Entrepreneurs know they should have a business plan when they move into business ownership; some do, some don’t. Regardless of whether you have a formalized business plan in your office and refer to it on a regular basis you may still want to keep a journal of the process. We’re not talking about a “Dear Diary” type process, but one in which you make note of how you got where you are in the business process and where you hope to end up.
There are three items you can make note of and track in your business journal:
- Entrepreneurs with a business plan already have a formal, this-is-how-we-do-things, but a business journal is a place where you can jot down various new ideas that may pop into your head — a new process or service to offer, new way to market for clients, random thoughts on how a service can be tweaked or revised. This is a place for business dreams.
- Use your journal as a place to reflect — whether it’s on the day just past, a week in review or a conversation with a potential client that didn’t come to fruition. This is a place where you can jot notes and review what you might do differently. The business journal is a place where you can congratulate yourself on a job well done.
- Planning for the future. Before you put your next steps into your formal business plan, use the business journal as a place to plan for future services to be offered, ways to grow the business, changes you may need to make in staffing, etc. Because you’re not reworking your formal business plan, your thoughts are more free to flow as you uncover new paths for your business to follow.
Do you have a dedicated place in which to jot down random thoughts that pop up during the course of your business day and your client interactions? You should!