It’s the Last Quarter
We are now in the final quarter of 2022. Lots of us are trying to catch up to make our goals by December. Some of us are looking at those goals and intentions from January to see if there is any chance we can get there. As for me, once again,I have added to my “Tower of Intention.” If you don’t know what that is, it’s the stack of books I keep saying I will get to read. But let’s forget all that because, as you already know, you can’t go back in time (see Blog #3 – It’s a Function of Time). Let’s get down to business.
During my longtime advertising career, this is the time to look forward and plan for 2023. This is the time to start planning for the coming year so you have a jump on the competition come January. For our clients, we’d do a review of the current year for a starting point. Based on the goals and objectives, you’d take the historical data and determine where you want to go. Good planning always helped in media buying because you could decide how to take advantage of the market.
Then there were the clients we would push to get planning and they would stall, still haven’t gathered all the data from all their departments and still haven’t finished their internal strategy sessions. Yes, there are companies that don’t have their act together, all you can do is roll with it. But when they are ready to go to market, they’ll be reacting instead of being prepared to take advantage of market shifts.
Are you going to be in a position to take advantage of the shifts or reacting to them? The fourth quarter of 2022 is the best time to prepare for what you want to do in 2023. Decide what you want to accomplish and be as specific as possible. What are your goals for your business, your job, your career? Same with your family, treat it like a business. Where do you want to go? How much do you want to put away for that rainy day? How can I be better as a Dad, Mom, Son or Daughter?
It’s a lot of work, but very satisfying to accomplish. You’d be surprised at the goals you’ll come up with. Because, what’s the alternative? You’ll have no direction, no timing, no budget and you’ll be scrambling to figure things out. And here is the secret sauce, you can always change your plans as you go along.
I have a lot of goals for 2023 but there is one very important one for the “A” Team. We want to get to New Zealand to see our son, Tyler. He’s been there since February 2020 and NZ was probably the most stringent country when it came to COVID-19. They were locked down most of the time. We are putting a plan in place, but several things have to happen to get there (logistics). The goal is there to give you something to aim for. Much better than there not being a goal.
So try to finish the fourth quarter strong, but also think about plans for 2023. Have no idea what to do? Give me a shout and I can provide you some tools so you can make 2023 the best yet!
