Here in South Florida, most of the communities consist of either Condo Associations or Home-Owner Associations (HOA).  I live in a HOA and am on the board of directors which oversees the business of running the community.  Note that I use the word, business.  Most people living in HOAs don’t think of running the community as being similar to running a business, but it is.

This week, the HOA had its yearly budget meeting.  All five board members were present with just as many opinions about how to run the community.  As with all businesses, HOA costs continue to escalate.  Everyone wants the services but no one wants to pay for the services.  What usually happens at the budget meeting is this: First, everyone goes on record that they want to keep maintenance costs down so fees will not be increased next year.  Then they all go on to talk about what they do want to spend money on in the community which is usually in direct conflict with keeping costs down. Sounds like the politicians in Washington, doesn’t it?!  So this year I decided to approach the meeting differently by asking at the top of the meeting the following:  What is our philosophy for the coming year?  And can we maintain the agreed upon philosophy through our actions of how we run the community?  In other, what are our goals?

You need a plan in order to know what direction to go in.  The same is true with your business.  Even in these wildly unsettled economic times.  Don’t just randomly take action.  You need to have specific business goals.  You need an overall business plan for the year; and for each quarter, month and week.

Even take it on down to day-to-day.  If it’s been a while since you’ve reviewed your business plan, now would be a good time as we are only at the beginning of the fourth quarter but keep in mind the holidays are fast approaching, so business activity is usually affected by the holidays and it simply being the end-of-the-year.  Now would also be a good time to begin organizing plans and goals for the new year so on January 2^nd your company is off and running to having a successful business year.

Ask yourself:  What are your business goals?  What is the plan in order to achieve those goals?  Think through what you want to accomplish and why.  Is it realistic?  Then stick to your plan and revise it accordingly along the way.