Full Transcript

 

Sari 0:00
Welcome to your Food Business Success. This podcast is for early stage entrepreneurs in the package food industry ready to finally turn that delicious idea into reality. I'm your host, Sari Kimbell. I have guided hundreds of food brand founders to success as an industry expert and business coach, and it's got to be fun. In this podcast, I share with you mindset tools to become a true entrepreneur and run your business like a boss, interviews with industry experts to help you understand the business you are actually in and food founder journey so you can learn what worked and didn't work and not feel so alone in your own journey.Now let's jump in!

Sari 0:49
Hello and welcome everybody back to the podcast. We are talking about annual planning today and really putting on that CEO hat in our business, it's that time of year. And, you know, I love talking about all of these things, but I'm a generalist, and I decided this year I'm bringing in the big guns. I'm bringing in somebody who I trust and love and is like, this is what he does. He eats, breathes, and sleeps this stuff. So I'm really excited to welcome Carlo Stewart to the podcast. Welcome!

Carlo 1:30
I'm so excited to be here.

Sari 1:32
Yeah, I'm excited to have you here as well. And we're just going to do a high level discussion chat about what annual planning is, why we need it, and why somebody needs to put this on their calendar at this time of the year. But first, I want to just tell people a little bit about you. So I met you in a local networking group, least a year ago now, probably, but I just fell in love with you from the beginning, and I love that you are doing this work with clients, so you have been in hospitality and special events as that COO role, Chief Operating. What was COO stand for, Carlo?

Carlo 2:21
Operating Officer, or go get coffee or help me through my problems. Any of the above.

Sari 2:28
It's the on the ground get stuff done guy who may have happened, yeah. So you have a long history of doing this for other companies, and now you have your own business called Denali Alignment. Founded that in 2023 ,you jumped over to the dark side.

Carlo 2:38
Thanks to you and the group that we belong to, yes.

Sari 2:56
And I love it. So you are now officially a full time entrepreneur, and this is what you do for organizations. You go in and help them really align, and do this annual planning, and make sure all the ores are pointed in the right direction, and we know where we're going, and all of that good stuff. Is there anything you want to add to your intro?

Carlo 3:20
No, not really. You thumbed it at all.

Sari 3:24
I think we oftentimes think things like annual planning or things like that have to be really boring. We have to have really stuffy people that are, you know, leading us through this, and you're just, you're fun and delightful, and we're going to have a really fun conversation.

Carlo 3:39
Perfect.

Sari 3:41
All right, so high level, what is annual planning and why do we need to do it?

Carlo 3:48
So I want to kick off with a lot of times people hear the word annual planning and they're like, trying to figure out, you know, right? And it doesn't have to be hard, doesn't have to be complex, but really what annual planning is, is a strategy for the next year ahead for your company. It's really just based on where do you want to be in the next year and the previous year's performance, and figuring out, step by step how you're going to get there. It's really just a set of goals and expectations, not only for yourself as the business owner, but also if you have a team as well. It helps set the expectations for them too.

Sari 4:31
And that's why I say, like, it's putting your CEO hat on. Like, just for a minute, we got to pause and say, like, okay, I'm on the train of 2024, and like, it's going, but let's pause and say, well, what do I actually want the next year to be? Because if we don't actually define it, then we're on the train it's going, but maybe we don't actually like where the destination is.

Carlo 4:59
Yeah, yes, absolutely. You know, for myself, I literally, before this call, I'm like, great, I'm going to talk about annual planning. And have I put myself in my own company through annual planning? No, so I set the date for it going, I'm shutting everything up. And that's actually one of the harder components that I found that my clientele and other business owners that I chat with are like, I don't have the time, or I tried to do it, but I kept getting pulled in a million directions, and it really is a concentrated effort to carve out, whether it's a small portion or a large portion of time, to really reflect and focus on what do you want to accomplish in this next year?

Sari 5:44
Yeah, absolutely. And I think that's actually why, when it comes to these kind of big, you know, very intense mental exercises, which is why even I who help other people annual plan all day long. But I'm like, for myself, I'm like, oh, it feels so hard. That's why we need to engage people like ourselves, people like you. Come to and I have a really fun annual plan offer as well. And it's like, come and get support. Force yourself, make yourself do this, make an investment, and it's so much easier when there's outside, somebody from the outside, who can see what's going on.

Carlo 6:30
Totally, you know, I always encourage different business owners, all you have to do is really just write down what is it that you want to accomplish, or what are some goals that need to be achieved, where people get caught up and where I always recommend in investing in people like you, myself or whomever is to really break that down into granular steps of how they're going to accomplish their goal, 9 times out of 10, if I can get an owner of a company to really just write down the goal and then engage with, you know, thought provoking questions or connecting different, as we say, the M word metrics, in order to get there where we need to be, I find that that helps, because as we all are as owners, we're visionary people, and it's hard sometimes to be able to really dissect that vision into specific steps of how you're going to get there.

Sari 7:37
Yeah, I think a lot of the folks that connect with me, they do have big visions, but they also get stuck in the weeds a lot, right? And sometimes what I find is their vision's not big enough. Like, they don't even know what's possible, and so they're kind of playing really small, and just like, I don't know, just keeping it too small. And then I'm sure sometimes you see clients that you're like whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Carlo 8:11
Yes, yes. There's some clients that I chat with where I'm like, rip the band aid. You're too conservative. Don't go for this. Go for this. And then there's some where I'm like, oh, you need some brake pedals, as I'm hearing what your vision is and it is beautiful. That is a five year vision, not a one year vision. So, yeah, it really get in tune with what is realistically possible.

Sari 8:38
Right. And, you know, I'm a little bit woo. And I'm a little like, go, go big, right? Like, I'm all for the 10x goal. And everybody here probably knows I love the book, 10x is Easier Than 2x like, go create a big vision. But that should be, like, three to five year vision. Like, have it be big and juicy. And, you know, the BHAG from Jim Collins stuff, that's awesome. But then what we're talking about is like, bring it down to like this year, and make sure everything is aligned. And then, what are we going to do, right? What activities are we going to take? Instead of just, like, I don't know. I'm just on this train, and we'll see where it goes.

Carlo 9:26
Yes, I definitely recommend that I found that a lot of visionary people have zero problem in a BHAG and full transparency, even for my own company, I actually bring other CEOs and visionary people in because I get too much into metrics and breaking it down and step by step by steps to where I even get in my own way, to where I lose sight of the visionary aspect of what it could be. So me creating a BHAG for myself, problematic. Me creating a BHAG for somebody else,totally on board, but it really, you're right. There's a difference in creating that BHAG and having that North Star, that vision of where you want the company to go to, but there's a difference between that and me and the team are going to get that all done in the next year. It's not possible, and especially with your day in, day out time investment of what you're doing in your own role. It's a 80/20 rule that we all know. It's carving out the 20% to work on your business. But I think the caveat is, when you're working on the business in that 20%, you got to make sure to connect and make sure that the time investment for what you're looking to get done is realistic.

Sari 10:50
Yeah, and are you doing the right things? And have you decided ahead of time? Because how many of us are like, somehow you magically have the 20% on your calendar, and then you're like, so what am I doing?

Carlo 11:02
You're like, what's this about? Oh yeah, oh yeah.

Sari 11:06
And then we actually buffer with, like, low level activities. We're like, well, let me just organize my files.or

Carlo 11:14
Totally, actually I did. I mean, embarrassing to say, I did that for myself a few months ago. I was like, okay, I'm going to work on my business, and then all of a sudden, I'm, like, two hours went by, I went, why'd I just clean out my desk? This is not working on my business. Come on, so.

Sari 11:31
Yeah, because those are the things that feel easy. What we're talking about in annual planning, like, if you're really going to go for a big goal, you're going to have to do some hard stuff. You're going to have to do some things that get you out of your comfort zone. But what I love about annual planning is you create a container of, you know, however many hours, a time block, and you're like, okay, I'm going to shut off the distractions. And that's why I love investing in, you know, time with somebody like yourself or coming to my program like it's a container, and you're like, I'm going to shut off the distractions. I'm going to like, I've made space and time for it, and then you can put your brain to work and do the planning ahead of time. So now, when you have that time on your calendar to work on your business. You're like, oh, I know what I need to do. I've already, my brain has already decided, and I can just, you know, pick from the menu.

Carlo 12:29
Yes, I just chatted with the client about this this morning, where she was like, I always find that I'm so last minute. I'm like, fantastic. Do me a favor. And we picked a date, like December 10, and she plugged into her calendar, and I see December 10 popped up. And she's like, what am I putting in there? And I'm like, you need to list all the dates on December 10 and when you're going to work on your business. And she's like, oh, I like that. So as we talked it through, I'm like, do it, you know, a month before the end of the quarter each quarter. So that way you know how you're performing and carve out a larger amount of time for that annual planning, for what you want to do in that next year. But be realistic, like, don't do annual planning. You know, December 19, when you're about to embark on the holiday season, then you're going to get into January going, what was I doing? I hate to say, carve out time to carve out time, but to really be, we'll say intentional or almost methodical on carve out just a wee bit of time to figure out how you're going to invest your time in the next 3, 6, 9, or 12 months is incredibly helpful.

Sari 13:46
Yeah, I love that. I mean, otherwise, our brain just spins in like, open loops and we're like, oh, I know I should do that, but we don't actually do anything about it. So I love the idea of like, just put it on the calendar. Of like, I will do this then, and then we can, like, let it go, and we have so much more brain space for others.

Carlo 14:06
Yes, because us as owners, we have, you know, on a good day, 50 things that we either think about or do in the course of a day. So imagine times 365, days for a little bit less, if you have that luxury of taking a little bit of time off, you know, to have that task complete, knowing that you've set the time and almost just to even create two or three items on that calendar. I want to write down one goal. I want to see how my previous goal went, and I want to dream of one item, simple, and that kind of goes back to the beginning of this conversation, where it annual planning everyone hears and goes, it has to be complex, and it really doesn't.

Sari 14:52
Which segue is actually great into, you know? And maybe because what I told you is like, I know there's like high, I don't want to, like, put value judgments on it, but like, you know, low, medium high level of annual planning. And a lot of people listening here are solopreneurs, or maybe have a co founder, or maybe, like, one other team member. So what are some of the like, must haves in an annual plan, if you're kind of looking at the, you know, like I said, solopreneur simple business.

Carlo 15:29
Sure. You need to have a goal. One goal. I'll try to keep it as simple as possible, because this is where my brain starts to go more into the integrator mode of going, okay, let's figure out all the components. But truly, you need a goal, and more of a one year goal. So it could be, I want to go from, I'll just make numbers up 25,000 to 50,000 in sales in the course of one year, and then really looking at that one goal and breaking into like two, maybe three, manageable segments. So in that revenue, what is the product or service that I offer? Can I increase efficiency and therefore profitability, or can Igarner a price increase, and can I do something to add to it? And I think from there, that'll kind of catapult a few more items in which to incorporate into that one goal. But really you need a goal. Need to really either think about or plan out the time frame in which you can accomplish it, and without getting so geeky in numbers, it you know, it goes back to if you do annual planning in April, and you are a business that thrives in the summer time, and you're looking to 10x your business, you may have a hard time doing it in three months time. So it really is taking a look at, can I accomplish it with all the different responsibilities that I have? The third item, do I need anything resource -wise? Is there a system that I have to like purchase and that goes into the fourth item of budgeting out. Are there any costs that are associated with that one goal? Those are the four major items that I would really recommend, of what goes into a plan. Certainly, I can go through the entire process of like self assessment, and let's look at industries and trends and know our competitors, and there's many other items, but to really break it down to to have a simplistic level that doesn't seem overwhelming, pick a goal, pick one goal, and once you go through that exercise in finding out whether it's time appropriate, meaning you can accomplish it and it works budget-wise. Then add a second one if you want to. Again as visionary people were like, let's do 10 goals. Let's do 20. And I don't want to take away from the 10x because I'm 5,000% in support of that, but to have it be complimentary. Once you get in the habit of figuring out whether those ideas work for that next year, then, by all means, add in all of the other items that you possibly can to make sure that it's integrated well.

Sari 18:40
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Sari 19:38
I love that, because what I often see are people like getting they get distracted by shiny objects and they're just like, oh, I got this email about this new platform. Let me go apply over there. And, oh, I should be. Somebody told me I should be on Amazon and doing this thing, and, oh, somebody. And, I mean, I'm guilty of, like, giving people a lot of new, you know, ideas and options, but you as the CEO need to constantly come back like, that's why it's so important. You got to have that goal and say, well, does that, you know, program,does that whatever thing that I want to do, does that align with the goal. Because, you know, then we're just like, I mean, sometimes I hear I'm like, so what's your goal, and what are you doing? And they're like, they list like, 20 things that they're doing, but none of them are being done well and none of them are being really getting, you know, over the finish line.

Carlo 20:44
Yes, yes, very much. So if I had to recommend any sort of how many annual goals I need, because that's a common question that I get, I'd recommend probably no more than four to five. And that's if you're really on a strong rhythm. Things are unified. But again, even as a solopreneur myself, I should take my own advice. Yesterday, I ended up in a meeting which turned into three other meetings that had nothing to do with the services that I offer. But I'm like, God, you guys are really cool people. I really just want to chat further, and then I'm thinking, crap. It's three o'clock, I'm exhausted because I've had such great conversation. And if I went in knowing that, I could have planned my time more appropriately. But that's like it's going to work on my website. Now I can't work on my website because I had three conversations not having anything to deal with my business. So it's fun.

Sari 21:36
And those are some of the early things you got to work through. And I have a podcast about CEO constraints, and right, like, we need to give ourselves some constraint and say no, which is really hard, but at the beginning, you do tend to do a lot, you know, you're trying things, but you know, even if you're at the beginning, you know we we can try things with systems, and what you're talking about the M word with metrics where we're actually measuring it. And I also did a podcast about, like, know the score. Like, why would we know our score in our business?

Carlo 22:13
It goes back to EOS, like, everything that should have a number, and that's true. I firmly believe in that, and there should be metrics and KPIs. And I think a lot of times, people will get caught up in going, I should have 20 KPIs. And that may be true as your business continues to grow and mature, but start off with one, and once you're getting used to that one, then the rest will follow. You'll be able to dig into a second KPI going, huh? Like, I met with a client and their startup as well, which is absolutely phenomenal. And we started going down sales road, and we got into close rate and average spend. I'm like, let's stop there. And he was like, wWhat about marketing? And there should be, like, cost per click and call to action and budget. I'm like, pause. Let's just establish for the leads that you have, are you closing them in the percentage that you've set out to do? Then we're going to get into marketing. So, yeah.

Sari 23:16
Yeah. I mean, we just, there's, you know, we what is it? It's like Hofstadters Law, like everything takes longer than you think it will take, even if you take into account Hofstadters Law. So it's just especially solopreneurs, we're like, oh, I can do this, I can do that. I can do that. And like you are just so limited in what you can do until you start bringing on who's to help you, which I'm a big fan of. But at the beginning, you know, you got be. The constraint. And I love that, like, just measure one thing, like, what's the most important thing, the close rate. Then we can add in more things once that's being met.

Carlo 23:57
Yes, very much. So, so true.

Sari 24:00
And I just want to wrap,maybe an example around what you were explaining of those four things. So let's imagine, like, I'm thinking of one of my bar guys. So, you know, let's say you want to double your revenue, right? Maybe it's 25k and you want to double it to 50k next year. So what you're talking about is like, then we decide how, like, some of the ways we're going to do that. So it could be ecommerce, it could be farmers markets, it could be wholesale. And then it's also identifying, what is the equipment like, what are the things that I'm going to need, the investments I'm going to have to make? Because, newsflash, if anybody doesn't know this, as a CPG company, you have to create the deliverable ahead of time. And so there's an investment there, right?

Carlo 24:52
Yes, yes, very much so. And then pepper in as well any sort of advertising or marketing component. That you're looking to draw traffic into your establishment in order to increase that sale?

Sari 25:07
Totally. I mean, it's like everything has a level of effort, or, you know, a level of resources that needs to go behind it. I can't tell you, you know, how many times you're like, I put up the website, there are people like, that's step one. Great. Now, how are we actually, you know, what's the strategy, what's the marketing plan, what's the investment that you're going to make to drive sales? Or, well, I have the product, and I went and visited some stores, and it's like, well, it doesn't just end there.

Carlo 25:45
No, not at all. Yeah, it's really diving deep into who are you looking to attract, knowing who you are, and I mean, who you are as a business. And do those compliment one another, especially for knowing who you're looking to target. So, yeah.

Sari 26:06
Yeah. So let's just say, in the case of the bars, like, you're like, okay, well, I know that I'm going to have to come up with, like, if I'm going to produce $50,000 in revenue, there's a certain amount of investment that I'm going to have to make in the cost of goods sold of just the bars themselves. And maybe that means that you are going to get equipment, or you're going to be purchasing packaging a lot more, you know, bigger rolls of packaging or like, I'm going to make an investment in a social media support or a company to help me with ads or things like that. So I think what you're saying is like, once you understand what the financial resources and time resources that go in there, then now you understand like, oh, here's what I need to do next.

Carlo 26:59
Very much so. And I think for the investment in resources, and especially in quantifying, from a financial perspective, what you're looking to invest, and then, in turn, get it's being very clear on your investment. So for example, if it's a marketing component, you know your cost should probably produce at a bare minimum five but on a gold 10x but if you're investing on the equipment side, then you have to be cognizant of, okay, I'm going to invest in this equipment, I may not get 10x revenue, therefore achieving that 25 to $50,000 gain. But how long am I going to have this equipment for? And can I repeat the same identical item again in the future, or use it, have a multi purpose use for whatever equipment that you're looking to purchase for this?

Sari 27:53
Yeah. So it's just giving some thought to those things, because these things don't just happen by magic. We don't just, like, I want to double my revenue, and then somehow we just magically trip over it. Like these things require investment of time and energy and money. And okay, where are you going to get that? And who are your who's that you would be helpful to bring in? And it's one thing to go. You know, 25k to 50k is sometimes that can happen really easily without a ton of investment. But, you know, I don't know, 200k to a million or something like that is a much, you know, much bigger nut to crack.

Carlo 28:35
I had a former employer years ago and loved the company. Love, love, love the owner that I worked for, but he wanted to more than three and a half x his revenue in the course of one year, and had a great product and service. But then there wasn't. There was either end, but there was no strategy component, and no really getting clear on I need to invest this to get that. Am I okay with those benchmarks? It's hard, so yeah, I definitely recommend investing the time, whether it's again, short or long, to be clear on what you're looking to invest and then therefore gain.

Sari 29:14
Yeah. So what are some of the mistakes that you see people do when they start, when they're like, okay, it's on my calendar. I have three hours and I'm going to dobefore they just start organizing their files.

Carlo 29:33
It's, oh goodness, a common mistake. If they have three hours and they're about to jump into annual planning. Common mistake that they make is starting off from scratch, meaning that in their calendar, invite, if you're not putting what are you looking to accomplish in those three hours? Common mistake number one. So it really,plan ahead to have to to write that plan Yes. And again, that doesn't have to be complex either, but at the end of the three hours, I want to accomplish a revenue goal, or I want to have a list of efficiencies that I need to make operationally speaking, which would then in turn, help you move forward in the annual plan. But have a goal by the end of that three hour investment, what are you looking to accomplish again? That'll have you in really, really good habits. Another common mistake is again, kind of going back to where we're talking about earlier, mistaking BHAG for annual plan. The three hour time investment is not where you want to be 5-10 years from now. It is what are you looking to accomplish in that next year? And it's okay if you have a couple of components that are like BHAG items, but you want to be able to really compartmentalize and go BHAG, we're going to go into the BHAG folder at the end of the three hours, and then this is what we're going to focus on in that next year. Those are the two most common constraining.

Sari
Yeah, and just for people are like, BHAG, it's big, hairy, audacious goal. Comes from Jim Collins and good to great. And it's essentially, like, it's your vision statement, it's the big thing. It's your big why. Why you get out of bed, why you're doing this, you know, this hard thing of entrepreneurship. And one of my favorite ones since Microsoft's. You know, back in the 70s, they said, you know, we will have a computer in every home, like every kitchen table. And at the time, that was like, pretty wild, right? Like, computers were like, giant and so that was a crazy vision, but now it's like, now they have a new one.

Carlo
Speaking of Jim Collins, another good one with Good to Great is, I think it's called Beyond Entrepreneurship. And it really talks about going, breaking it down, going, vision, strategy, tactics, and I think people will confuse in annual planning, instead of getting the tactics listed, there's still a bit visionary. So it's both of them really good books in which to dial that.

Sari
Oh funny. I haven't read that book, but I did a podcast called vision, strategy tactics, because I was like, people, we need to understand. So maybe just seeped in from somewhere.

Carlo
Yes, yes.

Sari
I love that. So I agree. I think people not having a plan to plan, like, there's just, like, annual plan time, and then that's when you're, I mean, it's just so fuzzy. And if you don't know what goes into it and what you want to accomplish. And I'm all about the results, you know, we have a this thing called Power Hour in Fuel. And I always started out with like, okay, this is an hour of, like, focus work time. What is the result you're trying to create at the end? So that you know what to stay focused on. So it's not just like work on website. It's like, I will complete the About Us section of my website, right? So we know when we're done.

Carlo
Yes, and setting those dates in which to get it done, because you can complete a great annual plan and have those action items, but if they're not SMART, Specific, Measurable, all of the things, and more specifically, time bound and in your calendar, then it's really as though you just created, you know, a plan, and then you're off to the shelf and you're on to 50 other things.

Sari
Which is my last question that I want to ask you, is okay, let's say we got our annual plan. We come to the annual planning program that I'm doing, and you're coming, you're going to be talking at that, which is going to be so great. You're going to be teaching us how to do it. So I come to that now I know what I need to do. I get the plan done, and then that's what it feels like sometimes. It just goes on the shelf, and you're like, great, and then you never.

Carlo
It's now what syndrome, yeah.

Sari
So how do we avoid that? Like, how do we actually make it useful for us as an annual plan that lives is a living document.

Carlo
Totally. When you write out that annual plan and you have your goal and you're like, okay, I've got my action items and I'm set to go, right then and there, whether it's by calendar, however it is, you manage your time on a day to day basis, I would highly recommend not only plugging in the due dates for the action items into your calendar, but then also, when are you going to review the progress? So whether it's monthly, quarterly, plug in those dates so that way it's out of sight, out of mind. Myself, I tend to look at my calendar about a week out. Anything beyond a week, I'm like, absolutely not. And if people are asking me for different things, personal or otherwise, going, what are your plans on November 9? I'm like, I don't know. What do you want to do? And you plug that in same, identical thing, but for your business as well. So plug in those dates, that way you can regularly monitor the progress on the specific dates that you've already designated, and how are you getting to your goal. If you want to, I find myself better in holding myself accountable. If I have a meeting with somebody I trust, it could be a personal relationship. It could be a business. Sari, don't be surprised if I contact you in about three months going, okay, I need somebody to bounce this off of and hold myself accountable. It's holding those meetings with somebody that you trust in which to do it, and that way, because you've got the time already pre scheduled, you've got the person, if you choose to, or persons to really be able to give feedback. You can then adjust your plan as needed. You got to have specific metrics in place that are going to help you to your goals. So again, you can't say, I'm going to increase my goal by 50% as far as revenue is concerned, and not have a couple of specific items, like, how much are you selling your product and service for? How many leads are you closing at this point? Because otherwise you're not going to be able to measure your progress along the way. So really is having those specific metrics and how you're measuring your goal along. And it's treating your annual plan almost kind of like a Google doc in a way, or any other system that you use live and in that moment. So when you set your regular check ins for yourself, if you're a Google house or however it is that you organize, attach or link up that annual plan, so that way you're pulling it back off the shelf intentionally, and you may be surprised and going, oh God, I planned this three months ago. No, this is horrible, right? What was I thinking? And it really not only helps you be accountable and it helps you move things along. But it's really, really cool to reflect on going, ah, three months ago, we'll say that, for example, I thought this, but now everything's changed so much. I'm so glad that I was able to reflect back and get clear on where I want to be. I think having those items, those few items in place will really help throughout the year, because otherwise you're writing, typing whatever your plan, and then it's getting shot. So this would be a really proactive approach to stay connected to it.

Sari
Yeah, I love that, because it should be a living document. It should be something I mean, life happens, right? I mean, good and bad, like you get sick, or somebody you love, like something happens and you got to kind of go, like, whoa, we're taking, you know, I've had clients do that, and of course, like, that's life. Things happen, and you might have to, you know, change, be like, I'm putting this on pause, or we're not doing this. Or you might have some, you know, amazing windfall that's like, all of a sudden, Oprah picks up your product, and she's like, I love this. And next thing you know like, whoa, that whole annual plan needs to, you know, change course.

Carlo
Yeah, you're very true. The same thing on the pod, like, there's a client of mine that is similar story that at the end of that quarter, he looked back and he was like, I've more than doubled my goal. He was like, I thought that's way too low. So to be able to reflect back really helps you also build those larger 10x goals. Absolutely.

Sari
So living, breathing document, and I love, love, love, like, put it on your calendar as part of the annual planning process in the future. I call that hooking your future self up and because believe me, I will not remember, and I'm always so grateful. I'm like, Thank you, passel for hooking me up where it's on my calendar. I actually went through in, I think January, I did like a little corporate retreat of one, and I put on all of my like because I want to take more free days off. And so I put all these free days on my calendar, and just so it, like, blocked it off. I didn't have to think about it, and I just decided, like, I decided ahead of time, I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off, or, you know, whatever weeks I'm going to take off, and now I'm just like, thank you. That's awesome. Thanks for hooking me up, because I don't have to think about it now. So it took a little time, but that's what we do as CEOs, just like, if you were managing an employee, right? I like, I like you to think about yourself like you are the boss, but you're also the employee, like you would be like, okay, let's get our quarterly meetings on the calendar. Let's have our, you know, monthly meetings or whatever. So they just happen without you having to be like, Oh crap. When do you have time? We should have done that a month ago.

Carlo
I had an unbelievable employer. I'll never forget the date. It was December 15, and my unbelievable employer really taught me so so much regarding this area, but I would literally have to put on everyone's calendars, all of the meetings. So it'd be weekly huddles, quarterly all teams, annual planning, mid year review, like kickoff. I'm not doing it in the correct order, but still, literally, I never understood it until I was in front of other owners as well. And I'm like, this just takes care of everything. So like, legit, I would send an email off when I was working for this employer, and I was like, okay, team, it's December 15. Do you know what that means? You need to log off by 5pm otherwise, I'm going to get really annoying with ding, ding, ding, ding of calendar invites coming in, so just know that and be able to plan accordingly, but it's tremendously helpful that therefore it's out of sight, out of mind, and you're also establishing a routine for again, working on that business at regularly scheduled times, no different than how you do other items for your clientele.

Sari
Yeah, I love that. Well, to wrap up, we are doing a well, I know where you will be on November 5th. That is our calendar. So November 5, Carlo's coming into our 10x Mastermind, and I'm also opening it up. We have a special annual plan kind of package where you get to come to that. You'll get, I did some annual planning videos last year, including like, a SWAT and some other tools as well. And then I also get a one on one with me to work through that. And I know you also offer annual planning. So if anybody wants to come and be like, oh, like, for me, I'm like, I don't care who resonates with you, just pick somebody who resonates with you, and then go work with them. So I know people can go and work with you as well if they want, maybe more hand holding, forcing them to get this done.

Carlo
On those metrics and KPIs, yes.

Sari
And you generously offered a 25% discount for anybody listening. And so how do people get in touch with you?

Carlo
Best way actually, because one of my action items is to complete my website here within the next, ooh, six weeks. The best way is actually to email me, which is [email protected]. Great.

Sari
The show notes for you, but yeah, you will be here on the 5th. People can get signed up to come to this annual plan program, get it done, put those dates on your calendar, you know, force yourself to do it. But your future self in 2025 will be really grateful that you did this work and you paused. You know, I know it's like holiday planning, and you're in your business and it's all crazy, but that future self will really thank you for doing this work and charting a course and being more intentional in what you're going after in 2025 and we have an incredible annual plan package for you that includes the workshop with Carlo. You get a one on one call with me. We're also going to do a December strategy call where you get coaching and get feedback, and that is at foodbizsuccess.com/2025plan. And I'll put the link in the show notes. Well, thank you, Carlo. Really appreciate. It's a fun conversation. I get really excited and jazzed about it. I tend to be a little more of the visionary, so we actually balance each other out nicely. Yeah, you're like, okay, let's get down to browse tax. What are we gonna do?

Carlo
Are we going to get there? Do we have the right numbers? Yes.

Sari
So I love it. I love that we're partnering up on this, and it's going to be such a great, great experience for people coming and you make it really fun and feel like it's really approachable to do this annual planning.

Sari
Thank you, and thank you so much for having me it was such a great time today.

Sari
it's time to get that annual planning on your calendar. Come join us. Reach out to Carlo or just do it yourself, but your future self will thank you, and until next time, have an amazing week!

Sari
The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how to speed up your journey and help you skip the line. When you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done, you can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching, or join Food Business Success, which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders, that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out, and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own food business success.