Planting Your Business Garden

Hear me out. 

For those of you who follow me, you know I’ve become a huge fan of gardening. We bought our house three years ago and this is the third summer I’ve planted a garden. We don’t have much space for a garden, but we have really optimized said space. Growing a lot of vegetables up, not out, by wrapping them to stakes and tomato cages, regardless of the vegetable.

But as I was planning our garden this year, I realized there are a lot of parallels between planning, planting, and growing a garden and planning, launching, and growing a business.

I started planning our 2023 garden toward the end of summer 2022. We had tried a bunch of things in 2022, realized some were a total waste of time and money, and others were so successful we didn’t know what to do with ourselves and said crops (namely 15 ft-tall cherry tomatoes). So as I started planning my garden for this year, this was my thought process:

• What worked? What didn’t? 
• What else do I want to try?
• What will we actually eat so we reduce waste/who can we share with?
• How can I streamline so it’s easier to manage and has the highest production?
• What tools and resources do I have now that I won’t need to purchase or attain next season?
• What will I need to purchase to be successful next season?

Do any of these questions sound familiar to you?

As we work on planning our businesses, sure, there are plenty of pivots in real time, where we have to flip something around in 30-90 days, but for the most part, we’re planning 6-12 months in advance. It takes time to put ideas in motion. It takes planning to ensure you have the right resources. It takes strategy to make sure all the pieces are in place.

So as you’re planning the next steps for your business, I encourage you to ask these questions:

• • What worked? What didn’t? What else do I want to try?
    Especially in the early stages of getting your business off the ground, it’s a lot of trial and error. I’d be asking this every 3-6 months. And once you get your business up and running on stable ground, keep asking this. How can you improve? What tweaks can you still make?
  •  What else do I want to try?
    In the name of innovation, what else are you curious about? What new initiatives are you interested in launching? What research do you need to do ahead of time to determine if it’s the right fit? What tools/resources do you need to support this new idea?
  • What was actually profitable? What do we need to drop?
    You should always be measuring profit, or rather adjusted gross income (AGI) over revenue. Revenue is an arbitrary number. You could be signing $1M a year, but if it cost you $999k, you’d still be way better off signing $250k a year that only cost you $200k to produce. What is your most profitable, most in-demand, and brings you the greatest joy? That’s what you should be focused on.
  • How can I streamline so it’s easier to manage and we increase our output?
    What systems, processes, people or technologies need to be put in place so whatever you’re doing now is less manual, takes less time, and what a bonus if it also increases value to your client. When you streamline and simplify, you increase efficiency and therefore, you increase profitability. Which, again, is what we’re looking for here.
  • What tools and resources do I have now?
    Regardless of what worked and what didn’t, you know more now than you did before. You either have systems in place that are now working for you or you know which ones need to be in place. You have solid team members in place or you’ve found a VA that can take a few things off your plate. Take inventory of what you’ve learned and what you now have. It’s important to celebrate the wins and the progress you’ve made thus far!
  • What additional tools/resources do I still need?
    You have a lot, what else do you need? Maybe it’s nothing – wouldn’t that be nice! Maybe it’s minimal. Maybe it’s a huge overhaul. Take note of what you need to support your game plan.

And for the wondering, this is how my Wisconsin summer garden maps to RAYNE IX:

Alrighty, well, if you have a green thumb, I hope it serves you well this summer season. And I hope your business thrives as well. As always, if you have any questions or I can be of service in any way, please don’t hesitate to reach out!