Your Ultimate Guide to Quarterly Planning

Jun 20

When you’re a business owner, there is so much to plan - content, launches, program development, client work, marketing, collaborations, etc. It can be overwhelming and daunting to start - how are you supposed to plan when you have so much work to do?!

However, creating a plan is critical for your business to ensure you are working on the right things at the right time to see growth! I love quarterly planning since I have a bad habit of spending more time planning than executing (who else is guilty of this?!) and having a planning day every three months scratches my planning itch without it becoming a distraction.

This post will be your ultimate guide to quarterly planning. We’re going to talk about:

Why Quarterly Planning
Three Stages to Quarterly Planning
Quarterly Planning Best Practices

I will share how you can make the most of setting aside a half-day every three months to set yourself up for 90 days of success. And don’t worry, all of this can be translated to monthly planning or six-month plans.

Why Quarterly Planning

Quarterly planning refers to the strategic practice of breaking down your year into four quarters. Then, once every three months, you’ll reflect on your progress and prepare for what’s to come in the next quarter.

Planning in 90-day increments has several benefits:

Break down annual goals/timelines into easy-to-manage increments
Creates a sense of urgency to complete projects and meet deadlines
Short enough to catch bumps/challenges if you need to adjust
Long enough to see progress and big changes
Adds accountability for reviewing KPIs and metrics

Before diving into quarterly planning, ensure you have a clear purpose for your life and your business. Identify why you’re making this plan and define success in each focus area. I love to journal about my ideal day and review my annual goals before I start a quarterly planning session to remind me why I’m setting plans and what I’m working towards in the next 90 days.

Three Stages to Quarterly Planning

The three steps to a productive quarterly planning session are to reflect, plan, and implement.

Reflect
The first step to creating any plan is to review the last 90 days. If you are regularly tracking your metrics (if you’re not, this is your hint to start), compare them from the start and end of the quarter and to the previous quarter. Where are you seeing growth? Where are things moving slowly? How much money did you make? What content/program/product performed well?
This step will highlight where you may need to spend more time in the future and where there are opportunities to put more effort into what’s performing well.
- In this step, it’s also essential to celebrate everything you accomplished in the previous quarter. I hope you celebrated regularly throughout the last three months, but if not (and even if you did), toast to your success because you deserve it.
Plan
During the planning step, I encourage people to check in with their ‘why.’ Remind yourself of your motivations to start and grow your business so you can check if you start adding too much to your plate. If your why is to spend more time with your family, do you need ten program launches next quarter?
Set your goals. With your ‘why’ in mind, set goals for your life and your business. You can set goals in any aspect of your life and business, but the most common themes are revenue, audience growth/reach, program development, health/fitness, and collaborations. Make sure they are SMART goals (I groaned typing that, but it really is the best framework for setting goals)—specific, Measureable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound.
- Before moving to the implementation stage, take a peek at the next quarter. Are there any holidays or events you need to prepare for this quarter? Not looking ahead is one of the most common mistakes people make with quarterly planning, and they aren’t ready for an opportunity. If you want to launch a July 4th product, you need to prepare in Q2, not when you’re planning for Q3.
Implement
During the implementation stage, you will break down your goals into a daily or weekly action plan by setting a deadline and working backward to determine a start date for each goal. The start date is a commonly missed step in the goal-setting process, and then by the time you remember having a goal to launch a new course, you don’t have enough time to prep it by the deadline.
To start breaking down the goal, think of all the actions that will help you reach that goal. For example, if you want to launch a group coaching program, three (of the many!) steps include creating the sales page, creating and scheduling content for launch, and hosting a live event to grow your audience. I would break these steps down even more and add (1) research sales page examples, (2) schedule three IG posts, and (3) email a newsletter about the live event to your weekly plan for the next 12 weeks.
Once you’ve written down all of the tasks, schedule each task on your calendar or in your project management tool, like Asana, so you have a trigger to start or continue working towards the goal. Even if you want to do everything over one weekend (more power to you!), set a reminder a few days before to ensure you have everything you need ready for that weekend, so you’re not wasting any time.
- Now is a great time to find an accountability partner who knows your goals and can check in on your progress and vice versa. Research shows that when someone publicly shares their goals, they have a 65% chance of success. However, having specific accountability increases their chance of success to 95%.

Quarterly Planning Best Practices

OK, you are ready to review the previous quarter, journal your why for your business, and set goals that excite and scare you. Finally, you’re ready to make a daily/weekly action plan for the next 90 days! You are a Rockstar! Here are four best practices to help you have a successful and fun planning session!

Go somewhere new: I always recommend that clients do this process away from their desks. I like going to a coffee shop, a shared workspace, or sitting outside to spark new creative thoughts. When we’re away from our everyday environment, our brain can problem solve and get inspired in new ways. If you can’t leave the house, try working at a new spot in your home.
Prepare for the day: Make sure you have everything you need before you jump in. Gather your metrics, print a 90-day calendar, and grab a notebook/paper and a few pen colors. The process should be fun and energize you! I try to do as much as possible without my computer because I’ve found that if I try to look up something, I’m distracted by other people’s goals or wanting to respond to an email, etc. This is your time to dedicate to planning your future. Make it fun and special.
Partner up: Plan with your business bestie or a coach, mentor, or friend to establish an accountability partner. Agree on when and how you will hold each other accountable and be each other’s cheerleaders.
Hang up your goals: This one is a little cheesy, but I have my goals and action plan on my whiteboard, and I read them daily. It’s a good reminder of what I’m working towards and what I have to do next. I bring the documents with me when I travel and update them regularly. Life happens, and plans change - that’s OK! It’s easier to update your plan than scramble to adjust when you don’t have a plan. Be flexible and know that you are in charge of your business! You can change your mind and change things at any time.

Quarterly goal setting is essential to keep you on track in your business. It’s an opportunity to set yourself up for success by making your goals actionable and tied back to your larger ‘why.’ Have fun with the process and enjoy having a guide for the next 90-days in your business.