To plan is second nature to me since I started my career as a buyer for a Federated Department Store in Florida – Burdines. (Sadly it doesn’t exist anymore since the Macy’s brand was rolled out across the country.) Retail was a great teacher of many disciplines… PLANNING being THE most important. Actually it has served as the foundation of MY business and a driving force when I help my legal clients. Let’s face it… PLANNING is not a skill you hone in law school.

I have written a lot about PLANNING, take a look. Today, here are three thoughts.

1. Dream BIG!

When you sit down to think about the goals for 2012… Think about what you LIKE to do … what are your strengths… what do you WANT… not what you HAVE. Just because you have been doing low fee Real Estate transactions doesn’t mean you need to continue doing them. Think outside your comfort zone… you never know what you may discover!

2. Create a Road Map.

What are the tactics that will get you there… what do you need to do in order to accomplish this goal? List all the details big and small. 

3. Look for the Pot of GOLD.

Break it down to the dollar value that each of your goals will result in. Breakdown your cases or transactions into small, medium and large. (For example: a small case $2,500 – $100,000, a medium case $100,000 – $500,000 and a large case over $500,000… whatever is appropriate for YOUR practice.) Now, how many small, medium and large cases do you think you can get? Where could they come from? What do you need to have in place in order to land those cases? Who needs to know you have this expertise? How can you reach them? How much money will you need to land this work? This will give you your revenue and expenses for 2012. 

This process can be as simple OR involved as YOU want to make it. Whatever way suits you… but, just do it! 

Black Pearl: Get inspired: My friend Cordell has a great piece of advice I would like to offer up to this discussion… "How I learned about the importance of setting challenging goals."