■ · Strategy & Growth
The one-page plan: where you're going and how you'll know
Good decisions need a direction to point at. Without a plan, every choice gets judged on its own and the business drifts. With one, you can ask a simple question about any decision: does this move us toward the plan or away from it?
Why one page
Long business plans get written once and never opened again. A plan that fits on one page gets read, shared and used. Several well-known operating systems for small companies, including Gino Wickman's Traction and Verne Harnish's Scaling Up, are built around the same idea: a short written vision, a few priorities at a time, and a handful of numbers checked every week.
The four layers
The plan works from far away to close up. Each layer is shorter-term and more specific than the one above it.
- 3–5 yrs
Vision
What the business will be, who it serves and roughly how big. A few sentences.
- 1 yr
Annual goals
Three to five measurable results for this year: revenue, profit, clients, capacity.
- 90 days
Priorities
No more than three to five projects that move the annual goals forward. Each has one owner and a due date.
- Weekly
Scorecard
Five to ten numbers, each with a target, checked every week. They show whether you're on track before the quarter ends.
Write the vision with the end in mind
Good vision statements are specific enough to say no to things. "Be the best bookkeeping firm" can't guide a decision. "Serve 40 small service businesses in our region on monthly plans, with a team of five, at a 25% profit margin" can. It also tells you what the business is not: not tax-only, not national, not cheap.
Pick fewer priorities than you want
Every owner wants ten priorities. Teams that try ten finish few of them. Choose the three to five that matter most this quarter and put the rest on a written "not now" list, so they aren't forgotten and also aren't distracting.
Build a scorecard of leading numbers
Revenue and profit tell you what already happened. Leading numbers warn you earlier: new inquiries, proposals sent, close rate, client hours delivered, invoices overdue, cash on hand. Pick the five to ten that best predict your results, give each a weekly target, and review them in your weekly meeting. See Meetings & Reviews.
Run the plan on a rhythm
- Weekly: review the scorecard and priorities. Is each one on track or off track?
- Quarterly: grade the last 90 days, set the next three to five priorities.
- Yearly: revisit the vision and set new annual goals.
Plan like a consultant, commit like an owner
Write the first draft in the third person during your monthly engagement: "In three years, Dana's firm should…" It's easier to be ambitious and honest about someone else's business.
Every annual goal gets the Dollar Test. If you can't say how it shows up in the bottom line, it's a wish, not a goal.
The scorecard is your weekly radar. When a number misses its target two weeks in a row, that's a drift to investigate, not a mood.
At each quarterly review, ask what the evidence says about the plan itself. Plans are theories. Keep the ones the numbers support.
■ Tool
One-Page Plan builder
Fill it in, then copy the finished plan into a document or print it. Your entries stay in this browser.
Go deeperCase file, step-by-step how-to, common mistakes and questions to work through
Case file: From busy to focused
A fictional example
Renee owns an auto repair shop with six bays and eight mechanics. Every year she has the same goal: "have a better year." Every year the shop is busy and the profit is thin. She takes any job that comes in: fleet work, classic cars, quick oil changes, major engine rebuilds.
She wrote her first one-page plan over a weekend.
Vision (3 years): "The trusted repair shop for families and small business fleets within 15 miles, with a 15% profit margin, a waiting list for appointments, and an owner who works 45 hours a week."
Not now: classic restorations (they tie up a bay for weeks) and walk-in oil changes (the chain stores win on price).
Annual goals: revenue of $1.2 million, a 12% profit margin, 15 fleet accounts, and a service manager hired by June.
Q1 priorities: sign five fleet accounts (Renee, March 31); install shop software that tracks hours per job (office manager, February 28); write the service manager role scorecard (Renee, March 15).
Weekly scorecard: car count, average repair order, billed hours per mechanic, fleet calls made, comebacks (repeat repairs), and cash on hand.
The scorecard surprised her within a month. Billed hours per mechanic were far below what she'd assumed, because of time lost waiting on parts. That became a Q2 priority she'd never have spotted with "have a better year." By year end the shop hit 13 fleet accounts and an 11% margin, short of both goals but well beyond anything before. Renee called it the first year the business went where she pointed it.
How to write your one-page plan, step by step
- Block three hours away from the business. Bring last year's numbers.
- Write the vision as a picture, not a slogan: who you serve, how big, what profit, what your role looks like. Test it: can it help you say no to something?
- Write the "not now" list next. It's often easier to know what you won't do.
- Set three to five annual goals, each with a number and a date.
- Pick three to five quarterly priorities that move the annual goals the most. Give each one owner and a date.
- Choose five to ten scorecard numbers you can collect weekly in under 30 minutes. Set a target for each.
- Share it with your team in a short meeting, and put the page where people will see it.
"This is where we're headed this year, on one page. These are the three things we're focused on this quarter, and these are the numbers we'll check every week. If something we're doing doesn't help one of these, please tell me. That's how we'll stay focused."
Common mistakes and how to fix them
| Mistake | Fix |
|---|---|
| A vision so vague it can't guide any decision | Add numbers and boundaries: who, where, how big, what margin. |
| Ten priorities, none finished | Three to five per quarter. Everything else goes on the "not now" list. |
| A scorecard of only lagging numbers like revenue | Add leading numbers that move first: inquiries, proposals, hours, comebacks. |
| Writing the plan once and filing it away | Review the scorecard weekly and priorities quarterly. Put the dates in your calendar now. |
Questions to work through
- If your business looked exactly how you want in three years, what would a typical Tuesday be like for you?
- What work do you currently take that doesn't fit where you're going?
- Which single number, if you watched it weekly, would have warned you about your last big problem?
- What did you plan to do last year that never happened? Why?
- Who on your team should help set next quarter's priorities?