It's that time of year...

I have the excitement of living on the NH beach, working in Boston, teaching at Tufts and spending time in Vermont.  If it weren't for the NH-Boston commute, the daily rhythm would be perfect, but it is what it is, and even the length of the commute has a seasonal rhythm of its own with the fall being the worst.  At least the drive is a good time for podcasts.

Other than the rhythms of our consulting work and the semester cycles of teaching, my own time is impacted at this time of year by the prep work that needs to be done for the oncoming Vermont winta'. Back-in-the-day, I tried to cut down the gardens, get rid of the leaves, plant grass, flush out the drainage pipes and clean the woodlots by myself.  It took multiple 4 or 5 weekends and always led to costly mistakes involving ladders, chain saws and tractors...never a good combination! 

10 years ago, I started hiring the son of our gardener just when he was thinking about life after high school, which led to strong recommendations from me to attend Green Mountain College, where my family has 100-year-old roots. Fast forward to today, twice a year Matthew and five of his college friends along with his dad show up religiously twice a year for "The Big Clean" with one of those times being the recent 3-day October weekend.  There's now a planned rhythm, specific people have specific tasks, (mine being cleaning out the drainage pipe mud) everything gets completed on time, and even planning for succession, 17-year-old, high-school senior, Ella, has recently been added to the team.

Same rhythm, same planning, same execution for our companies 

Whether it's the exactness of the daily sales planning that all of us are now doing for the remaining 42-44 selling days left in the year, or it's the high level, multi-year strategic planning that's occurring in most board rooms at this time of year, very simply...the time to act is now!  Just like in Vermont, nothing is going to stop the cold and the snow.  It will always be wicked.  But in our businesses, with proper execution and a few more hours spread over 8 weeks, the work will not only produce the required results, but it will also unify the team simply through their active engagement.  

In our work lives, at every level of every job, whether you're the chairperson or an account exec, this is the most critical time of year whether it's stretching for yearend quota or figuring out the complexities of 2025 cash flows, the time is now to double and triple down on your individual commitment.

Have a great day selling today and a superb weekend. Perfect fall day tomorrow for watching either the Head-of-the-Charles or your favorite college football game!   Me?  I'm at Tufts tomorrow speaking at Parents  Weekend.

working on your 2025 Planning!

For a few ideas on your own sales and marketing planning for 2025, click here for our Writing the Winning Sales Plan, and Writing the Winning Marketing Plan, outlining a few ideas on structure, models, process funnels, and productivity tools. 

Give me a call and let's discuss having us facilitate your 2025 planning process. I drive a ton of miles every week, and there's nothing better than having a call to talk about your current thinking about 2025 as I challenge the wicked end of day commute out of Boston.

www.derbymanagement.com  
Derby Entrepreneurship Center at Tufts.