Stephen Covey says start with the end in mind, so when you?re planning the future of your business, start by thinking about where you want your business to be long term. This could be 10 years away, 5 years away or 3 years away ? it?s up to you. It could be about selling your business for a particular sum of money; it could be related to your turnover, number of clients or the reputation of your business. It?s up to you to get creative and choose a goal that inspires you to strive for it. You can have more than one long term goal if you want.

Once you have your long term goal, you need to break it down into more manageable goals. For instance, if your long term goal is to sell your business in 5 years, a medium term goal might be to be working only 3 days a week in 12 months, which is part of the way to being able to sell a business that doesn?t rely on you. If you goal is to be named the best in your field in the UK, a medium term goal could be to be seen as the best in your county in a year?s time. You can have as many medium term goals as you like to help you reach your long term goal.

You should be getting the hang of this process now, because it?s time to break your medium term goals down into short term ones ? goals that you can almost reach already. So if your medium term goal is to be working 3 days a week in 12 months time, a short term goal could be to review your current working practices to see how you can grow a business that doesn?t rely on you.  Another could be to look at your staff or whatever team you have, to see what needs to be done to build a solid team of people around you, who can work while you?re away from the office. Linked to this, another short term goal could be to spend some time with an HR or recruitment consultant, to see what they advise in terms of growing your team.

Your short term goals can also be marketing goals. One could be to add a page to your website telling people about the sort of people you?re looking for, to help you grow your team. Another could be related to finding networking groups where you can meet the people you need to advise you and help you build your team.

As with your medium term goals, you can have as many as you like. If your medium term goal is 12 months away, you might need one main short term goal for each of those 12 months.

Spend some time planning where you want to take your business and you?re much more likely to get there.

This is an excerpt from my new book about Marketing Planning, which will be published on 16 November 2011.  Pre-launch orders now being taken ? click here to reserve your copy.