Photo by Robert S. Donovan

I can’t help it. In the United Nations, we spent the final weeks of the year scrambling to put together an annual report – usually a document written by two dozen minds collectively. We also set aside several days to plan for the coming year, a process which involved close to a hundred program partners, dozens of meetings and plenty of air travel.

Of course, reviewing and planning for our freelancing businesses shouldn’t take this much time nor be so complicated. After all, we’re talking about a home business here. So I’ve distilled pretty much the same process we follow in the UN into a simpler two-step process for freelancers.

Take a blank sheet of paper, some colored markers (I love my Staedtler set but Sharpies will also do), and make sure you won’t be disturbed for at least an hour or so.

Step 1. Review the past year

Goals

Start by looking at what you set to achieve in 2009. Hopefully, you actually wrote these goals down and can now refer to them. If not, dig deep into your memory and be honest with yourself – no downsizing goals now!

Guide questions:

• What were my goals for this year?
• Which ones were met?
• Which goals weren’t met?

No matter what goals you set previously, it’s time to look at some hard numbers:

• income
• number and type of clients
• how much you earned per client
• how much you earned per type of service provided
• expenses

Strategies

Now look back at how you planned to achieve your goals. If you didn’t actually have a plan, then just take a look at what you actually tried. Just list everything down that you can remember.

Guide questions:

• What did I plan to do?
• Which strategies did I actually try?
• Which ones worked?
• Which ones didn’t work?

At this point, don’t try to analyze why one strategy worked while another didn’t. This is not important! In fact, succumbing to this temptation will only lead to analysis of paralysis. Why did something work? As Bill Glazer says, “Who cares!”

Use of resources

It’s time to look at how you spent your resources this past year. Of course, I mean money. But I also mean your other resources, such as your time, contacts, etc.

Guide questions:

• How much did you spend on your business?
• What did you spend money on?
• What was the return on investment?
• Which strategies are better investments than others?

Lessons Learned

Make bullet points of everything you’ve learned about freelancing, entrepreneurship and yourself. If you’re up to it, you could write entire paragraphs, or leave that for later (Tip: save them for blog posts!). Just strive to capture all these lessons for now.

Check: How are you feeling right now? Did Step 1 energize you or drain you? If you feel like stopping and taking a break, go ahead and do something else. Give yourself a reward for completing such an important task for your business and personal growth.

If you’re invigorated by Step 1, or after you’ve recharged yourself, you’re ready for…

Photo credit: lepiaf.geo

Step 2. Plan for the coming year

Goals

What would you like to accomplish in 2010? Think, not only in terms of the amount of money you make, but also in terms of your lifestyle, the type of work and clients you have, and your overall well-being. Read our goal-setting guide again to review how you can set S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Write down your goals on another blank sheet of paper. If you feel good doing it, draw or cut out pictures for your goals. I know, it sounds airy-fairy-woo-woo, but it works for some people. Personally, I just like to write my goals in big letters on big, white sheets of paper. A mentor and coach of mine suggests writing your goals on a beach ball. I just might try that. But the point is, do what works for you.

Strategies

The next part of our planning process is to decide how you’re going to achieve your goals. By now, you have a good idea of which strategies work and which ones don’t. This is also the time to brainstorm new approaches you may not have tried before.

Guide questions:

• What activities/strategies will you do to achieve your goals?
• How can you scale up the strategies that worked?
• What new strategies will you try this year?

After you have a good list of strategies, decide which ones will be your top priority. Pick 5 main strategies at most; no need to run around like a headless chicken in 2010.

Budget

Time to look at your resources again. Roughly sketch out a budget for your main strategies. Implementing them may require an investment in:

• training
• mentoringcoaching
• membership in various forums or associations
• new software
• new office equipment
• outsourcing

Consider also how much time you’re going to put into each strategy. For example, if you got plenty of ideal customers through Twitter, make a decision right now about how much time you will put into Twitter every day.

Keeping Track

To keep moving ahead with your plans, you need a system to keep track of everything – what you’re doing and what results they’re bringing in.

The technical term for this is “monitoring and evaluation.” Sounds really high falootin’ but in reality, it doesn’t have to be. You can use a matrix like this to make a simple plan for keeping track of your biz:

WHAT                                               HOW                                        WHEN

Example:

Income and expenses                    LessAccounting                     Last day of each month

Refer back to this matrix when you fill up your weekly or monthly planner.

Now get yourself a muffin and a big mug of latte because, guess what, you’re all done!

If you like, you can type up this plan so you’ll have a formal business plan. You’ll never know when you might need one. At the very least, it will make the whole thing easier the next time you do it… next year!

Please Tell Me

Was this helpful? Will you actually do it? How do you review your business and plan for the year ahead? Please share by posting a comment below.