Making Plans

introduction building on the legal and financial foundations established in section 1, the revenue strategy from section 2, and the technology framework from section 3, making plans provides the roadmap for your community's sustainable growth this section explores how to create structured planning processes that align with the brand foundation you developed in module 1 annual planning cycles establishing a regular planning rhythm ensures your community evolves with intention rather than drifting reactively creating a clear timeline for planning activities helps maintain focus throughout the year while connecting back to the purpose and values you established in module 1 comprehensive annual planning should happen 1 2 months before your fiscal or calendar year begins dedicate a half day to full day session in an environment outside your regular spaces, and prepare by reviewing previous performance and gathering key insights this extended focus allows for big picture thinking about where your community is heading and how it will get there "marcus and i do weekly check ins they're like mini assessments of what's actually happening operationally, what we need to plan, marketing, financials we discuss what worked and what didn't work, and how we can adjust " quarterly check ins provide regular progress assessments that prevent drift from your annual plan these structured meetings should have clear agendas and outcomes, focusing on reviewing metrics, identifying obstacles, and adjusting strategies document all decisions and modifications to maintain accountability and track your community's evolution over time your annual plan should include several key components that work together to create a comprehensive roadmap begin by reconnecting with your community's foundation from module 1—revisit your mission and values, ensure planning aligns with your core purpose, and keep your long term vision in focus this foundation work prevents you from pursuing opportunities that don't serve your community's authentic identity 💡 planning process tips \ start with your purpose and values from module 1 \ keep your plan simple and focused, especially for newer communities \ create clear documentation that's easy to reference \ build in regular review points to assess progress \ involve key team members to create shared ownership learning activity create your annual planning framework develop a yearly calendar template identifying key fitness seasons, local events, and growth opportunities map out your community's natural "energy cycles" throughout the year, noting high and low periods schedule your annual planning session and quarterly review checkpoints for the coming year, then create a simple template for documenting your annual plan with goals, strategies, and key initiatives finally, identify key stakeholders to involve in different aspects of your planning process honestly evaluate your community's current state by reviewing previous goals and achievements, assessing member experience and satisfaction, analyzing financial performance and sustainability, and evaluating operational systems and efficiency this assessment provides the foundation for setting realistic and ambitious goals for the coming period "when i first started, i did about five or six free events before realizing i was doing a lot of work without compensation now i understand my offering better, so i'm more selective about who i work with and how i structure events " strategic priorities help you identify where to concentrate resources and attention, what challenges must be addressed, which opportunities deserve exploration, and how to balance growth with quality create measurable objectives across growth metrics like attendance, membership, and revenue; experience measures including satisfaction, retention, and engagement; operational goals such as system implementation and efficiency; and financial targets covering revenue, profitability, and investment seasonal programming strategy aligning your community offerings with natural rhythms creates relevance, anticipation, and sustainable engagement throughout the year understanding how various factors affect your community helps create programming that resonates with your members' lives and motivations map how external factors impact participation by analyzing seasonal weather patterns affecting activities, holiday periods and celebration themes, school and work schedules impacting availability, and local events creating competition or collaboration opportunities this environmental awareness allows you to work with natural patterns rather than against them "february, i had a lot of galentine's events march featured rodeo kickoff and spring themed events these seasonal formats keep our calendar fresh while maintaining our core experience " analyze participation trends throughout the year to understand when motivation and attendance naturally peak, how goals and interests shift seasonally, where programming adjustments can address seasonal dips, and what special opportunities each season presents this behavioral understanding helps you design programming that meets members where they are emotionally and practically learning activity design your seasonal programming strategy analyze seasonal factors that affect your community including weather, holidays, local events, and member schedules create a programming calendar with themed offerings for each season of the year, then develop one signature seasonal event concept for each quarter plan how your pricing, marketing, and partnerships will adapt seasonally, and create a seasonal content calendar that aligns with your programming themes create a strategic event framework that leverages seasonal understanding while maintaining consistency establish reliable community touchpoints through consistent weekly or monthly gatherings, ensure key experience elements remain stable, and create clear expectations for regular participation this consistency provides the foundation that allows seasonal variations to feel like natural evolution rather than random changes "my offering remains consistent—it's that 45 minute mat pilates class maybe we all wear black for halloween or something seasonal, but fundamentally, the event doesn't change much " adapt core offerings to enhance seasonal relevance by aligning themes with seasonal moments, modifying formats based on conditions, adjusting locations between indoor and outdoor as appropriate, and shifting timing to accommodate seasonal factors plan special gatherings that create highlights throughout the year, including quarterly flagship events, annual traditions members anticipate, special celebrations for community milestones, and seasonal challenge programs 💡 seasonal programming framework analyze seasonal patterns weather impacts on your activity calendar influences on participation historical attendance trends create quarterly themes align with natural seasonal energy connect to member goals for that period create distinctive marketing angles balance consistency and novelty maintain core experience elements introduce seasonal variations create special event highlights develop communication that resonates with time specific motivations by addressing seasonal pain points and aspirations, connecting to cultural moments appropriately, and positioning your offerings against seasonal alternatives organize content creation to align with programming by planning themes and topics for different periods, scheduling content production efficiently, and creating seasonal visual assets in advance goal setting framework clear, measurable objectives provide direction and accountability for your community's growth creating objectives that drive meaningful progress requires connecting every goal directly to your community's purpose while focusing on a small number of high impact objectives apply the smart goal methodology to all objectives specific outcomes without ambiguity, measurable metrics to track progress, achievable targets given resources and constraints, relevant connection to community vision and values, and time bound deadlines for accomplishment set objectives across different horizons including annual goals for overall direction, quarterly objectives for medium term focus, monthly targets for specific progress measures, and weekly actions for immediate steps "we are really data driven we started with $10 tickets and now i know $15 is my base i never charge less than that for a paid event just to cover the work involved these metrics help us understand our growth trajectory " different types of objectives create balanced community development growth and engagement goals measure community expansion and participation through membership acquisition and retention rates, event attendance and capacity utilization, participation frequency and cross event attendance, and referral generation and conversion learning activity develop your goal setting framework create 3 5 smart goals for your community's next year across different categories including growth, experience, and financial objectives break down annual goals into quarterly objectives with specific metrics and milestones, then design a visual goal tracking system to monitor progress throughout the year create a regular review process with specific assessment criteria and adjustment mechanisms, and develop templates for documenting goal progress and learning from outcomes "we started with 12 people, then went to 50, 500, 1,200, and finally 1,600 it grew so rapidly that by the time we hit 500, we needed completely different systems " experience and quality goals enhance the member experience through satisfaction scores and feedback trends, quality consistency across events, community connection depth, and brand promise fulfillment financial sustainability goals ensure business health including revenue targets overall and by stream, profitability and margin objectives, investment allocation for growth, and long term financial sustainability "for our last race, we generated about $30k in sales from 650 runners, with expenses around $22k understanding these economics helps us price events appropriately and make strategic investments " systems and operations goals improve how your community functions through efficiency and productivity measures, technology implementation and adoption, team capability development, and process quality and consistency create clear processes for modifying goals or approaches by defining when minor course corrections are needed, establishing criteria for major strategy shifts, documenting changes and their rationales, and communicating adjustments to stakeholders 💡 goal setting tips \ connect every goal directly to your community's purpose \ focus on a small number of high impact objectives \ choose metrics you can actually measure consistently \ create visual tracking systems for monitoring progress \ celebrate achievements to build momentum resource allocation strategic distribution of time, money, and attention maximizes your community's impact understanding what's available for implementation provides a realistic foundation for planning and helps you make informed decisions about where to invest your limited resources project revenue for the planning period, identify available reserves, determine investment capacity, and map cash flow throughout the year this financial resource planning builds on your work from earlier sections and creates the foundation for all other resource decisions "you don't need expensive budgeting software there are templates you can purchase on etsy for $3 that you just copy and paste that's what i use for my expenses and it's made my life so much easier " document core team capacity, identify volunteer resources, create a skill inventory, and recognize potential bottlenecks this human capacity mapping helps you understand what's actually possible given your current team structure and where you might need to add support or adjust expectations learning activity build your resource allocation model create an annual budget template with seasonal spending projections and develop a time allocation framework for yourself and any team members across key activities identify critical resource constraints and contingency plans for each, then map investments to strategic priorities with clear rationales for spending decisions finally, create a system for evaluating return on investment for different community initiatives catalog physical and technological assets including venue availability and limitations, equipment inventory and needs, technology systems and capabilities, and material resources and supplies this infrastructure evaluation ensures you're building plans on a realistic understanding of your operational capacity systematically direct resources toward priorities by aligning resources with strategic objectives direct funds to highest impact initiatives, allocate time to most critical activities, deploy skills where they create most value, and use physical resources strategically focus on highest return activities by evaluating potential outcomes relative to resources, identifying where small investments yield large returns, considering opportunity costs for each choice, and balancing potential gains against risks "a vendor typically charges $8 for coffee, but i pay her $10 because i want her to feel valued in our relationship having good vendor partnerships where they're making more than normal creates loyalty and often results in better service " support various aspects of community development through balanced investment between maintenance versus growth spending, member facing versus operational investments, short term versus long term resource allocation, and core versus experimental initiatives maintain flexibility for unexpected needs by keeping emergency financial reserves, unallocated time capacity, flexible resources that can be redirected, and contingency plans for various scenarios 💡 resource allocation framework assess available resources financial assets and projections time and human capacity physical and technological infrastructure align with strategic priorities highest impact objectives core experience maintenance growth opportunities essential improvements monitor and adjust track utilization against plan measure returns on investments reallocate as needed maintain necessary reserves monitor the effectiveness of resource utilization by tracking how resources are being used compare actual versus planned spending, analyze where time is being allocated, assess return on various investments, and monitor capacity utilization and sustainability create processes for resource reallocation by defining triggers that signal the need for changes, establishing decision protocols for shifts, creating implementation steps for adjustments, and determining how changes will be communicated community input integration involving members in planning creates better decisions and stronger buy in gathering community perspectives effectively requires using multiple channels and approaches to understand what your members truly need and want from their community experience formal input gathering at key points includes event feedback surveys, annual community assessments, targeted topic questionnaires, and preference research these structured surveys provide quantitative data that can guide major decisions and help you track satisfaction trends over time "we did polls for about six months—detailed questions down to things like 'when you're tired, what do you catch yourself doing?' these insights helped us understand member needs at a deeper level " "we have a feedback form on our link tree so people can submit general input after major events like tournaments, we do specific feedback surveys to improve future experiences " person to person dialogue about community direction includes one on one discussions with members, informal gathering input during events, regular check ins with consistent participants, and new member conversations for fresh perspectives these direct conversations often provide richer context and emotional understanding than surveys alone learning activity design your community input system create a feedback collection calendar with varied touchpoints throughout the year and design a simple survey template for gathering strategic input from community members develop a framework for involving select members in planning discussions or advisory capacity, then create a communication template for sharing how member input has influenced strategic decisions finally, establish a system for tracking and implementing member suggestions over time "a lot of feedback comes through comments and dms i read every single one because that direct connection is invaluable " "we actually go around asking people directly, 'are you having a good time? what could be better?' they give straightforward feedback that helps us improve " learning from what members do rather than just what they say includes analyzing attendance patterns across different events, registration speed for various offerings, social media engagement with different content, and member interaction dynamics during gatherings this behavioral analysis often reveals preferences that members might not explicitly express in surveys or conversations making sense of diverse member input requires identifying recurring themes across feedback, determining which suggestions to prioritize, evaluating how widely views are shared, and considering context for interpretation create a decision framework by checking suggestions against community values, assessing feasibility and resource requirements, projecting potential impact of changes, and balancing diverse perspectives and needs "i use instagram story question boxes to test different options i'll post a few choices, and everybody responds with their preferences i let the community truly choose what works for them " share how feedback influenced decisions by acknowledging input received, explaining reasoning transparently, providing implementation updates, and demonstrating outcomes of changes this communication loop helps members see that their input matters and encourages continued engagement in your community's development create deeper involvement in community planning through formalized member input channels select representative advisors, create structured input gatherings, define roles clearly, and acknowledge contributions appropriately support community driven projects by creating pathways for member proposals, providing appropriate resource support, connecting initiatives to core offerings, and sharing successes and learning "everyone was asking, 'can we plan a social event?' when your members are actively requesting something, that's a clear indicator you should be thinking about it " 💡 community input best practices \ use multiple feedback channels for diverse perspectives \ ask specific questions rather than just general feedback \ close the loop by sharing how input influenced decisions \ create opportunities for deeper member involvement \ balance community input with strategic vision involve members in refining new concepts by forming test groups for new offerings, gathering structured feedback on experiments, iterating based on real experience, and making launch decisions with member input this prototyping and testing approach helps ensure new initiatives will resonate with your community before you invest significant resources in full implementation summary and next steps strategic planning transforms your fitness community from a series of events into a purposeful, evolving organization with clear direction by creating structured planning processes, aligning programming with seasonal patterns, setting effective goals, allocating resources strategically, and integrating community voices, you establish a foundation for long term success that honors the vision and values established in module 1 while building on the operational foundations covered in earlier sections of module 2