question is “what is your annual theme for 2010?” This becomes an excellent mindset for the coming year and motivates you to keep pushing.
3. Finally the short term answer to the why question is “what is the most pressing business priority this quarter ?” This becomes the bulk of your focus quarterly as you take on new projects that align with your stated priorities and intentions for your business.

Time to state your intentions.  Asking the question of “what’s the point?”

1. We start with your longer term answer to “what is my 2012 stretch goal?” The importance of this is aligned with the writing by Jim Collins in his famous business book “Good to Great”.  Jim called his stretch goal a “Big Hairy Audacious Goal” but make no mistake ALL the greatest companies he studied had one, why don’t you?
2. The mid-term answer is stating your Annual Objective.  This is a measurable number in your business that is aligned with your long term intentions.  basically ensuring “are you on track?”
3. The short term answer is choosing a quarterly smart number.  This number is the number that best connects you to your annual objective.  Typically a number from the balance sheet or P&L to focus on every quarter.

What’s the Plan? is the question we ask in the HOW? module

What will be your actions.  The follow-up to the question of what to do, is How? The answer to this question establishes the action of building your new look venture.  Strong action gives clear direction to all the people working in and on the business. The general form of the How question is: “What’s the plan”.  The answer to that once again has three answers.

1. The long term answer to the question of “How” is to determine your growth strategy, which is the answer to the question “what is your greatest leadership challenge?”  Put another way, “how can YOU sabotage these plans?”
2. The mid-term answer lies in creating the critical path for the next year; which is the chain of development tasks that carries the greatest risk of incompletion, delay, or budget overage.
3. Quarterly we need to be mindful of your key thrust, which is the specific action or talent needed to employ in measurable terms to achieve the annual objective stated in the “What” module.

You have a plan, now what? It’s time to STEP UP!

One of the fundamental challenges in the growth process for people in life and in business is in “Navigating the Dip”.  Every new project starts out exciting.  Then it gets harder and less fun, until it hits a low point: really hard, and not much fun at all.  Then people start asking themselves if the plans they created are even worth the hassle at all anymore?

It is at this point where most people quit.  It is also at this point where we will excel.  “The Step” is a mindset tool we use to pick people up when they are at a low point of high stress, fear, and/or doubt. We know from experience with access to a professional coach using our Step-Up coaching system people will escape dead ends quickly by focusing on their step-up and more importantly their motivation and intentions that we worked on.

This is our Growth Strategy, helping people Navigate the Dip.  Our professional coaches do this by using your Step-Up.

Why would you consider doing this?  Once again if you want to change your results, and/or you want to get over a growth wall between phases of growth in your mortgage business then you need a plan.  Having a plan will inspire you and give you the confidence to navigate the dip.

The dip is the natural process that always kicks in when we are trying new things to test our persistence.  This will be the point where you will have the highest degree of stress, fear, and doubt coupled with your natural self-limiting thoughts.

Your plan coupled with support from your peers, your coach and your mentors from 180 Degrees will get you through it where you will experience Success that Sticks!

When: October 14 to December 31, 2009

Where: Regular webinars led by Greg Williamson, followed by intimate group feedback sessions by tele-class to tighten your plan and get support more intimately from Greg.  If you need more help we will give it to you, nobody will be left behind!

What: A succint, yet thorough strategic plan. All on On Page!

Your Time Commitment: Approximately eight hours per month of teleclass time scheduled once a week.

In week one and week three you will attend a 1 hour teleclass outlining the module we are working on.  In week two and week four you will attend a 2 hour intimate business session led by Greg Williamson to drill down your answers to the questions in each module.

To get your best value you should also have some self reflection time and work on the pre-work given to you in between sessions to help determine YOUR best answers to our important questions about your plan.

How much: $1,080 plus GST (be sure to let us know if your are a member of one of our affiliate companies to get a discount)

Want more information?  E-mail info@doa180.ca and we will answer all your questions

Want to enroll in Business Plan 2010? Click here