The Pumpkin Plan: A Simple Strategy to Grow a Remarkable Business in Any Field

by Mike Michalowicz

Work the plan— Take Action in 30 minutes (or Less) 1. Start the chart. In the next section you are going to discover who your best clients are, but first you need to put the groundwork in place. Draw and label three circles on piece of paper. Or, you can download some pre-drawn circles at www.PumpkinPlan.info. Hang it in a place where you will see it every day, and start filling in the details as you discover them. This is not a one-shot. Be prepared to review, tweak and improve often. 2. Zero in on your Area of Innovation (AOI). What’s your “thing”? What is your company known for? Is it speedy delivery or fast response times? Do you have a commitment to excellence that is unparalleled in your industry? Or are you the cheapest date around? Take a few minutes to figure out your AOI. And remember, you can’t be all things to all people. You can only be one thing to a group of important people—your best clients. Where do you really innovate—quality, speed/efficiency or price? Now that you know where you innovate, answer this question: How could you take this AOI to a level of innovation that is rarely, or better yet, never seen in the industry? 3. Figure out if you can systematize it. What tasks do you handle yourself because you think that’s easier than teaching someone else how to do them? What are the tasks that, if you went on a four-week vacation, would not get done? If you took a break, would your business fall apart at the seams? Make a list of all these things, because...