In the last four months, we moved our family home in the city, where we lived for 25 years (just imagine all the “stuff” to go through) to a lakeside retreat setting; our son was married (lots of emotions and planning); a new grandchild (Chloe) was born; I hosted a full-day mastermind session with 7 amazing entrepreneurs at my new home (so it had to be organized); I’ve had 2 speaking gigs, I launched a new coaching program, and I created and presented a new Webinar. So it’s fair to say I’ve had a lot going on. But here’s the thing…

Last year at this time, I did not know my husband and I would be moving. I did know about the wedding so I marked that down in my calendar to avoid business conflicts as well as dates for my mastermind and Webinar. Why did I plan for a mastermind and Webinar date a year in advance? The answer is simple…to make sure they would happen.

Over the course of the year, things happen (like a major move you’ve been “dreaming” of for years). But that doesn’t mean your business shuts down. In fact, when you create a marketing or planning calendar, you keep on track to get it done.

When I realized that my first Webinar promotion was scheduled to go out October 19th and it was October 18th, and I hadn’t figured out my topic yet, I thought “holy crap.” But I could not let myself down! I had to come up with a new idea that people would be interested in…then I had to write a compelling promotion so my amazing assistant could set it up and send it out. And it happened – a day or two later than planned and that’s fine. I did it.

The point is, if I didn’t plan one year ago how to create a new buzz for my business to potentially attract new clients, I would not increase my profits this year. It’s the same for you.

Now’s the time to see what worked last year – and what didn’t – and make changes for next year. My plan was for a half-day mastermind session as I’ve done previously because they’ve worked so well. But with the move, I changed it to a full-day session because attendees would travel further so I wanted to make it worth their while. Adjustments were needed.

Pick up an inexpensive calendar at the Dollar Store that you can use just for marketing purposes. Schedule in launch dates for new marketing campaigns, programs, events, or whatever it is you do for client attraction. Include when the marketing begins so you don’t put things off until…well, probably they won’t happen. I like to use a separate calendar for this so I can easily copy it year to year (and make adjustments where necessary).

Talk to your current customers. What else are they looking for from you? Then be creative to come up with the solutions that would best serve them.

And by the way…it only took me a couple of hours to come up with the idea and the marketing promotion for the Webinar. I DID NOT create the Webinar content – I just got the information out there. As people signed up, I worked on the content including a bold offer (not to sell anything – but to give help to struggling small business owners). If I had decided to create the content first, it still would not be promoted so would not have happened.

This is the time to schedule planning time for next year into your calendar. It will dramatically change the way you do business – and your results!