You’ve figured out what your vision is by defining factors such as your target market and your strengths. The next step is to develop a business or operational plan that will help you achieve that vision.

The plan will list the activities you need to take on to follow through on goals in your vision.

A plan takes the guesswork out of your day-to-day business activities, says Larry Distillio, director of financial advisor business management with Mackenzie Financial Corp. in Toronto.

Here are three steps to producing a business plan:

1. List the activities that fit your vision
You know where you want to take your practice and now you must define the tasks that will get you there.

Don’t worry about coming up with the perfect strategy, says Distillio.

“There is no right or wrong answer. The key thing is to do it,” he says. “That’s where we tend to fail sometimes: we don’t have a plan.”

Take your overall vision and break it down into a series of steps. Your plan should consider areas such as: education, prospecting, marketing, revenue or asset growth and a referral strategy.

For example, if your long-term goal is to focus on financial planning for divorced individuals, steps to consider are:

>pursuing the chartered financial divorce specialist designation
>getting insider information from current divorced clients on the financial issues that concern them most
>adding articles to your newsletter that will appeal to this specific market
>increasing your networking activities with divorce lawyers

2. Allocate resources
“If you’re planning activities for your business, where are the resources going to come from to implement that plan?” asks Distillio.

While a budget is probably the first thing you’ll consider and is important, it is not the only item to think about. Others include time, energy, team support and technology.

By focussing on the priorities in your business, you will have a better idea of where and how to spend your valuable resources.

So, if the plan is to earn a new designation, consider the expenses involved and the extra time it will take. Are you able to make time while working at the office or will this be an imposition on your personal time?

Defining how you will accomplish each step is just as important as listing the steps.

3. Frequently review the plan
Your timelines for each step will depend on your overall vision. You might decide to give yourself one year to obtain a new designation but that you only need two months to revamp your website.

However, it’s just as important to be flexible with your plan as it is to include deadlines for specific goals. Circumstances that can affect the implementation of your plan can change. When this happens, you should review your step-by-step strategy.

For instance, if you lose a team member, you should take out the plan and review it. If you’ve turned five prospects into clients, review your plan.

Ask yourself how you can accommodate changes like these within your strategy, says Distillio.

“You’re always checking in on the plan,” he says. “That should be a habit in your business.”

This is the second article in a four-part series on developing a strategic plan.

Next: Researching your market