LAST 2 Months: How To Make 2027 Your Best Year — Transcript

Full transcript

1. 0:00If you wait for January to hit the magic
2. 0:01reset button, February is usually when
3. 0:04you either quit your goals or when you
4. 0:05realize that you never actually [music]
5. 0:07started. And it's not because your goals
6. 0:08were wrong, but because your year
7. 0:10doesn't start in January. It starts in
8. 0:12October. A big reason why I was able to
9. 0:14scale our company to over a quarter
10. 0:16billion dollars annually in revenue is I
11. 0:18start planning the next year while
12. 0:20everyone else is still planning for the
13. 0:22holiday [music] party or just lost in
14. 0:23the chaos of Q4. This year, we even
15. 0:26managed to do our yearly kickoff before
16. 0:28the end of September. So, I'm going to
17. 0:30walk you through exactly what we do
18. 0:32between now and January. Because if you
19. 0:34want to take off on January 1st, you
20. 0:36need to hit the runway before that with
21. 0:37[music] your plan ready and every piece
22. 0:40already figured out. So, the first thing
23. 0:42you need to understand is that most
24. 0:44business goals don't fail because they
25. 0:46were the wrong goals. They fail because
26. 0:48by the time you start working on them,
27. 0:50you're already behind. So, here's what
28. 0:52happens. When October hits, usually
29. 0:54quarter four is just chaos. There's the
30. 0:56holiday party, the end-of-year push,
31. 0:58travel, family events. So, you tell
32. 1:01yourself, "I'll work on this when I have
33. 1:02a little bit more time." And then
34. 1:04January comes and you're catching up on
35. 1:06all of that yearly planning that you
36. 1:07ignored in November and December. And by
37. 1:09the time you finally sit down to plan,
38. 1:11it's already mid-February. You've lost 6
39. 1:13weeks of momentum and by March, you're
40. 1:15just reacting. That is not a plan. In
41. 1:172019, when we only had 12 team members,
42. 1:20I was responsible for leading our entire
43. 1:22annual planning initiative. And at the
44. 1:23time, it seemed silly. There's only 12
45. 1:26of us. Why do we need to do this?
46. 1:27There's all these other things going on
47. 1:29that we have to focus on and be paying
48. 1:30attention to. And I remember receiving
49. 1:32so much pushback from our handful of
50. 1:34leaders saying that they just didn't
51. 1:35have time in order to do an annual
52. 1:37planning offsite. Well, [music] we did
53. 1:39an annual planning offsite and it
54. 1:40happened to be the exact same day as our
55. 1:42holiday party. We just scrunched the two
56. 1:45all together at the same time. We did it
57. 1:47in our house and we ordered Chipotle and
58. 1:49we went through what the revenue
59. 1:51projections were. We went through how
60. 1:52many team members we were going to need
61. 1:54in order to support that revenue. We
62. 1:55went through the constraints that we
63. 1:56knew we were going to run into. And that
64. 1:58[music] night at the toast for the
65. 2:00holiday party with our 12 team members
66. 2:02and their spouses, I made a toast to
67. 2:04making processes sexy in 2020 because I
68. 2:07knew, based off of that annual planning,
69. 2:09that the thing that was going to break
70. 2:11our business if we didn't get ahead of
71. 2:12it was process creation. Because we were
72. 2:14going to go from a handful of million
73. 2:16dollars to 13 million dollars between
74. 2:19the end of 2019 and 2020, which is
75. 2:22exactly what we did. But it would have
76. 2:23been so easy to just push it off, to not
77. 2:26make it happen, to let all of our team
78. 2:28members who already said they were
79. 2:29overworked win. But if you want to take
80. 2:32your business to another level, [music]
81. 2:33you have to be the one who is steadfast
82. 2:35in saying we are going to do this, we
83. 2:37are going to get aligned, and we are
84. 2:38going to make a plan. Because if we
85. 2:39don't, we are just going to do more of
86. 2:41what we're already doing, which has
87. 2:43allowed us to get to where we are. But
88. 2:44that is not what is going to get us to
89. 2:46where we want to go. And the way that
90. 2:47most people do this annual planning is a
91. 2:49complete scam. They look at last year's
92. 2:51revenue, pick some random number, and
93. 2:54call it a plan. Or, better yet, they
94. 2:56spend a week end at an offsite, and they
95. 2:59put sticky notes on a wall, and then
96. 3:00they feel inspired, and then January
97. 3:02hits, and they go back to doing
98. 3:03everything they were doing before. The
99. 3:04new year, new business mindset is
100. 3:06dangerous because it gives you
101. 3:08permission to wait. Let's figure it out
102. 3:10next [music] year. We'll restructure it
103. 3:11in Q1. Let's revisit it in January. But
104. 3:14your bad habits don't disappear on
105. 3:16December 31st. A new year won't fix the
106. 3:18hire you made in August or the margin
107. 3:21problem you've been ignoring since Q2.
108. 3:23Real annual planning is
109. 3:25>> [music]
110. 3:25>> operational. How many people do I need
111. 3:27to hire? For what roles and by when?
112. 3:29What breaks when we hit this next
113. 3:31revenue level? Which systems have to
114. 3:32change? That's why we start in September
115. 3:35because it takes time. So if you're
116. 3:37sitting here in October thinking, I
117. 3:39should probably start thinking about
118. 3:40next year, sorry to say that, but you're
119. 3:43already late. Luckily, not as late as
120. 3:45the person who waits until January. And
121. 3:47if you're finding this video in January
122. 3:49or February, being a little late is
123. 3:51still better than never starting at all.
124. 3:53So either way, this starts now with
125. 3:55planning the next 90 days today, [music]
126. 3:58which luckily for you, I I this resource
127. 4:01that is the actual deck that you need to
128. 4:04use to roll out your plan for your team,
129. 4:06which means that it has all of the
130. 4:08component parts of what you need to
131. 4:10create from the ops plan, the
132. 4:12communication plan, the culture plan,
133. 4:14and the finance plan in order to hit
134. 4:17your goals. And if you want this so that
135. 4:19you're able to actually hit your targets
136. 4:21because you've created them and you've
137. 4:22[music] rolled them out, find me on
138. 4:24Instagram and DM me planning and I will
139. 4:26give this deck to you for free [music]
140. 4:29right now. And when you do this, don't
141. 4:31forget to put a reminder in your
142. 4:33calendar for next September so you start
143. 4:35this planning on time next year. But
144. 4:37before you set a single goal, you need a
145. 4:39pre-flight checklist like a pilot who
146. 4:42checks everything before even touching
147. 4:44the throttle. For your year, that check
148. 4:45is an honest audit of the last 12
149. 4:47months. The next step is to use this
150. 4:49year's results to set next year's
151. 4:52targets. What worked, what didn't, and
152. 4:55what do we need to change? As I
153. 4:56mentioned, we officially kicked off
154. 4:58annual planning a few weeks ago in late
155. 5:00September. That's when we mapped out not
156. 5:02only the next year, but also what needs
157. 5:03to happen from September until December.
158. 5:06Each department has to meet with
159. 5:07finance. We have to figure out head
160. 5:09count. We have to get clear on all of
161. 5:11the resourcing and the vendor spend
162. 5:12that's going to be required in order to
163. 5:14hit our goals. But before we set a
164. 5:16single target, we audit the year we just
165. 5:19had. What worked and what didn't. And we
166. 5:21look at real evidence. This isn't
167. 5:23[music] feelings, it's not a matter of
168. 5:25do I think we did well, does our team
169. 5:27think we did well. We have real evidence
170. 5:30through numbers. So pull up your revenue
171. 5:32graph. When it dipped, did you ask what
172. 5:35was happening at that time? When it
173. 5:36climbed, did you ask what were you doing
174. 5:38to make that work? This data is
175. 5:41invaluable because you're going to use
176. 5:43it to set your revenue target for the
177. 5:45next year. The thousands of business
178. 5:46owners that I've worked with always use
179. 5:48the same random process for setting
180. 5:50their annual revenue target and it
181. 5:52sounds something like this. Well, last
182. 5:54year we did X and I think that was
183. 5:56pretty good, so maybe this year we'll
184. 5:57shoot for Y. They don't use real data
185. 6:00from the previous year to determine what
186. 6:02the target should be. For your revenue
187. 6:04target, which is the foundation of your
188. 6:06annual planning, you have to pick three
189. 6:08points: [music] the low target, the
190. 6:11medium target, and the high target. And
191. 6:13all of this is just math. So, in order
192. 6:15to create your low target, you're going
193. 6:17to take your top three months from the
194. 6:20previous year. So, if you did 2 million
195. 6:22in 1 month, 1.5 in another, and 1.8 in
196. 6:26another, you're going to add those three
197. 6:27numbers up. So, that number is going to
198. 6:28come out to 1.76 million. This is your
199. 6:31low target. Why? Because you're able to
200. 6:33demonstrate that three out of the last
201. 6:3512 months, you were actually able to
202. 6:37attain this revenue. So, it would make
203. 6:38sense that you could also attain it next
204. 6:41year. So, you would take 1.76 million,
205. 6:44times that by 12 months, and you'd have
206. 6:45your annual revenue target for your
207. 6:47business next year, which is 21.2
208. 6:50million dollars. The mid target is
209. 6:51taking your highest revenue month and
210. 6:54multiplying that by 12. So, in this
211. 6:55case, we would take 2 million and we
212. 6:57would times that by 12, which is going
213. 6:58to come out to 24 million dollars. The
214. 7:00high target is simply taking your mid
215. 7:02target and adding a growth multiplier.
216. 7:04So, we're going to take our 2 million
217. 7:06dollars, and we're going to say our
218. 7:07growth multiplier is 0.2, so 20%. So,
219. 7:11our high target, using our growth
220. 7:13multiplier of 0.2, is going to establish
221. 7:16a 28.8 million dollar target. This is
222. 7:19how you set an annual revenue target for
223. 7:21a business. You [music] use real data
224. 7:23coming out of your existing business,
225. 7:25and you build a budget and a resource
226. 7:27plan and head count around [music] it.
227. 7:29Once this is established and
228. 7:31communicated, every department runs its
229. 7:33own planning meeting in order to hit
230. 7:36those targets. They first start by
231. 7:37looking at how this year went
232. 7:38culturally, operationally, [music] and
233. 7:40financially, and align their goals to
234. 7:43the overarching goals of the
235. 7:44organization for the upcoming year. That
236. 7:46review tells you what you need to carry
237. 7:48into next year, and what has to change.
238. 7:50The third thing you need to understand
239. 7:52is that November and December are your
240. 7:54runway, not your recovery. Once you've
241. 7:56set the target, you need to get the
242. 7:57people, skills, and systems in a place
243. 8:00to be able to reach it. That's what
244. 8:01those two months are for. Our annual
245. 8:03planning gets very specific. At Coda
246. 8:05Ventures, we plan with OKRs, which are
247. 8:07objectives and key results. We set five
248. 8:09to six objectives for the entire
249. 8:11upcoming year, and the key results are
250. 8:12the measurable milestones that get us
251. 8:15there. If the target requires a person,
252. 8:17that person needs to be in place in time
253. 8:19to do the work. If a process will break
254. 8:20as soon as you grow, you need to address
255. 8:23it before the extra work arrives.
256. 8:25Writing down the target doesn't complete
257. 8:26any of that preparation. This is how you
258. 8:28use Q4 while this year is still busy.
259. 8:31You have to identify what next year's
260. 8:34work depends on and prepare for those
261. 8:36things before they hold you up. For your
262. 8:38own plan, the resource could be
263. 8:39something you need to learn, someone you
264. 8:41need help from, or time you need to make
265. 8:43available. [music] Write it down. One
266. 8:45skill to learn by January, one person to
267. 8:47get in touch with, and one thing to cut
268. 8:49to have enough time to prepare. Then
269. 8:50give each one a due date in December.
270. 8:53We're making some massive investments in
271. 8:54our AI platforms, and one of the
272. 8:56constraints that we have is being able
273. 8:57to hire talent in the United States. So,
274. 8:59in 2026 quarter four, we're putting a
275. 9:02lot of our time, energy, and effort in
276. 9:05India to be able to set up an additional
277. 9:06Cardone Ventures office there. We're
278. 9:08able to add new team members at a rate
279. 9:10that's faster than what we're currently
280. 9:12able to hire in the United States. But
281. 9:13if we weren't planning for this right
282. 9:15now and looking into 2027, we would be
283. 9:17rolling into India trying to figure this
284. 9:19out in quarter one of next year, and we
285. 9:21would already be behind. Because when
286. 9:23January arrives, you should be able to
287. 9:25point to the work you're ready to start
288. 9:27and ideally have already begun. So, that
289. 9:30brings us to the moment you actually
290. 9:32lift off. The final step is to turn that
291. 9:34preparation into action in January. By
292. 9:37the first week, you already know your
293. 9:38goals and you're ready to get started.
294. 9:40[music] In the second week of December,
295. 9:42we bring the whole company together and
296. 9:44share our objectives and key results for
297. 9:46the upcoming year. Leadership has known
298. 9:48about them since the end of quarter
299. 9:50three and has been preparing for months.
300. 9:53Now, everyone knows the goals. So, we're
301. 9:55able to walk into January already
302. 9:57executing, not brainstorming. The team
303. 9:59knows the play before the year even
304. 10:01starts. The people who [music] win don't
305. 10:02restart every year. They're already
306. 10:04running when the calendar flips. Picture
307. 10:06two people in March. The person who
308. 10:08planned in October has spent the first
309. 10:10quarter working toward their goal. The
310. 10:11person who used January to pick a target
311. 10:13and February to prepare is only just
312. 10:16starting. That's [music] the difference.
313. 10:17For yourself, put a date on the first
314. 10:19milestone. Then make a commitment that
315. 10:22gives you something real to prepare for.
316. 10:23You should be able to open your calendar
317. 10:25and see when you're going to do the
318. 10:27work. Every plan needs a forcing event,
319. 10:29something in Q1 that makes you show up
320. 10:31different. Your forcing event should
321. 10:33cause you to move differently. One of
322. 10:36the most successful actions that I've
323. 10:38used to get to where I am is picking a
324. 10:40date and having that date require me to
325. 10:42show up different. So whether that's an
326. 10:44all company meeting or an event that you
327. 10:47go to to go learn a skill or to network
328. 10:50and meet new people, pick something and
329. 10:52put it on your calendar and make it
330. 10:53something that you can't back out of.
331. 10:55For me, I wanted to be known as somebody
332. 10:58who truly understands how to operate a
333. 11:00business. And so I've rolled out this
334. 11:02annual planning across this company and
335. 11:04the companies I worked in prior because
336. 11:06I wanted to be known as the operator.
337. 11:08And one of my favorite moments of my
338. 11:10entire career was when I was talking to
339. 11:12somebody I respected and they asked what
340. 11:14our plan was for the upcoming year. I
341. 11:15was able to, within seconds, pull up my
342. 11:18Google Slides and it showed that this
343. 11:20plan was last updated on December 2nd of
344. 11:23the previous year. And the person
345. 11:25commented on this. He said, "Are you
346. 11:27telling me that your annual plan was
347. 11:29created and finalized and hasn't been
348. 11:31touched since December 2nd?" And I said,
349. 11:34"Yes, we kick off our process in
350. 11:35September." That to me was the
351. 11:37culmination of all of the hard work and
352. 11:39that little moment was the recognition
353. 11:41that I was working for. I couldn't have
354. 11:43predicted that that was going to happen,
355. 11:45but it reinforced to me the importance
356. 11:47of being a business owner who actually
357. 11:49does the work the right way. If you use
358. 11:52your previous successes, you get your
359. 11:53team aligned, you can hit the targets
360. 11:56that you set for your business. But if
361. 11:57you don't, you're going to fall into
362. 11:59this trap that every other business
363. 12:00falls into, which is the ability to say
364. 12:02that they want to do something, but then
365. 12:03slowly circle the drain as the year gets
366. 12:05worse because unexpected events happen
367. 12:08and you never got your team on the same
368. 12:09page. So tonight, open up a spreadsheet.
369. 12:12Row one, your 2027 number. Row two, what
370. 12:15worked this year and what didn't. Row
371. 12:16three, what you'll add, learn, and
372. 12:18[music] cut with a date for each. Then,
373. 12:21put your first action for January in
374. 12:23your calendar. And remember that you
375. 12:24don't have to build this from scratch.
376. 12:26Take the hard work, the decade plus of
377. 12:28experience that I have, and DM me the
378. 12:30word planning on Instagram and use it as
379. 12:32your guide starting now. And if you're
380. 12:34not sure what number to put in row one,
381. 12:36watch this