Many business owners spend years building a business without stopping to ask one important question – ‘What do I want this business to give me?’
It sounds simple, but it can be easily missed. The focus often goes straight to turnover, profit, clients, staff, systems and day-to-day problems. They all matter, but they should all be working towards something bigger. The business should support the life the owner wants, not consume it.
A story I often share came from a couple I met while walking the Cape Wrath Trail in 2024. They’d once been told, 'If you want to do something different when you retire, you’re doing the wrong thing now.'
They took it seriously.
Rather than waiting until retirement, they changed their lives. They left roles they didn’t enjoy and started doing more of what they wanted. They now spend much of their time walking the world, carrying what they need and moving on to the next place. It’s an extreme example, but the point is useful. If a business owner is working towards retirement, exit or simply a different way of life, the planning needs to start long before the finish line.
Start building a business that supports your life goals
Start with your personal goals
The first step is to think properly about personal goals. Not vague goals or the kind people say because they sound sensible. Real goals.
- What do you want life to look like in five years?
- How much do you want to work?
- What kind of work do you want to do?
- How much freedom do you want?
- What kind of income do you need?
- What would make life feel more enjoyable?
These questions matter because a business isn’t separate from the person who owns it.
If you want more time, the business needs to be built in a way that creates time. If you want financial security, the numbers need to support that. Or if you want to step back in the future, the business needs the people, systems and structure to run without relying on you every day.
Without personal goals, business goals can become disconnected. You may end up with a business that looks successful from the outside but doesn’t give you the life you want.
Align business goals with personal goals
Once the personal goals are clear, the next step is to align the business goals around them. This is where planning becomes more practical.
For some business owners, the goal may be to prepare the business for sale. For others, it may be to build a stronger team so they can work fewer hours. Some may want to keep the business but change their role within it, others may want to increase profit, reduce stress or create more stability.
The right business goals depend on the life goals behind them.
There’s no point building a bigger business if the real goal is to create more freedom. Growth for the sake of growth can easily create more pressure and more dependence on the owner.
The better question is, what does the business need to become so it can support your wider goals?
That might mean improving profitability or reducing reliance on one person. It might mean strengthening the management team or creating better systems, better reporting or a clearer exit plan.
The business plan should serve the life plan, not the other way round.
Build a detailed five-year plan
A five-year plan gives you a longer view. It helps you move away from reacting to what’s urgent and start thinking about what’s important. This matters because meaningful change takes time. A business that depends heavily on the owner can’t usually be changed overnight. A team doesn’t become stronger by accident. Better systems, stronger margins and a clearer structure all need thought and consistent action.
A five-year plan gives direction.
It helps you think about where the business needs to be and what needs to change. It also drives what decisions need to be made now.
- If you want to exit in five years, the business needs to be attractive, stable and less dependent on them
- If you want to reduce your working week, you need to build the right team and delegate properly
- If you want more profit, you need to understand here profit is made and where it's lost
The plan doesn’t need to be perfect – but it needs to exist.
Look at the opportunities and challenges
Good planning also means looking honestly at the opportunities and challenges in the business. There may be opportunities that haven’t been fully explored:
- New services
- Better pricing
- Stronger partnerships
- Different markets
- Better ways of working
There may also be challenges that have been tolerated for too long.
Perhaps you’re too involved in the day-to-day. Or the numbers aren’t clear enough. Maybe the team needs more structure. It may be that the business is profitable but still feels stressful and difficult to run.
This is where stepping back matters.
When you’re busy, you often don’t get enough time to think. You might deal with what’s in front of you, then move on to the next problem. Over time, the business can drift.
Looking properly at opportunities and challenges helps stop the drift. It gives you a clearer view of what needs attention, what could be improved and what might make the biggest difference.
Set 12 to 18-month goals
A five-year plan gives the direction, but shorter-term goals create movement. This is why 12 to 18-month goals are important. They help turn bigger ambitions into something more manageable. Instead of looking at the whole five-year picture at once, the owner can focus on the next stage.
That might be recruiting a key person. It might be improving management information or increasing profit. It could be putting better systems in place or reducing your involvement in specific areas. These goals should be specific enough to act on and should also link back to the bigger personal and business plan.
If the long-term goal is to step back, the 12 to 18-month goals might focus on team development, delegation and processes. If the long-term goal is exit, the goals might focus on profitability, valuation, leadership and making the business less dependent on the owner.
The key is to make sure the short-term actions support the long-term direction.
Think about personal development
Business planning isn’t just about the business. It also requires you to think about your own development. This is often the part people avoid, but it’s one of the most important.
- If you want the business to run without you, you may need to become better at delegating
- If you want a stronger team, you may need to become a better leader
- If you want to step away from daily problem-solving, you may need to stop being the person everyone turns to first
The business can only change if the owner is willing to change too. This doesn’t mean becoming someone completely different, but means developing the skills, habits and confidence needed for the next stage.
The way a business owner works at the beginning isn’t always the way they need to work as the business grows, so it’s worthwhile to step back and measure yourself against your personal and business goals.
Learn more about Bill and the team
Turn the plan into action
Planning only works when it leads to action.
Once the personal goals, business goals, five-year plan, opportunities, challenges and development areas are clear, the next step is to decide what needs to happen.
- What needs to change this year?
- What needs to happen this quarter?
- What should be done this month?
These actions don’t need to be huge. In many businesses, steady progress matters more than dramatic change. The important thing is that the actions are clear, realistic and reviewed regularly.
A plan that sits in a drawer won’t change anything. A plan that’s acted on and reviewed can change the direction of the business and the life of the owner.
Why business alignment sessions matter
The steps above form part of the business alignment session that we run with clients at the start of their coaching programme. The session gives business owners time to step back and think properly about what they want from life and their business.
It’s not a one-off exercise. The sessions are run annually because goals change. Life changes. Businesses change. What felt right a year ago might need adjusting.
Regularly reviewing the plan helps keep the business moving in the right direction because the aim is to build a business that supports the life you want.
