End of Q2: How is Your Business Going?

We are halfway through 2018! Can you believe it? At this point in the year, it is always a good time to review how your business has done the first part of the year and make any changes or pivots for the remaining two quarters.

I learned a while ago that I do best planning one to two quarters ahead. With a small business, things change fast and we are affected by many things. Therefore, I do not have a long-term strategic plan based on a timeline. Now this is not to be confused with not having a vision. I very much have a vision for Freedom Makers and it is a long-term vision made up of phases and milestones.

Once I reach a milestone, I move onto accomplishing another one. And once I meet all of the milestones that fall under a phase, I am ready to move onto the next phase. If I were to tackle everything in my vision at once, it would get jumbled and not receive the attention each goal deserves.
For Freedom Makers, we have created the following phases and have been working through them over the past two years:

Onboarding Process (Complete: We hired an oboarding coordinator and streamlined bringing on a client, matching them with a Freedom Maker and getting them started)
Infrastructure (Ongoing, but almost complete: We hired a marketing person to manage social media and our blogs. We have organized our internal communication and business practices.)
Freedom Maker Experience (Current: What do we want our Freedom Makers to get out of being a Freedom Maker?)

Since we are focused on the Freedom Maker Experience currently, we are working on the milestones within this phase. The first two quarters of 2018 have been dedicated to meeting these milestones. So far we have completed the following milestones:

Quarterly phone call with all Freedom Makers where suggestions and questions are welcomed
Surveys to learn more about our Freedom Makers, so that better matches with clients can be made
A Kick Off Training agenda for the Freedom Maker and the client
Freedom Maker Profiles (Clients often times ask for a Freedom Maker's resume. I do not believe resumes best showcase our military spouses; therefore, the profiles focus on their skills and expertise.)


The next milestone in this Phase is training. Freedom Makers have been asking for it and we want to provide it. I am still wrapping my head around what this will look like, but it will happen to improve the Freedom Maker Experience.

Our 70% growth from this time last year tells me that so far our phases and milestone work is making a difference. It is my goal to never lose focus on both our clients' and our Freedom Makers' needs and desires. I wish you a great rest of 2018! I will check back in with you after next quarter to hold us both accountable!

Listen to my latest Facebook Live where I discuss our first two quarters of 2018 and our vision for Freedom Makers!!!