Food Business Success® with Sari Kimbell

Ep #217 Bite Sized Annual Planning Tips with Carlo Stuart of Denali Alignment

• Episode 217

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Annual planning doesn't need to evoke a frustrated sigh or a roll of the eyes (maybe that's just me); it can be fun and work for you in the year to come. My guest today is Carlo Stuart, founder of Denali Alignment, and he is breaking down how to do annual planning effectively as a small business and how to use the plan during the year so it doesn't just collect dust on a shelf. 

Hate sitting in a room by yourself trying to do this plan on your own? Come join us for this year's annual planning program including a live training from Carlo, a coaching session with me in December and a 1:1 call to go over your plan. Build in fun and accountability to get it done! Use code PODCAST10 to save 10% on the program through November 3, 2024.

Get in touch with Carlo at carlo@denalialignment.com - he is offering listeners 25% off an annual plan for those of you who want even more support!

Get the 10X Goal Workshop for FREE for a limited time! https://www.foodbizsuccess.com/10x-goals

MAKE A BIG LEAP IN 2025! Commit to the support and accountability you need to create a beautiful business!

Pick up your copy of "Key Ingredients" on Amazon here.

Check out my YouTube channel at www.foodbiz.tube for how to videos to start and grow a packaged food business.


Carlo  22:13  
It goes back to EOS, like, everything that should have a number, and that's true. I firmly believe in that, and there should be metrics and KPIs. And I think a lot of times, people will get caught up in going, I should have 20 KPIs. And that may be true as your business continues to grow and mature, but start off with one, and once you're getting used to that one, then the rest will follow. You'll be able to dig into a second KPI going, huh? Like, I met with a client and their startup as well, which is absolutely phenomenal. And we started going down sales road, and we got into close rate and average spend. I'm like, let's stop there. And he was like, wWhat about marketing? And there should be, like, cost per click and call to action and budget. I'm like, pause. Let's just establish for the leads that you have, are you closing them in the percentage that you've set out to do? Then we're going to get into marketing. So, yeah. 

Sari  23:16  
Yeah. I mean, we just, there's, you know, we what is it? It's like Hofstadters Law, like everything takes longer than you think it will take, even if you take into account Hofstadters Law. So it's just especially solopreneurs, we're like, oh, I can do this, I can do that. I can do that. And like you are just so limited in what you can do until you start bringing on who's to help you, which I'm a big fan of. But at the beginning, you know, you got be. The constraint. And I love that, like, just measure one thing, like, what's the most important thing, the close rate. Then we can add in more things once that's being met.

Carlo  23:57  
Yes, very much. So, so true. 

Sari  24:00  
And I just want to wrap,maybe an example around what you were explaining of those four things. So let's imagine, like, I'm thinking of one of my bar guys. So, you know, let's say you want to double your revenue, right? Maybe it's 25k and you want to double it to 50k next year. So what you're talking about is like, then we decide how, like, some of the ways we're going to do that. So it could be ecommerce, it could be farmers markets, it could be wholesale. And then it's also identifying, what is the equipment like, what are the things that I'm going to need, the investments I'm going to have to make? Because, newsflash, if anybody doesn't know this, as a CPG company, you have to create the deliverable ahead of time. And so there's an investment there, right?

Carlo  24:52  
Yes, yes, very much so. And then pepper in as well any sort of advertising or marketing component. That you're looking to draw traffic into your establishment in order to increase that sale? 

Sari  25:07  
Totally. I mean, it's like everything has a level of effort, or, you know, a level of resources that needs to go behind it. I can't tell you, you know, how many times you're like, I put up the website, there are people like, that's step one. Great. Now, how are we actually, you know, what's the strategy, what's the marketing plan, what's the investment that you're going to make to drive sales? Or, well, I have the product, and I went and visited some stores, and it's like, well, it doesn't just end there.

Carlo  25:45  
No, not at all. Yeah, it's really diving deep into who are you looking to attract, knowing who you are, and I mean, who you are as a business. And do those compliment one another, especially for knowing who you're looking to target. So, yeah. 

Sari  26:06  
Yeah. So let's just say, in the case of the bars, like, you're like, okay, well, I know that I'm going to have to come up with, like, if I'm going to produce $50,000 in revenue, there's a certain amount of investment that I'm going to have to make in the cost of goods sold of just the bars themselves. And maybe that means that you are going to get equipment, or you're going to be purchasing packaging a lot more, you know, bigger rolls of packaging or like, I'm going to make an investment in a social media support or a company to help me with ads or things like that. So I think what you're saying is like, once you understand what the financial resources and time resources that go in there, then now you understand like, oh, here's what I need to do next. 

Carlo  26:59  
Very much so. And I think for the investment in resources, and especially in quantifying, from a financial perspective, what you're looking to invest, and then, in turn, get it's being very clear on your investment. So for example, if it's a marketing component, you know your cost should probably produce at a bare minimum five but on a gold 10x but if you're investing on the equipment side, then you have to be cognizant of, okay, I'm going to invest in this equipment, I may not get 10x revenue, therefore achieving that 25 to $50,000 gain. But how long am I going to have this equipment for? And can I repeat the same identical item again in the future, or use it, have a multi purpose use for whatever equipment that you're looking to purchase for this? 

Sari  27:53  
Yeah. So it's just giving some thought to those things, because these things don't just happen by magic. We don't just, like, I want to double my revenue, and then somehow we just magically trip over it. Like these things require investment of time and energy and money. And okay, where are you going to get that? And who are your who's that you would be helpful to bring in? And it's one thing to go. You know, 25k to 50k is sometimes that can happen really easily without a ton of investment. But, you know, I don't know, 200k to a million or something like that is a much, you know, much bigger nut to crack.

Carlo  28:35  
I had a former employer years ago and loved the company. Love, love, love the owner that I worked for, but he wanted to more than three and a half x his revenue in the course of one year, and had a great product and service. But then there wasn't. There was either end, but there was no strategy component, and no really getting clear on I need to invest this to get that. Am I okay with those benchmarks? It's hard, so yeah, I definitely recommend investing the time, whether it's again, short or long, to be clear on what you're looking to invest and then therefore gain. 

Sari  29:14  
Yeah. So what are some of the mistakes that you see people do when they start, when they're like, okay, it's on my calendar. I have three hours and I'm going to dobefore they just start organizing their files.

Carlo  29:33  
It's, oh goodness, a common mistake. If they have three hours and they're about to jump into annual planning. Common mistake that they make is starting off from scratch, meaning that in their calendar, invite, if you're not putting what are you looking to accomplish in those three hours? Common mistake number one. So it really,plan ahead to have to to write that plan Yes. And again, that doesn't have to be complex either, but at the end of the three hours, I want to accomplish a revenue goal, or I want to have a list of efficiencies that I need to make operationally speaking, which would then in turn, help you move forward in the annual plan. But have a goal by the end of that three hour investment, what are you looking to accomplish again? That'll have you in really, really good habits. Another common mistake is again, kind of going back to where we're talking about earlier, mistaking BHAG for annual plan. The three hour time investment is not where you want to be 5-10 years from now. It is what are you looking to accomplish in that next year? And it's okay if you have a couple of components that are like BHAG items, but you want to be able to really compartmentalize and go BHAG, we're going to go into the BHAG folder at the end of the three hours, and then this is what we're going to focus on in that next year. Those are the two most common constraining. 

Sari  
Yeah, and just for people are like, BHAG, it's big, hairy, audacious goal. Comes from Jim Collins and good to great. And it's essentially, like, it's your vision statement, it's the big thing. It's your big why. Why you get out of bed, why you're doing this, you know, this hard thing of entrepreneurship. And one of my favorite ones since Microsoft's. You know, back in the 70s, they said, you know, we will have a computer in every home, like every kitchen table. And at the time, that was like, pretty wild, right? Like, computers were like, giant and so that was a crazy vision, but now it's like, now they have a new one. 

Carlo  
Speaking of Jim Collins, another good one with Good to Great is, I think it's called Beyond Entrepreneurship. And it really talks about going, breaking it down, going, vision, strategy, tactics, and I think people will confuse in annual planning, instead of getting the tactics listed, there's still a bit visionary. So it's both of them really good books in which to dial that. 

Sari  
Oh funny. I haven't read that book, but I did a podcast called vision, strategy tactics, because I was like, people,  we need to understand. So maybe just seeped in from somewhere.

Carlo  
Yes, yes.

Sari  
I love that. So I agree. I think people not having a plan to plan, like, there's just, like, annual plan time, and then that's when you're, I mean, it's just so fuzzy. And if you don't know what goes into it and what you want to accomplish. And I'm all about the results, you know, we have a this thing called Power Hour in Fuel. And I always started out with like, okay, this is an hour of, like, focus work time. What is the result you're trying to create at the end? So that you know what to stay focused on. So it's not just like work on website. It's like, I will complete the About Us section of my website, right? So we know when we're done.

Carlo  
Yes, and setting those dates in which to get it done, because you can complete a great annual plan and have those action items, but if they're not SMART, Specific, Measurable, all of the things, and more specifically, time bound and in your calendar, then it's really as though you just created, you know, a plan, and then you're off to the shelf and you're on to 50 other things. 

Sari  
Which is my last question that I want to ask you, is okay, let's say we got our annual plan. We come to the annual planning program that I'm doing, and you're coming, you're going to be talking at that, which is going to be so great. You're going to be teaching us how to do it. So I come to that now I know what I need to do. I get the plan done, and then that's what it feels like sometimes. It just goes on the shelf, and you're like, great, and then you never. 

Carlo  
It's now what syndrome, yeah.

Sari  
So how do we avoid that? Like, how do we actually make it useful for us as an annual plan that lives is a living document.

Carlo  
Totally. When you write out that annual plan and you have your goal and you're like, okay, I've got my action items and I'm set to go, right then and there, whether it's by calendar, however it is, you manage your time on a day to day basis, I would highly recommend not only plugging in the due dates for the action items into your calendar, but then also, when are you going to review the progress? So whether it's monthly, quarterly, plug in those dates so that way it's out of sight, out of mind. Myself, I tend to look at my calendar about a week out. Anything beyond a week, I'm like, absolutely not. And if people are asking me for different things, personal or otherwise, going, what are your plans on November 9? I'm like, I don't know. What do you want to do? And you plug that in same, identical thing, but for your business as well. So plug in those dates, that way you can regularly monitor the progress on the specific dates that you've already designated, and how are you getting to your goal. If you want to, I find myself better in holding myself accountable. If I have a meeting with somebody I trust, it could be a personal relationship. It could be a business. Sari, don't be surprised if I contact you in about three months going, okay, I need somebody to bounce this off of and hold myself accountable. It's holding those meetings with somebody that you trust in which to do it, and that way, because you've got the time already pre scheduled, you've got the person, if you choose to, or persons to really be able to give feedback. You can then adjust your plan as needed. You got to have specific metrics in place that are going to help you to your goals. So again, you can't say, I'm going to increase my goal by 50% as far as revenue is concerned, and not have a couple of specific items, like, how much are you selling your product and service for? How many leads are you closing at this point? Because otherwise you're not going to be able to measure your progress along the way. So really is having those specific metrics and how you're measuring your goal along. And it's treating your annual plan almost kind of like a Google doc in a way, or any other system that you use live and in that moment. So when you set your regular check ins for yourself, if you're a Google house or however it is that you organize, attach or link up that annual plan, so that way you're pulling it back off the shelf intentionally, and you may be surprised and going, oh God, I planned this three months ago. No, this is horrible, right? What was I thinking? And it really not only helps you be accountable and it helps you move things along. But it's really, really cool to reflect on going, ah, three months ago, we'll say that, for example, I thought this, but now everything's changed so much. I'm so glad that I was able to reflect back and get clear on where I want to be. I think having those items, those few items in place will really help throughout the year, because otherwise you're writing, typing whatever your plan, and then it's getting shot. So this would be a really proactive approach to stay connected to it.

Sari  
Yeah, I love that, because it should be a living document. It should be something I mean, life happens, right? I mean, good and bad, like you get sick, or somebody you love, like something happens and you got to kind of go, like, whoa, we're taking, you know, I've had clients do that, and of course, like, that's life. Things happen, and you might have to, you know, change, be like, I'm putting this on pause, or we're not doing this. Or you might have some, you know, amazing windfall that's like, all of a sudden, Oprah picks up your product, and she's like, I love this. And next thing you know like, whoa, that whole annual plan needs to, you know, change course. 

Carlo  
Yeah, you're very true. The same thing on the pod, like, there's a client of mine that is similar story that at the end of that quarter, he looked back and he was like, I've more than doubled my goal. He was like, I thought that's way too low. So to be able to reflect back really helps you also build those larger 10x goals. Absolutely. 

Sari  
So living, breathing document, and I love, love, love, like, put it on your calendar as part of the annual planning process in the future. I call that hooking your future self up and because believe me, I will not remember, and I'm always so grateful. I'm like, Thank you, passel for hooking me up where it's on my calendar. I actually went through in, I think January, I did like a little corporate retreat of one, and I put on all of my like because I want to take more free days off. And so I put all these free days on my calendar, and just so it, like, blocked it off. I didn't have to think about it, and I just decided, like, I decided ahead of time, I'm taking the week of Thanksgiving off, or, you know, whatever weeks I'm going to take off, and now I'm just like, thank you. That's awesome. Thanks for hooking me up, because I don't have to think about it now. So it took a little time, but that's what we do as CEOs, just like, if you were managing an employee, right? I like, I like you to think about yourself like you are the boss, but you're also the employee, like you would be like, okay, let's get our quarterly meetings on the calendar. Let's have our, you know, monthly meetings or whatever. So they just happen without you having to be like, Oh crap. When do you have time? We should have done that a month ago.

Carlo  
I had an unbelievable employer. I'll never forget the date. It was December 15, and my unbelievable employer really taught me so so much regarding this area, but I would literally have to put on everyone's calendars, all of the meetings. So it'd be weekly huddles, quarterly all teams, annual planning, mid year review, like kickoff. I'm not doing it in the correct order, but still, literally, I never understood it until I was in front of other owners as well. And I'm like, this just takes care of everything. So like, legit, I would send an email off when I was working for this employer, and I was like, okay, team, it's December 15. Do you know what that means? You need to log off by 5pm otherwise, I'm going to get really annoying with ding, ding, ding, ding of calendar invites coming in, so just know that and be able to plan accordingly, but it's tremendously helpful that therefore it's out of sight, out of mind, and you're also establishing a routine for again, working on that business at regularly scheduled times, no different than how you do other items for your clientele.

Sari   
Yeah, I love that. Well, to wrap up, we are doing a well, I know where you will be on November 5th. That is our calendar. So November 5, Carlo's coming into our 10x Mastermind, and I'm also opening it up. We have a special annual plan kind of package where you get to come to that. You'll get, I did some annual planning videos last year, including like, a SWAT and some other tools as well. And then I also get a one on one with me to work through that. And I know you also offer annual planning. So if anybody wants to come and be like, oh, like, for me, I'm like, I don't care who resonates with you, just pick somebody who resonates with you, and then go work with them. So I know people can go and work with you as well if they want, maybe more hand holding, forcing them to get this done. 

Carlo  
On those metrics and KPIs, yes. 

Sari   
And you generously offered a 25% discount for anybody listening. And so how do people get in touch with you?

Carlo
Best way actually, because one of my action items is to complete my website here within the next, ooh, six weeks. The best way is actually to email me, which is Carlo@denalialignment.com. Great.

Sari  
The show notes for you, but yeah, you will be here on the 5th. People can get signed up to come to this annual plan program, get it done, put those dates on your calendar, you know, force yourself to do it. But your future self in 2025 will be really grateful that you did this work and you paused. You know, I know it's like holiday planning, and you're in your business and it's all crazy, but that future self will really thank you for doing this work and charting a course and being more intentional in what you're going after in 2025 and we have an incredible annual plan package for you that includes the workshop with Carlo. You get a one on one call with me. We're also going to do a December strategy call where you get coaching and get feedback, and that is at foodbizsuccess.com/2025plan. And I'll put the link in the show notes. Well, thank you, Carlo. Really appreciate. It's a fun conversation. I get really excited and jazzed about it. I tend to be a little more of the visionary, so we actually balance each other out nicely. Yeah, you're like, okay, let's get down to browse tax. What are we gonna do?

Carlo  
Are we going to get there? Do we have the right numbers? Yes.

Sari  
So I love it. I love that we're partnering up on this, and it's going to be such a great, great experience for people coming and you make it really fun and feel like it's really approachable to do this annual planning.

Sari 
Thank you, and thank you so much for having me it was such a great time today.

Sari  
it's time to get that annual planning on your calendar. Come join us. Reach out to Carlo or just do it yourself, but your future self will thank you, and until next time, have an amazing week!

Sari  
The smartest thing you can do as an entrepreneur is to invest in a who to help you with the how to speed up your journey and help you skip the line. When you are ready for more support and accountability to finally get this thing done, you can work with me in two ways. Get me all to yourself with one on one business coaching, or join Food Business Success, which includes membership inside Fuel, our community of food business founders, that includes monthly live group coaching calls and so much more. It's one of my favorite places to hang out, and I would love to see you there. Go to foodbizsuccess.com to start your journey towards your own food business success.