Planning for a feisty new year

December is not too early to get started on 2024

Hello Feisties!

Have you been thinking about 2024 yet? I know, at this point in the year, when the cold weather crowds in and the days get short, it feels like enough to just get through to the holidays. Fortunately, I’m one of those nerds who gets almost as excited about planning as I do about the actual activity. Part of my fun in going on vacation is thinking about what I’ll do, how I’ll maximize my travel allowance, even what to pack. And of course, I love planning in my writing business, thinking about new marketing tactics I’ll try, what new clients I might land, even how I could add some extra bread to my bank account.

This year, I joined a workshop with some fellow planning nerds a.k.a. freelance writers to work through the process together. We started with a SWOT analysis of our businesses, a common business tool where you look at Strengths/Weaknesses/Opportunities/Threats. Not surprisingly, a major focus of our discussion is how we will deal with AI in the coming year. I would say our immediate reaction is threat and we are all trying to see how to shift it into the category of opportunity.

After contemplating our major goals for the year ahead, we’re breaking them down into what we need to do in Q1 to reach them, and then each month of Q1 to add up to the quarter. It’s always a balance between how far to lean out of your comfort zone and what you’ll actually do, then also how much time is realistic to spend developing new parts of your business as you work to serve existing clients. Since I do this every year, here are a few tips that I’ve found helpful in the planning process:

Set 2-3 goals or focus points per quarter

Rather than try to get everything done at once, you’ll be more organized and less overwhelmed if you set 2 or 3 points of focus for the quarter. I like to add these to my weekly to-do list so that I always have them in mind even if they have a glacial cross-off rate. If I have a quiet week, then I can make time to work on them. In case of no slow weeks for a while, I try to also set aside times to devote directly (hello Friday afternoon after the week’s deadlines have been met) so that I can get them done. My goals often revolve around what new client markets I might try, how to increase my visibility as a writer, and what new tools I should learn or platforms I should join to move my business ahead.

Check in quarterly

Don’t wait until the start of next year to see how your planning is working out - I like to check in on my progress at least seasonally, so at the start of summer and then the start of fall. Set aside a couple of hours to see what’s going right and wrong, and then how you’ll course correct. Maybe you need to carve out more time for the project. Maybe you need to divide it into parts so you feel more progress. Maybe you need to modify the goal or even abandon it if it’s not working out how you thought. For example, last year I tried out a new project management tool to organize my work and decided it wasn’t worth the effort to change over from the solution I currently use. But confirmed my new accounting app was a hit! Either way, checking in can be a helpful reset.

Be open to new projects

One disruption to planning for a new year is that you never know how that year will roll out. Example: AI in 2023. Once it became apparent that this might be a game changer, I set aside more time to learn some tools and see how they might affect my business or how I could use them to increase productivity. By rolling with what’s new in your realm, you can get ahead of what is already moving forward, avoid being steamrolled.

Hope this planning advice has been useful to you, and now back to my nerdy Q1 editorial calendar. Some good Feisty plans are baking in there as well!

Sue