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Your Executive Action Plan


You have to think like a Chief Executive Officer! Now you have the concept of your small business and you want to win! Part of a winning strategy is to have an action plan in place that will guarantee success.

Many people start their SOHO businesses thinking that it’s going to be a walk in the park. No matter what kind of business you are in or have started, you are in competition with others. Now that systems are global, you are not only competing with the business down the street but with businesses in other countries!

But don’t let this scare you because you are on the right track! You just need a little bit of planning before you come out of the blocks. You want an efficient start with the ability to build up speed and power to bypass your competition. Establishing an action plan for your SOHO will do that.

The first part of the action plan should be entitled “Executive Goals and Objectives”. This part of the action plan covers the initial phase of getting your business registered, finding the systems that exist that will help your business, setting up financial modules (accounting) and deciding the legal structure that is best for your business according to getting tax write off advantages.

A good example of a goal in the Executive part of the action plan would look something like this:

Title: Develop Accounting System
Objective: Find an accountant that will establish my bookkeeping system
Goal: To have an accountant in place by July 18, 2007
Method: Find a list of accountants in the Yellow Pages
Due Date: July 1, 2007

The following example is your basic form of an action that is put into a plan with four categories (Title, Objective, Goal, Method and Due Date).

Usually, the Executive portion will cover items, such as, setting up bank accounts, getting the appropriate business licenses, getting tax identification numbers from local, state and federal governments (if applicable) and other executive related information and items.