My Own Sunday Night Business Meeting Agenda

This is a picture from my latest "Business Meeting of ONE". =)

I speak OFTEN of the importance of having a Sunday Night Business Meeting, to be sure that you have a “Make It Happen” Monday… and the question of AGENDA is coming up more and more, so I figured I’d take a stab at answering it.

Although I PREFER to be more “fly by the seat of my pants”, my Sunday night business meetings are too important to be left to chance, fancy, or whim.  So, YES… I do have a loose agenda… or at least a list of things that must be accomplished before the meeting comes to an end.  So, here it is, a list of the things I “cover” in my Sunday Night Business Meeting:

1.  Other People’s Appointments. I call these my “fixed” appointments, those I’ve made with other people who expect me to actually show up.  (Breakfast appointments are my favorite.) I make sure that all of these appointments (including field trips for my kids, doctors appointments, lunch dates with my husband, basically anything that involves me meeting with other people) are written down in my weekly planner.  I also make sure that I mark off time to prepare for each of these meetings.  This means that if I’m meeting with a client at 12:30, I block off the 1/2 hour prior to prepare.

2.  MY Biz Stuff. I schedule in the NON-NEGOTIABLES that must be done for my own business to continue to grow and expand.  I’m a firm believer in the philosophy that you are either GROWing or GOing… and I’d rather Grow, so I make time to do that.  This includes scheduling the time necessary to write blogs / articles, schedule conversations with potential clients or partners, and cultivate connections that would be mutually beneficial.

3. To Do List. I used to simply write a list down… now I still write it down – but as appointments in my planner.  So, instead of just having a check-off list of “to dos”, I give each TO DO the time and space necessary to be completed.   What do I owe each private client?  What must I do to stay on track?  What are my “check off items” that must be completed this week?  Once I have my list, I give each item it’s own “appointment” in my planner.  That way, the important stuff is scheduled and not just “fit in” whenever I get around to it.  (I learned that I never “got around” to items not scheduled!)

4.  Follow Up.  Follow up is a challenge for me. I get an obscene amount of email now, and (to date) still refuse to own a phone that allows my days (and nights) to be interrupted by every single email that shows up in my in-box.  So, I schedule time to follow up on emails… to respond to each… to keep the conversation with my market going and growing.  My “follow up” chunks of time are never less than one -hour… which leaves me time to really take time with my responses…. to engage, go deeper, serve well and cultivate connection in a way I couldn’t do “on the run”.  In this way, my response will likely NEVER be immediate, but it will be meaningful.

So, that’s it.  There are some Sundays that have a few more things on the “agenda” that I need to consider, and others that have a bit less.  But, this (above) covers the basic plan for my business meeting of ONE.  Hope it answers your questions, and inspires you to implement your own Sunday Night Business Meeting!