Most people think the hard part of annual planning is “sticking to the plan.”
It’s not.
The hard part is doing the planning in a way that makes the plan worth sticking to.
When people tell me they’ve tried annual planning before and didn’t follow through, the problem is almost always the same:
They didn’t identify the right issues to work on.
They picked projects that sounded nice…
…but not the projects that would genuinely drive their business forward.
In other words, it was almost like a “fantasy wish list” of things that sounded good on paper, but weren’t actually addressing the real issues the school was facing.
When you choose the wrong projects, you run out of steam.
When you choose the right ones, it’s impossible to ignore them.
This is the real “how” behind annual planning:
1. You block out time to reflect deeply on the past year.
What worked, what didn’t, what surprised you, what drained you, and what patterns keep repeating.
Most owners never create the space to do this in a meaningful way… so the same problems follow them from year to year.
2. From that reflection, new insights surface.
You start seeing your studio more clearly:
the strengths you’ve been underutilizing,
the issues you’ve been avoiding,
and the questions you still don’t have answers to.
3. Those insights reveal the critical issues in your business.
These aren't random goals.
They're the big strategic problems (or opportunities) that shape the entire year.
4. Once those issues are clear, the right projects emerge on their own.
This is where things click.
Projects stop feeling arbitrary and start feeling inevitable… because they’re connected to real problems you can’t afford to ignore.
5. And from those projects, the themes of your year come into focus.
Growth.
Retention.
Profit.
Capacity.
Team.
Stability.
Whatever your studio truly needs at this moment.
At this stage, the work becomes obvious.
And that is why people stick to plans created this way… because the plan is built on issues that matter enough to stay motivated.
To be clear…
Execution is not the job of annual planning.
Scheduling is not the job of annual planning.
Fitting everything into the calendar is not the job of annual planning.
The job of annual planning is choosing the right problems to solve.
Everything else flows from that.
Tomorrow, in the free annual planning workshop, I’m going to walk you through this process step-by-step.
And during the Q&A, you’ll be able to ask about your unique situation so you can make sure you’re choosing the right issues and not wasting your year on the wrong things.
If you haven’t saved your seat yet, now’s the time:
👉 Click here to reserve your free spot for tomorrow’s workshop
A replay will be sent… but only to those who register.
See you tomorrow,
Daniel
