If you follow me on Instagram, you might have seen the behind-the-scenes breakdown I shared on how I plan our monthly goals within Urban 20 Something. I wanted to share the breakdown with you here as May is right around the corner!

Step 1: Have your big picture goals on hand. Our monthly goals aren’t standalone goals that I reinvent every month (though I did that in the early days of my business). They are pillars that focus on our quarterly goals and make sure that we’re moving toward them. So, I start by looking at what pieces of our quarterly goals could be tackled in that month.

Step 2: Get clear on your finances. I lay out our finances in four columns: 1: known cash coming in that month (through recurring payments, payment plans, etc.), 2: expected sales for that month (you can edit this later in the process as you lay out your goals), 3: expected cash for that month (as not all sales will be paid in full), and 4: known expenses that month (your income, coaching investments, software payments, etc.)

Step 3: Create the month’s baseline. Looking at the income I already have coming in and my teams’ job descriptions, we first create a baseline of to-dos for the month. I call this our Daily Document because it breaks down the absolute musts we have to do every single day. These aren’t things that will contribute to our bigger picture goals so much as just things that keep the company moving. This includes coaching calls, interviews, drafting emails, podcast production, internal meetings, etc.

Step 4: Pull the month’s pillars. Based on the quarterly goals and the income goals that you have, start looking at the focuses of the month. I put these in pillars, for example, a launch of a program, creating a course, building out a funnel, launching a podcast, etc. Nowadays, I have a healthy balance of strictly sales-focused pillars (launching, marketing, sales calls, etc.) and business logistics (onboarding a team member, podcast campaigns, Facebook Ad funnels, etc.), However, I would suggest that before making consistent $5k- $10k months, nearly all pillars are income-focused.

Step 5: Apply your goals to your spreadsheet. Based on the sales pillars you have outlined, what are you financial projections? Is it enough? Do you have the capacity to create it? Does the number more than cover your expenses?

Step 6: Breakdown the pillars. Once I know the focuses of the month, I break them down with as much detail as possible so that each pillar has its own “to-do” list. These are transferred into our Monthly Document, which, in contrast to the Daily Document, break down the big picture pillars we focus on each month into small, bite sized pieces.

We then have a meeting before each month starts where we distribute these two documents, get clear on how is in charge of what, and get moving!

Interested in chatting with us about planning May for success? Email me back and we’d be happy to help! This is a free offer. 🙂