Successful business planning comes when we develop the habits to utilize them. There are three guests joining Monica on the show today, to talk about how they’ve been successful with their business planning. Misty Woodford has been in real estate for about 10 years and formerly owned her own brokerage. She no longer owns her firm and now works with Benchmark Realty and is actively selling. Trish Myatt has been in real estate for nearly 14 years, and right from the start got into a good system and long-term planning. Barry Owen was in the Army for 12 years and has been in real estate for 24 years. He owns his own firm and teaches and still does some selling but mostly runs the company. Why is business planning so important? For Misty, the motto that stuck with her is “failing to plan is planning to fail.” Having a plan allows her to continue to move forward with tasks, following the plan like a roadmap. It is a stress reliever for Trish, and having a plan allows her to have something to come back to when things start getting crazy. Barry uses business planning because it gives him a place to go — it boils down to whether what he’s doing right this minute is contributing to where he wants to go. When making her business plan, Trish reflects on what worked for the past year and what she wants to carry over and tries to look ahead to see where the market is going, to see if there are any proactive changes that need to be made. Barry starts business planning for the next year on the first day of the fourth quarter. He tries to think of three big priorities to hit in the next year and uses the remaining time in the quarter before the new year to figure out how he’s going to turn those goals into practical steps he can achieve. Misty sets aside three days towards the end of the calendar and sets three business, personal, and spiritual goals. By November she likes to have what the plan will look like for the next year. It’s important to schedule in family time and time away from the business as well, as well as any marketing events you want to do for your clients. Trish talks about her “pumpkin run” and how she uses time to show appreciation to her clients. Making time can be difficult, but you just have to do it. Planning it as part of your day and guaranteeing you will do it is vital for making sure the business is supporting the clients. Barry does this first thing in the morning each day, so he doesn’t have to think twice about anything during the day. This makes it easier to deal with obstacles as well. Clients often understand that you need time away from them to best help serve them when you are helping them. Misty turns her phone off at a certain time each night. When working on your plans, it’s important to consider how much business you want to do, your finances, and take a look at what systems you have that help you focus forward. Misty lays out what she has to have, what would be nice to have, and what is the dream level. Knowing what is enough in all those areas is an important start. Also understanding what you can delegate or refer to other people can help redefine success for you and your business plan. Barry’s plan is about moving forward every single day towards a better quality of life. Financial planning is incredibly important as part of your business plan. Trish focuses on the synergy between business purchases and how they come back to reward her. Sometimes investing in something personally can help you focus on making smart business decisions. Misty talks about giving yourself permission to know what you thrive on and allocating resources for the other things. Spending your money on the right things is also important to make sure your business is sustainable. Barry ended up outsourcing for some positions he needed to be filled and it’s been a huge help to his business. Barry, Trish, and Misty talk about some of the software and technology they are using in their businesses. Some of the things they are using are