Four rooms. Four groups of business owners. Two weeks of conversations about what works, what doesn't and what needs to happen next.
The Ballroom at The Clermont Hotel, Charing Cross.
The Old Palace at Hatfield House.
Scotland, via Zoom.
And the Sir Elton John Suite at Watford Football Club.
(I'll admit the last one made the DJ in me very happy. Not every day you run a planning session in a room named after someone who has sold that many records.)
Different businesses. Different markets. Different challenges. And yet, room after room, many of the same questions came up.
- How do you get heard when there's more content, more technology and more noise than ever?
- How should you use AI without losing the human voice people trust?
- Where did your best clients actually come from?
- Who should be on your Dream 100, the list of people and businesses you'd most like to work with?
Every one of those is a good question. Each one deserves an afternoon. But there was one more question that cut through all of them.
What are you still saying you'll do "one day"?
One day isn't on your calendar
Have a look at your calendar. Go on, open it.
You'll find Monday. Tuesday. Today.
You won't find "one day" in there, and you never have. One day is a lovely, comfortable place where good ideas go to sit quietly and never bother anyone.
For most of us it's the usual suspects. The website rebuild. The book. The podcast. The new hire. The price rise. The awkward conversation you keep putting off.
Most business owners already have far too many notes and ideas. Notebooks full of them. The point of a planning day is to decide what matters.
Then put it in the calendar. And take the first action, ideally before you leave the room, or at least before the end of the week.
First actions are small on purpose. Book the call. Send the email. Block out the two hours. Write the list of ten names for your Dream 100. Nothing that needs courage or a perfect plan, just something that moves the thing from your head into the real world.
"One day" changes when you reverse the words. Day one. Turn one day into day one. It's become one of my favourite lines, because it's so simple you can't argue with it.
Thank you to every business owner who joined us over those two weeks. You challenged the thinking, shared what's working and committed to doing something with it.
Now the real work starts.
