BIRD WILLIAMS: You're listening to Bird Means Business Episode 7. 

Hello, hello, and happy new year! Y’all it’s the beginning of a new year, and a new decade. And I don't know about you, but I'm feeling like 2020 is gonna be next level. You know I saw this funny meme that said how all a bunch of the major holidays are going to be on the weekend and how Cinco de Mayo is going to be on Taco Tuesday. And it was just saying that 2020 is going to be lit, and it was really funny. But in all seriousness, I just feel like it's going to be a really great year. I'm going into 2020 with a lot of dreams and a lot of unknowns. And one way I manage those unknowns is by breaking down my dream into bite-sized goals. We've done this for every year we've been married, my husband and I. We sit down and discuss our goals for the year. And you know we go about this a bit differently, which I have learned to love. So, Terry’s way of doing it is to have one word or one phrase for the year. Whereas your girl has a bulleted list of, like, every area of my life, from me personally to us and our marriage, our kids, our travel, our businesses, our finances. It's like this crazy long list. And you know, when I say it out loud. It does sound a little crazy. Honestly, it used to bother me because I felt like Terry wasn't taking it seriously because he just had that one word or phrase. What I've learned is that we're just wired differently, and that not only is it okay. But it's actually beautiful and it's balanced. So I'm starting with that story because I want to make sure that you understand. 

I'm going to give you a process for how I think through setting a project plan for Q1. But I want you to make it your own tweak it. Take what you like, leave what you don't. But just treat this as a template and get creative with it. 

Before we dive in, I want to share a listener shout-out. Nina on iTunes said, “One of the best. Ashley provides practical and excellent wisdom and advice. With her personable touch, you feel as if you're being guided by a friend. Not only is she giving you so many gems. But you truly feel inspired and motivated to do anything. Highly recommend.” Thanks, Girl! I love hearing that you're loving the podcast and that you feel connected to me through the airwaves. So I sincerely appreciate the review, friend. 

So for starters, as we're gonna get into the episode, I want to say I intentionally put Q1 instead of 2020, because, to me, creating a full-blown project plan for the entire year is not as effective as narrowing down on the next three months. I want you to think macro. I want you to think big picture. And then we'll work backwards from there. That's my approach. So, you have to understand that when you're starting a new business, or even if you’ve been in business for a few years. There's still so much changing so quickly that you should not expect to really be able to predict or project where your business is going to be in a year. But at the same time, it's still okay to dream. So my philosophy is to dream big and think, where would I want to be on December 31, 2020. And I want you to really sit here for a second and make it tangible and really feel where you are on that day, the last day of this year. What does your business look like? What does it look like to the world? What does it look like internally with your team? What does your day-to-day look like? How do you interact with your business? And then I want you to work backwards from there, really honing in on the next three months. 

I want this to really work for you, and I went back and forth on what’s the best way I could find to express this. And I'm a super practical tangible person. I mean the fluff is good, but I also want to have actionable steps. So I figured the best way to express this project plan is to give you a real-life example of how I would apply it practically. Yeah, it's gonna be a little uncomfortable for me to open up in this way and to share one of my big goals with you. But I read something the other day, and it encouraged us to make our goals public. It said that whenever you say your goals out loud and you're kind of held accountable, you're so much more likely to actually achieve the goal. So let's get into it. 

One of my goals for the year is to open an event center with my family in my hometown. And by the end of 2020, I want this venue to be profitable. Hey, hey! So it's an aggressive goal. You might think, okay an event center. She's launched a few businesses. No big deal. But it actually is a big deal. It is actually aggressive because, one, I have never opened an event center before. Oh my gosh, I have no idea what I'm doing in terms of renovating the space and the design. And you know, it's the kind of thing that if I had nothing else going on and I could just sit down in my cozy pajamas and my coffee and go on Pinterest and plan this whole thing out, it could maybe be fun. But I have all the things going on. I am currently running three other businesses, and I have two small children. So, yeah, it's a little crazy over here. 

I'm going to lay out how I would map out my project plan for Q1 with this goal of profitability for this venue in mind. So if you're planning to launch a business, as I walk through this example, I want you to think about how this process would work for you. Because again, I want this to be super practical.

So let's jump into it. We're going to start with thinking macro long-term. Okay? On December 31, 2020, my event venue is profitable. What does that mean? That means our revenues are higher than our expenses. So let's first dive into what our revenues are and what our expenses are. So my revenues, that's how much my business is going to bring in each month. I need to map out the packages and services that we're going to offer, and I'm going to do that by looking at similar event centers in the area. You know the competition. What do they charge? And what unique touches can we add to our venue that would maybe change what we would charge? Are there ways that we can make it cheaper and be more competitive? Are there ways that we can add extra value and charge more? Also, you want to add a growth rate to this. The idea is that your business will grow over time. So from the day we launch versus the end of the year, we're hoping that those numbers go up. That's how you're going to kind of think about your revenues. 

And then for expenses, I'm going to get down to the nitty-gritty of what the actual expenses for the business are. I'm going to kind of think about it in terms of a day in the life of my business. If it was opening, if there was someone hosting a wedding or retirement party in this space, what would be going on? You're going to just list out all the expenses, the internet, the cleaning service, the lights, the electricity, all that kind of thing and you're going to have an expenses list. 

Okay and then you're gonna look at how it’s looking, and you're going to address things as needed. So let's say you map it out. These are my revenues every month. These are my expenses every month. And you look at it and you realize, yeah, I'm not profitable by the end of the year. Then you think, okay, how can I either increase revenue or cut expenses. And side note, I learned that the former is much easier. I initially would approach this with, let's cut all the expenses. Even in our personal life with our personal budget, I'm like we got to get rid of this and we got to get rid of that. And that's good and that's, you know, wisdom. But what I've learned for real growth, is to increase your revenue. You want to increase revenue to really grow over time so take a look at how things are looking and figure out where you need to adjust. You might just need to add other revenue streams to your business. 

So now that you've adjusted your revenues and your expenses, and your financial model is now showing that you're profitable. How do you make this model, real life? Okay, let's break this down. So if I have three packages and the model says that for these three packages, one I need to bring in $500 a month, one I need to bring in $1,000 a month, and the other one is $1,500 a month. So how many clients do I need to sell each package to? You need to really break it down. Let's say I need to sell each package to two clients, each month. So that's getting six clients in the door. So then that's going to lead you in to how you are going to reach these clients. Where do they hang out? This is when you get into marketing. Now y'all I could go in on all these things. But I'm trying to keep this podcast at a reasonable length. But yes, you're going to explore marketing there. What are you gonna have on your website? What are you going to have on social media? What are other ways that you can reach your client? That's going to be explored in that step. 

Then, to get them in the door, what does open look like? Like what does it mean for the business to actually be open so you can start hosting events? So we're going to need to get all those services set up, the lights, the website, all that kind of stuff. And you're going to just basically go ahead and plan out what companies you're going to use, you know what website platform you're going to use. And you're going to also add into your model when you're going to start incurring those expenses. You don't need to get everything up front, necessarily, right? There's some expenses that could maybe wait until later. If you're going to hire someone to do tours, for example, they don't necessarily need to start that until later. You're going to get a really good idea of what your startup costs are, and what costs you will incur before you ever sell to a client, because that's a big number, right? You're going to need to know, how am I going to float myself until we actually start having paying clients? Do you have savings for this? Or are you going to need to get a loan from a bank? Or maybe a loan from angel investors like we did with The League? Or maybe you want to go the equity investor route. That's when you will explore that. 

And then you're going to think about who the players are in this story. We're going to need someone to run operations. We're going to need someone to give tours to prospective clients. We're going to need someone to run marketing. We're going to need someone to answer emails and on and on. Think about every single task and list them and figure out who those teammates will be. 

And then you're going to want to start building culture there, it starts before you ever launch, before you ever open the doors. You want to start building a culture with your team. I actually have a freebie on culture building. You can go to my website which is birdwilliams.com. Or if you're on Instagram and you follow me, it's in the link in my bio. Go on there and get a free Culture Building PDF. It's so good. There's some interviews from my team at The League, which is the gym that I run in Houston, Texas. And I just believe that a huge part of our success of The League has to do with the amazing culture we have built, because of our team and our amazing clients and all that. So that information is there and I think you'll really like it. 

So you see how we kind of work backwards in that way? Starting with our ultimate goal and then kind of breaking it down into bite-sized pieces. It'll obviously look different depending on the business. But ultimately this is what I came to for Q1 of 2020. By March 30, 2020, I need to be ready to open the doors to my event center, giving us nine months to become profitable. This is actually the length of time it took The League to become profitable, as well, which is interesting. But if I want to be profitable by the end of the year, I'm going to need that nine months based on my business model, my financial model. So I need to open by the end of March, that's at the end of Q1. 

When I break this down into months, within the quarter, it looks like this. We're gonna break down January, February, March. In January, I need to solidify a renovation loan. And then I need to finalize the renovation work with our contractor, and our designer. And then, I need to begin the renovation. So the contractor we've already been talking with is saying it's going to take one and a half, to two and a half months. And you know, we err on the side of it's gonna take you longer than you think. So that's why I have it baked into the model that way. And then in February, while the renovation is going on, we're going to be solidifying roles and responsibilities, and our packages, what we're going to be offering. We're going to start building up a website, and any other marketing or materials for the business. And then finally, in March, we'll begin marketing and planning our grand opening and kind of fine-tuning things before launch. You don't want to put too much in the month that you plan on launching because there will be surprises. There will be a lot going down. 

So let's break it down even further, in January, from those three things. Solidifying a renovation loan because you know we're already in January. So where are we? We are already in the process of working on the loan. The bank has everything they need so I'm kind of just waiting on their finalization. Then, on number two which is to finalize the renovation work with our contractor and designer, we've kind of already started. We definitely already started that. I actually had a friend the other night, I was texting her and kind of just talking about how tired and stressed I was. And she was like, what can I help with? And I was like, there's nothing you can help with. I gotta just figure it out. And she grilled me down to being like, no, actually, what can I help with? And I was telling her about how I'm just kind of perplexed about the space and I don't really have the capacity or even really the design, to go into a space and say, how should this look to look great. And she was like, I'll go, we're gonna do it next weekend. So she's gonna come with me. Thank God for amazing friends. Jalen, you the best. Thank God for people in your life like that who are just going to step in and say, I am with you. So yes, we are working on that. 

And then finally beginning the renovation. You really break it down into, the year, the quarters, the months, and then even weeks, like what I need to get done by this week. That's how you make big goals bite-sized. 

Another thing I'm going to do that I'm going to start doing now is solidifying our business plan. Y'all I'm gonna be real straight up right now with y'all. I'm just gonna just keep it all the way 100. I am in the middle of launching a business plan course. But guess what? I have not even put pen to paper for the business plan that I want to launch for this venture, for this event center. And you know, even though you might think well you've launched a few businesses, you kind of know what you're doing. No, no, no, you better believe I will not be missing this crucial step because I know what's at stake if I do. So, it's especially important because I'm working with my family. My dad has his own ideas in his head and my mom has her ideas in her head and then there's Ashley. And, you know, it's very easy to think, like, oh, we kind of know what we're gonna do. We've been talking about this for so long, but no. That's the problem. We don't know what we're gonna do. You got to put it on paper. You got to make it to where everyone can see. You set the vision so that people can really run with it and what's gonna happen when we start to sit down and do this business plan. By that I promise you, my dad's gonna be like, “Wait, what? Oh no, we can't spend that much money on that.” And my mom's gonna be like, we need all the things. And I'm gonna be in the middle and it's gonna be great. No, I'm just kidding. They're amazing and it's gonna be awesome. But that's the beauty of doing a business plan so that we can know before we're like, arguing in front of the contractor or opening up the doors and not on the same page. We all know from jump, what we got going on. 

Okay, so I want you to do this for your business. And I want you to work through these steps. I want you to ask yourself this. Am I a serial learner, and planner? Or am I a serial implementer?  Because it is one thing to make this grand plan. But guess what? Y'all, we got to actually do the dang thing. Anyone else struggle with that? I mean, you read a book or listen to a podcast episode and you can be so inspired. And they're telling you, this is exactly what you need to do, and you know you need to do it. And you say, you know what I'm going to do this weekend. There's going to be this perfect moment where my kids are napping. And I have like an hour. I'm going to sit down and do the thing. And then guess what? Saturday comes and your kids are not napping and you are exhausted and you're like, you know what I'm just gonna do it next week. And the next week comes and then you push it off again. So we can't do that. I mean, I can be so bad with that, to be honest. I'll start the week with this aggressive to-do list that takes all this time to craft and get perfect. And then when it comes time to actually doing the things, I get distracted by random things like my phone or whatever it might be. And that ends up pushing off what I intended to do. But we're not going to be that. We're going to be implementers and not just planners and learners. So don't stop at the learning phase. Do the next thing and act on your ideas. Being an implementer, it looks like planning and setting yourself up for success, and then actually taking those steps of what you plan to do, and moving forward and adapting and pivoting as needed. But you're doing something and that's what's most important. 

So, if you feel sort of stuck on what to do next in your business. I have two really good resources for you. One is completely free, and one is an investment. So the first one is “Ready, Set, Launch”. At the very beginning of launching Bird Williams, I did a free guide on the first 10 steps to launching your business. And y'all, it is so good. And I’m not just saying that cause I did it. Let me tell you why I'm saying it. Because if Ashley in 2013 had had this list, Lord Jesus, I would have saved so much time and so much money because I just didn't know what I didn't know. So I'm kind of blindfolded walking through this entrepreneurial journey. And I'm like, oh, I was supposed to sign that? Oh, I should get a P.O. box so that my personal home address isn't on all the public documents that people can look up online? Oh crap. So I created a guide that literally walks you through steps 1 through 10 of exactly what you need to do. You can get that on my website birdwilliams.com. Or, like I said, on Instagram, there's a link in my bio for “Ready, Set, Launch” and it’s awesome.

And if you want to make an investment in your business, you can do that by signing up for my four-week online interactive course called Making Sense of It, How to Develop a Profitable Business Plan. So basically it's a four-week course, it starts at the end of January, and you can register for it. It'll open up on January 15. It's $297, or you can pay in three installments of $117. And y'all I am putting my heart and soul into this. It's going to be so good. There's going to be a private Facebook group where we can interact and talk through your questions. I'll do weekly Q&A. And guess what? I keep thinking of more and more things to add to this, so there's going to be so much bonus content. And I am just really really really excited about it. I think you will love it, regardless of what stage in your business you're in. If you want more information on the importance of a business plan. Check back to Episode 6. I go through the whole shebang and it's really good. 

Okay, the last thing I'll say is this. Remember, your why. The other day on IG stories, I did a poll asking people who had a business plan. And if they didn't, they could email me. But if they did I wanted to know, where they were in the process, or if they feeling really good about it. And I think it was about 50/50. But one of the young women who put that she was in the process, I asked her how it was going and were there any areas she was getting stuck on. And she was like, I am just so stuck trying to figure out website content. And I really felt where she was. I resonated with that because I felt stuck before too. And I started to think about how is it helpful to get unstuck. And one of the ways is to remember your why. What are you doing this for? Who are you serving? How will their lives be enriched because of your service? So let's say you're a wedding photographer. They're going to have these pictures of their wedding, all over their house. They're going to be showing their grandkids years from now. That's motivating. What if you're a hairstylist. You're gonna make them feel so confident as they go into that interview or on that first date. You know that's what makes it worth it for me. With the event center, this is something we feel is a real need in our community in my hometown. And we want to create a space for community and gathering and love and family. That's what my family is all about. Anyone who's ever been to my family's house, they've felt that. And we want to create an environment for that as well. We want people to feel so comfortable there that they'll have an even more incredible event than they would have otherwise. And they'll just talk about this event for years to come. So you got to focus on your why. Because the thing is, it’s going to get hard. You will want to quit. You will get a bad review and think, what's the point. You will get stuck on website content. You will have sleepless nights. And you will need to remember why you're even doing this in the first place. So I don't want you to just decide on your why. I want you to write your why on the inside cover of your journal, or make it the background on your computer, or print it out and tape it on your bathroom mirror, or in your closet so that your subconscious is constantly being fed the motivation of why you're doing what you're doing. So I hope this was helpful to you. If you join the course, I look forward to diving into these areas and much deeper with you, and our course community. But regardless of if you sign up or if you don't. I encourage you to set yourself up for success by dreaming big and breaking that big goal down into bite-sized digestible action items so that you look back on 2020 like what? I did that? And you can do it.
I want you to know that you have someone, me, cheering you on the whole way. Talk to you next week.