Business Planning - Detail

The business plan is one of the most, if not the most important business tool you can use, without it your business can lack direction, simply reacting to external pressures, floating towards an undetermined future with nothing to guide it. This is your business, your investment and your hard work. It makes sense to control it, to guide it towards a future that has been determined by you. The business plan will allow this to happen; remember, the process is as important as the result.

It’s important to note that this process is designed to be applied to any business of any size whether it’s in the start up phase or has been operating for many years; the benefits will be the same.

This section will take you step by step through the process of developing your business plan. While it will provide a structure, a process and guidance in the end it is up to you to apply your knowledge, your experience and your dreams to this plan.

Generally business plans can be categorized into three main types:

Financial Business Plan

A financial business plan is basically all numbers and figures. It covers current and historical financial performance and looks at forecasts and budgets for the future. While all this information is great for the trained reader it can be very confusing and complicated for any non-accountant.

The information contained in the financial plan is very important and necessary but it’s not the full picture.

Strategic Business Plan

The strategic plan is all about strategy, what direction your business should take for the best return on investment of money, time, and effort. The strategic plan will identify your business objectives and why they have been set. The strategic plan will look at short, medium and long term objectives, looking as far as five to ten years down the track.

The strategic plan doesn’t look too much at the detail aspects of the business that banks and other lending institutions prefer.

The Review

These plans are basically a detailed review of your business but don’t look too much at the strategy. It’s a look at where your business is at this point in time, at your business’ foundations and how they may take the load of varying levels of growth or risk.

They tend to make the banks feel more comfortable and are a good point to start to develop the strategic plan.

As you can see all three types are important to plan for your business effectively, for this reason we will be focusing on a multi-purpose plan, a combination of all three but with an emphasis on strategy.

As the business plan is a written document it has a structure, basically a table of contents. This structure is flexible, it’s up to you how you want it to look and read however, below I have outlined an example for you to consider.

1. Executive Summary

Note: The executive summary is the first, and sometimes the only section of your business plan to be read. It summarizes the key points of your plan and is the last item to be written within this process.

2. Entity and Contact Information

3. Vision Statement

4. Mission Statement

5. Management Policy

6. History & Background

7. Operations Strategy

8. Marketing Strategy

9. Human Resource Plan

10. Financial Strategy

11. Innovation Strategy

12. Risk Management Strategy

13. SWOT Analysis

14. Action Plan

The above is a common and effective business plan structure covering all areas of your business and offers all information required by yourself, your lending institution and other stake holders in your business. It represents your business in its entirety.

While going through this section it’s a good idea to read all the content first, keeping an action plan task sheet handy for notes, taking in the big picture of what your about to do. Develop a picture in your mind of what you want this document to look like, how detailed it should be, and what information you should add or disregard.

You will identify areas within your plan where certain tasks, information gathering or advice is advised. For an example you will be advised to carry out detailed market research and, to obtain financial data and advice from your accountant. Obviously it’s up to you whether or not you do these things but it is strongly recommended.

Its time to get started! Referring to your action plan task sheets, begin at the start of this section and follow the process. Remember you only need to develop a draft at this point; you can clean it up and apply the finishing touches later.


ENTITY & CONTACT INFORMATION

This component of the business plan is usually around one page in length outlining basic legal form, ownership and contact information. It’s simply to inform the reader of your businesses basic information.

Business Name
ABN
Registered Office (if a company)
Principal Operating Location
Postal Address
Ownership (who owns the business and what % do they own)
Bankers
Accountant
Telephone
Fax
Email
Principal Contact Person



VISION STATEMENT

The vision statement is the focus of the business plan. It is your business future, your dreams, the goals you have set for your self. It determines what has to be achieved to make your business a success. But it also needs to be realistic and practical, a vision that you believe is genuinely achievable.

The vision statement, while general and brief requires considerable thought. You need to consider your personal goals, your current lifestyle, your future lifestyle, what you want to achieve through your business and what it will take.

Lifestyle is an important factor, particularly for small businesses. You probably don’t want to be working 70 hours per week if you can help it; how are you going to ensure you don’t have to? How are you going to balance personal life with business life? You need to be completely honest with yourself as everything else in the business plan follows from this vision.

Consider things such as management structure, turnover, profitability, size, etc. What is needed to achieve your dream? Picture your business in five years and briefly describe it in words. That is your vision statement.

Example:

Public Schools will be a system of world-class schools where students acquire the knowledge and skills to be successful as they continue their education at the postsecondary level and/or enter the workforce.


MISSION STATEMENT

The mission statement builds upon the vision by detailing the types of products and services you are offering, the customer groups you are targeting and the activities you will be carrying out. Basically it’s about what you need to do to achieve your vision.

Another way of looking at it is to answer three basic questions:

What is our most significant market?

What is our contribution to the market?

How do we rise above the competition in making that contribution (distinction)?

Answer

Market: To provide business owners

Contribution: with a systematic process of development

Distinction: that will provide the framework for business success

Mission

To provide business owners with a systematic process of development that will provide the framework for business success.

Example:

Public Schools are to pursue excellence in academic knowledge, skills, and behavior for each student, resulting in measured improvement against local, national, and world-class standards.


HISTORY & BACKGROUND

A history and background of your business is important as it provides the reader with a good feel for the business, an understanding of your achievements and hard work. It also provides you, the business owner with a sense of pride in what has been accomplished already.


OPERATIONS STRATEGY

The operations strategy is about outlining what your business does, how it carries out its activities, what processes is your business involved in and how you are going to manage your operations or core of the business. This section needs to cover all areas of operations as it will be the focal point of your operation manual detailing how your business will operate.

Operations Strategy - Scope of Operations

What does your business do to earn income, what are your products and services; this is the scope of your business.

Operations Strategy - Organizational Structure

An organizational structure is a representation of the employee positions and general hierarchy of your business, basically outlining what types, and how many jobs are in your business. This is best represented by a simple flow chart. Be brief only using position titles i.e. general manager, administration officer, etc.

Operations Strategy - Plant & Equipment

This section is used to describe what items of plant and equipment your business currently uses to produce its income and, to describe what your plant and equipment requirements will be in the future (keeping your vision in mind).

Operations Strategy - Location, Size & Layout

Describe your businesses current location, size and layout and identify your requirements for the future. Can you expand or modify your current location or will you need new premises in the future.

Operations Strategy - Management Information Systems

Management information systems are systems used to identify how your business is going; what profit you are making, what assets and liabilities you have, how much stock you have on hand, what you are selling and what you are buying. Without these systems you would be left in the dark, not knowing how your business is performing.

In this section you will outline how you gather information, how you report on information and how the information is analyzed. You will identify what accounting, stock control, costing and any other systems are used. You should also outline what systems you would like to use in the future and the benefits of those systems, or will the current systems be sufficient to meet future information needs. Also think about how you can incorporate quality systems into the operation manual.

Operations Strategy - Quality Systems

Quality systems are used to ensure quality in the products and services you provide. How do you ensure the quality of your products and services? Will your current quality systems be effective as your business grows? Do you need to improve your quality systems? What are your industry requirements regarding quality, is third party accreditation necessary? Keep in mind your vision.

Operations Strategy - Purchasing

The effectiveness of your purchasing systems can have a substantial impact on your business performance. A purchasing system determines; how you make purchasing decisions, how do you ensure the quality of your purchases, how do you find suitable suppliers, how you negotiate pricing, whether or not you use a preferred supplier list, etc. Is your current purchasing system adequate and will it require improvement in the future?

Operations Strategy - Process Technology

What technology do you use to manage or carry out processes in your business? Will your business require any new process technology in the future?

Operations Strategy - Stock Control

As stock control can be such an important issue in many businesses it is essential that you outline how you manage your stock, what systems you have in place, are those systems adequate and how could they be improved. Outline how you ensure your stock doesn’t run out and what preventative measures are in place to ensure excessive stock isn’t held.

Operations Strategy - Performance Indicators

Operations performance indicators measure the efficiency of your operations. These indicators can identify shifts in quality levels, production rates and down time. They allow you to know when operations performance is changing.


MARKETING STRATEGY

Marketing is the supplying of needs to the market place at a profit. The marketing strategy will outline how you are going to do this basically dealing with the 4 P’s; product, place, promotion, and price.

Marketing Strategy - Product

The product strategy covers all factors that relate to your product. It will identify such things as; what are your products and why, how are you going to package it, how does your product fit the market, how is it different from other products in the market and does your product range fit in with your vision and mission statements.

Marketing Strategy - Promotion/Advertising

The promotion/advertising strategy outlines how you inform your customers about the products or services you offer; were they can buy it, how they can use it and how they will benefit.

Generally, people think of promotion and advertising as an expensive exercise. It can be but there are ways of informing the market about your product that are not expensive, but still effective.

You need to decide; what resources do you have that you are prepared to invest in advertising and promotion and how can you get the best value for your efforts.

Ways of informing the market:

· Media Advertising

o Television
o Radio
o Newspapers
o Magazines

· Direct Marketing

o Sales Representation
o Direct Mail
o Telemarketing
o Junk Mail

· Point of Sale

o Brochures
o Display Stands
o Flyers
o Demonstrations

· Trade Information seminars

· Other Promotional Opportunities

o Media Reports
o Motor Vehicle Signs
o Sponsorship and Endorsements
o Road Side Signs
o Offer Discounts to Organizations


Marketing Strategy - Distribution

How are you going to get your products or services to the consumer, will you sell direct to the consumer or via a wholesaler or distributor, maybe you will deal with an agent who will take a percentage of your sales price? It’s important to seriously consider how you are going to distribute your product; it can make the difference between success and failure.


Marketing Strategy - Pricing

Your pricing strategy will have a big impact on the profitability of your business. You need to ensure that the price covers all costs associated with providing the product to the customer. If your price is too low you may not cover costs creating serious problems for the business, however if your prices are too high you may not be able to sell your product at all. A pricing strategy may also include selling products below cost to ‘get people in the door’ but it requires a great deal of consideration.

There are four main pricing methods for you to consider

· Cost plus - Work out the product cost to you and add a percentage for profit.

· Meet the market - Determine what your product is selling for in the market place and meet the price of other suppliers.

· What the market will bear - Charge what the market is willing to pay. Increasing prices can sometimes lead to an increased perception of quality, thus increasing volume of sales

· Marginal pricing - Product is priced to recover cost of production plus a percentage of the overheads. This is generally done when these sales will lead to an over recovery of overheads (greater sales volume than budgeted).


Marketing Strategy - Competitor Analysis

To develop an effective marketing plan it is essential to know who your competitors are; how their products compare with yours, how they market their products, their pricing strategy, and their strengths and weaknesses. The more informed you are about your competitors the better prepared you will be to compete against them.

Marketing Strategy - Customer Contact Plan

How are you going to keep your business in the minds of your customers, how are you going to maintain good relationships with them? It is important to plan how your business will interact with customers; how do you ensure that contact with your business is a positive experience for your customers?

You should plan a program to contact your customers regularly (but don’t annoy them).

Customer contacts can be in the form of personal visits, newsletters, new product information, promotional gifts, telephone calls, lunches and various other measures to keep in contact.

Marketing Strategy - Market Research

How are you going to keep up with the market, find out what the market wants, what new products are coming up that may have a negative effect on your business? What other needs can you fill?

Marketing Strategy - Complaint Resolution

The efficient and effective handling of complaints can provide an excellent opportunity for your business to develop an excellent working relationship with your customer.
People are disappointed when a product or service isn’t what they believe it should be.

However, if the problem is resolved promptly and to the customer’s satisfaction then customer loyalty levels can improve dramatically.

The aim in this area is to try to ensure that you do not have complaints but if you do, fix the problem as soon as possible. The opportunity for success or failure in this area depends on your attitude and commitment.

Marketing Strategy - Marketing Performance Indicators

In all areas of your business it is important to determine if you are getting the most out of your efforts and recourses. Identifying and measuring your performance will allow you to adjust and fine tune your strategy, continually improving the return on investment you are able to achieve.

· How do you measure if your efforts in the marketing area are working now?
· What measures can you undertake to determine if your marketing strategy is working?

Outlined here are a number of measures that can be made to determine if your efforts in marketing are being effective.

· Level of sales
· Level of enquires
· Percentage of conversations from inquires to sales
· Customer satisfaction – Surveys and research
· Level of repeat purchases
· Number of customers
· Purchases per customer
· Other………..


HUMAN RESOURCE STRATEGY

The management of human resources seems to be one of the most difficult functions in business. However, this area if managed well can provide the greatest rewards both financially and personally.

Like other inputs to your business your human resources need to be managed to gain the long term best value for money possible. Employers that take short term views and exploit their employees, generally pay in the long term with militant workforces, high labor turn over, poor attendances, and so on.

The key to human resource management is to be as open as possible with employees, let them share in the success of the business and treat them as you would like to be treated.

The areas that we will cover in this section are by no means the end of the story. If you feel there are other areas, these should be covered in your business plan. Leave out what is not relevant.

HR Strategy - Organizational Culture

Organizational culture is one of those things that is hard to define or measure. Interpretation of the culture of an organization is subjective. The best description of organizational culture is that it is ‘the way things are done around here’.

· Is there a positive atmosphere in the workplace?
· How do you and your employees react to change?
· When the business has a success are you and your employees excited?
· Are people always striving to do better?
· Do you continually have to push people to get things done?
· Are your employees supportive of each other?
· Are you a ‘caring’ employer?
· Do you meet the legal requirement relating to your workforce?

HR Strategy - Employee Development

Training is an important aspect of your investment in your human resources. Training is probably as important to the proprietor of the business as it is to the employees. The ability to train is also an important skill to learn.

To get the best from your employees it is important to continually upgrade their skills, training also lets an employee know that you are prepared to make an investment in them, you value them.

· Do you have a training strategy in place, if so what is it?
· What training is done and by whom?
· Have any of your employees done a train the trainer course?
· Do you have a training plan for each employee?


HR Strategy - Skills Planning

Skills planning is closely related to training, however sufficiently different to be dealt with separately.

· Given your vision statement will you and your current staff have the skills that will be needed to completely operate the business?
· Can the skills that will be needed to operate your ‘vision business’ be available from within?
· Are the skills available externally?

HR Strategy - Compliance

· Do you comply with all the laws that relate to your relationship with your employees?
· Do you know what laws you need to comply with?
· Have you ever had an audit to determine if you are exposed to any major industrial relations ‘time bombs’ relating to compliance?


HR Strategy - Reward and Incentive Systems

· How are your employees rewarded and how do you expect that they will be rewarded in the future?
· How do you reward an employee who is a high achiever?
· Are your employees rewards tied to the success of the business with bonuses and incentives?
· What is the ‘what’s in it for me’ for your employees?
· In industries with low barriers to entry of competitors, what is going to stop your employee opening up in competition to you?


HR Strategy - Performance Appraisals

Letting your employees know how they are going and whether or not you are happy with their current level of performance is generally not well done in small business. Usually we wait until an employee is performing so badly that we just want to get rid of them before we do something about it. We often fail to let an employee that is performing well know that we are happy with their work.

A formal and regular performance review system that involves all staff, is open and honest, and can provide significant opportunities to enhance or correct the performance of employees. A formalized system should give both you and employees a chance to discuss openly your current relationship.

· Do you have a formal performance appraisal system?
· How do you let your employees know how they are going?
· When do your employees get the chance to tell you how they think they are going or where they would like to go?


HR Strategy - OH&S

Occupational health and safety is a critical issue for all employers. You must provide your employees a healthy and safe work place. Failure to do this may result in some severe penalties, extremely bad press and worst of all injured, maimed or dead employees.

· Do you conduct regular safety audits of your work place?
· Do you have regular safety meetings with properly documented and filed minutes?
· Have you a formal procedure for an employee to report a safety problem?
· Do you have a documented health and safety policy?
· Do you have an induction process that clearly outlines the above to new employees?
· How do you handle injuries, Workcover and return to work issues?
· Do your current systems meet legal requirements?


HR Strategy - Motivation & Team Building

Motivation and team building are something that as employers we sometimes battle with, how can we motivate out staff to get the best from them, ensuring they are working as a team?

· What are the options and techniques that can be used to motivate your staff?
· Have you thought of asking them what would motivate them to provide exceptional performance?


HR Strategy - Industrial Relations

· Is your work force unionized?
· What systems are in place to handle such things as disputes with your employees?
· Are you subject to the application of an award?
· Do you have employment agreements in place?
· Are you a member of an employer organization such as ACM or VECCI?
· Do you have policies that cover discrimination and sexual harassment?


HR Strategy - Current Staff Levels

What are your current staffing levels and if the types of work they do can be categorized, then how many employees are in each category. How do you see staff levels changing over the period of the plan?


HR Strategy - Communication

As businesses grow the issue of effective and formalized communications becomes important.
Do you have a set or formal process of communication with your employees i.e. Weekly or monthly meetings, news letters. What processes do you use to keep information channels open?


HR Strategy - Recruitment

Do you have set policies or systems in place for the recruitment of employees?


HR Strategy - Other Human Resource Issues

Other issues that you feel should be detailed in your plan.


HR Strategy - Performance Measures

What measures will you use to determine how you are performing in the human resource area?

o Absenteeism
o Staff surveys
o Labor turnover
o Other


FINANCIAL STRATEGY

The financial plan is probably the single most important part of the business plan for the survival and the financial success of the business. It is also the area in which banks, accountants and potential investors or purchasers are interested.

It is important that your financial plan is well thought out and as accurate as you can make it given that it is our aim to plan up to 5 years ahead. It should be reviewed and updated on a regular basis if it is to provide maximum value to the business. It is important that it be integrated with the rest of the business plan. i.e. that it contains the financial implications of the other strategies and action plans outlined in other sections of the business plan.

Headings and explanations that are relevant to the finance strategy are outlined below. Not every section may be relevant to your business. If you are unsure about anything in this section please ask your accountant for help.

Remember if you are making decisions to change your current systems make a note on your action plan sheet so you can make definite plans to ensure that the changes occur.


Financial Strategy - History and Trends

This heading is self explanatory.

Example: Trading Pty Ltd commenced operations in 1991 with a total capital of $1500 and has had to borrow heavily from its bankers to support its growth over the last 6 years. The products the company manufactures and sells are seasonal in nature and that has regularly resulted in annual periods of cashflow difficulties.

Although the company has been producing excellent profits they are continually required to fund the next off season. The company has made some positive steps towards better funding and managing cashflows in its recent history. That has meant cash has been made available over the last two years to reduce the company debt……


Financial Strategy - Product Costing

· How does your business work out what its costs are?
· What systems are in place to accurately cost out what an item or service costs you to provide or manufacture?
· If you charge an hourly rate or are a fee for service supplier how do you work out what it is costing you to provide the service and do you take account of your down time?
· Are you sure that you are taking all of your costs into consideration?


Financial Strategy - Capital Investment

· Do you plan to purchase any major items of plant or equipment, premises or replace any existing plant and equipment?
· On what and when do you expect to make this capital investment?


Financial Strategy - Debtor Control

Credit sales are generally the norm in most businesses. Debtors (people who purchase on credit) can consume vast amounts of your money and if this aspect of your business is not managed well it can not only cause you a lot of frustration and worry but send you broke.

· How do you decide who to allow to purchase on credit?
· How do you check their credit worthiness?
· Do you limit the level of sales any one customer can purchase on credit?
· Is there another way of getting your money more quickly?
· What systems do you use to follow up debts outside your agreed trading terms?

Remember a sale is not a sale but a gift if customers do not pay or a loan until they do pay. Credit is a necessary evil and in many cases can increase your sales but it does have to be managed well.


Financial Strategy - Funding

Funding strategy is all about where the money is coming from to run your business. As your business grows your stock will generally increase, debtors may increase, you need extra equipment and although your business may be profitable it may never seem to have enough cash. How do you fund your business and if you intend to grow how are you going to fund that growth?

There are two main groups of funding

· Internal funding from
o Proprietors
o Profits
o Creditors
o Reducing stock
o Reducing debtors

· External funding comes from
o Banks
o Other loans
o Equity investors


Financial Strategy - Funding Requirements

Consider what will be the businesses requirements for funding in dollar terms and when?


Financial Strategy - Dividend and Private Drawings

If your business is a company what is your strategy in regard to business profits (separate issue to wages)?

Are profits going to be reinvested into the business or do you have a policy of taking profits out of the business as dividends?

Sole traders and partnerships have to consider what they are going to take out of the business.


Financial Strategy - Cashflow Management

Your requirement for cashflow will vary throughout the year. What systems and plans do you have in place to be sure that you are able to pay your debts on time? Excess cash sitting in your overdraft is also not working for you.

You may need to reduce stocks at particular times of the year, extend your payment times to creditors, reduce staff, and more tightly control purchasing. What times of the year is a problem?


Financial Strategy - Stock Management

Holding stock can be a big cost to business.

· What is your policy in regard to stock and what is the right level of stock for your business to hold?
· What level of stock are you planning to hold in relation to sales?
· How do you intend to make sure that stock is turning over?


Financial Strategy - Performance Indicators

· What financial measures can you use to determine how your business is going?
o Sales
o Profit
o Return on investment
o EBIT
o EBITDA


Financial Strategy - Budgets

· What do you expect your sales to do over the next 12 months and what is your aim for the business in 5 Years?
· What do you think will happen to your costs over the next 12 months and then for the next 5 years?

*Actual financial budgets should be included at the rear of the business plan in the appendix


INNOVATION

Businesses need to innovate to stay viable. Constantly reviewing trends in the market, new products from other businesses and developing new services and products keeps you in touch with the market and in some cases makes you the market leader.

Innovation - Idea Generation

· Does your business have a system that allows the generation of new ideas?
· Do key people take the time out to think about the businesses product potential?
· Do key people go to trade shows to identify new product ideas?

Innovation - New Product or Service development

· Are you developing new products?
· Do you test new products in your market?
· Do you have a new product policy?


RISK MANAGEMENT

How you manage your risk is important to the survival of your business. Every activity we perform has an element of risk involved in it. The aim of this section of the plan is to review the risks and try to identify strategies to minimize there impact.

Risk Management - Insurance

If there is a major disaster at your business such as fire, flood, serious injury or death would your business survive and does your insurance provide for loss of income in the event of one of these events.


Risk Management - Loss of a Key Person

If one of your key people left unexpectedly or you could no longer perform your duties, have you thought of the consequences to your business?

Do you have a strategy in place to cope with the loss of key people?


Risk Management - Credit Control Policy

· How do you manage your risk in relation to credit?
· How do you determine whether or not to give a customer credit?
· Do you limit the percentage of sales that any one customer can take?
· How do you deal with customers that go outside your credit limits?
· Would the failure of any one of your customers cause your business to fail?


Risk Management - Obsolete or Slow Moving Stock

Do you have a policy to deal with stock that is slow moving or obsolete?


Risk Management - Other risks that may be considered

· Changes in government policy
· Intellectual property protection
· Design and copyright
· Divorce and/or separation especially in a family business
· Fire or flood damage, how would you service your customers?
· Termination of lease by your landlord

There are many areas that may cause you significant risk. What are they and what can you do to minimize there impact on your business?


SWOT ANALYSIS

A SWOT analysis is a general technique used in strategic and marketing planning.

SWOT Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats.

This process is a great way to identify the businesses capabilities and competencies while understanding areas for improvement. It’s best carried out within a group environment with key personnel.


ACTION PLAN

By now you should have a substantial action plan detailing future action requirements relating to the objectives set out in the business plan. This action plan should be summarized into general tasks and included into the business plan.


EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Executive Summary summarizes the key points of the business plan and should be no longer than one to two pages in length. It is the window to your business plan and needs to keep the reader interested enough to read the plan.

The executive summary will be the first and sometimes the only part of your business plan that will be read. It will be located at the front of the business plan.



Publication

Once you have written all relevant information for the plan it is time to put it all together. Remember that presentation is very important, adding to the confidence of the reader in the business. It will also provide you with a sense of pride in knowing that this is your business and it looks great.

You should include a front cover and table of contents at the front of the plan before you get into the executive summary, etc. Be sure to include detailed financials and budgets in an appendix at the back of the plan (see your accountant if needed).

Tips

Do some research on the internet; there are many example business plans available and some great information.

Talk to your accountant, banker or financial adviser and get their opinion on the finished product, and certainly ask their advice while going through the development process.

Get your employees involved where you can, particularly your management team. Ask them to write a vision and mission statement as it’s a great way to understand their perception of the business. Ask them for input as to future requirements for the business. They may have some great ideas.

You need to allocate time to write the business plan, make it part of your daily routine. Allocate an hour or two every day to get it done. If you get stuck on something, leave it for a while, move to another section.

Employ the assistance of a business coach to help you through the process, they can be motivational or a sounding board when you need it.

Always remember your vision when going through the process.

Always keep a hard copy of your business plan on hand and read it on a regular basis. It will keep you on track.

Take some time out every now and then to reflect on what you are doing, taking stock of where you are at.

Keep your action plan up to date and always refer to it.