From Plan A to Plan B: Ensuring Success

What if your meticulously planned project hits an unexpected snag? Discover how to master the art of the pivot and always stay one step ahead. In today's episode of Elevate Media, I'm your host, Chris Anderson-Yost, and we’re diving into why having a plan B—and even a plan C—is not just prudent but essential for entrepreneurial success. I’ll share firsthand experiences from our video production projects where bad weather and unforeseen obstacles required quick thinking and flexible planning to still deliver for our clients.

Learn the strategies you need to anticipate different scenarios, set up contingency plans, and ensure you’re always prepared, no matter the situation. This episode is packed with actionable tips on equipping yourself with the right tools and alternative strategies, whether you're a coach, consultant, or creative professional. Tune in to elevate your business acumen and find out how to turn potential roadblocks into opportunities for growth and excellence.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Welcome to the Elevate Media podcast with your host, chris Anderson. In this show, chris and his guests will share their knowledge and experience on how to go from zero to successful entrepreneur. They have built their businesses from scratch and are now ready to give back to those who are just starting. Let's get ready to learn, grow and elevate our businesses. And now your host, chris Anderson.

Speaker 2: 0:24

Success isn't just about having a plan A. It's also about being prepared when things go sideways. Tune in, as I share the importance of planning for multiple outcomes and having a plan B, which is crucial to success, and be able to pivot on a dime. Welcome back to the LVMedia podcast. I'm Chris Anderson-Yost, and today we're going to dive into why it's important to have a plan B and even plan C as you're producing a new service, having a new production or having another product that you're giving people, because things don't always go to plan until you're going to have to be able to pivot and shift. So if you have thought out some new strategies, some new pathways beforehand, it can really help. So it's good to have your main plan right, the plan that we're going to use and focus on to get the job done. Whether it be helping a client produce more revenue, get more sales, whether it be creating a great professional video, you have your plan A, the thing that you're focusing on getting done for them. But nothing's perfect. Things go sideways, unexpected things happen, so you need to be able to shift and pivot on a dime, and that's why planning with a plan B is important. So, as you're planning out what you're trying to do. Say, for example, for us, as we're trying to create a video for a client, we have a certain plan, we have a flow of what that would look like, the shots that we need, things of that nature. Maybe we're not able to get to the location the day early to scout it out, so we show up and it's supposed to be outside and the weather's terrible. Okay, we're going to have to pivot and shift, probably indoors so we can get some better shots. So where is there indoors that we can, you know, shoot at? This is something that should have been in plan B ahead of time. Okay, so that's what I'm talking about. When you have your main plan, yeah, we want to do this, this and this. But when you show up and you can't do that, what's your backup? You know where's your, your indoor okay, what happens if you can't get in those locations? Where's the next location you can go to?

Speaker 2: 2:35

So, having these things sought out, if you're providing a service to you know individuals, whether you're a coach and consultant, maybe you had like a loose outline of the process that you guide people through. But if you're doing one-on-one coaching, maybe they don't learn a specific way, so you have to shift a little. Maybe it's you have to do some videos, or maybe you need to make them do something hands-on instead of just writing things down or whatever it is. So you have to tweak it a little bit, so you need to have those kind of avenues built out so if they're not learning the same way or they need a different guidance or training, you have that ability to do that, to get them the results still that they're paying you for. So these are things you know to think about.

Speaker 2: 3:18

It's not like scrapping the whole thing and having a backup plan if the business doesn't work. It's more in the moments of the services and products, like how can we prepare for the unexpected things that we could expect could happen, that we don't know if they will or not, but be prepared right. Like the boy scouts say, you always be prepared. You know for us. You know make sure we have all our equipment, not just the ones we, not just the stuff we think we need, but having everything. So if we have all our equipment, not just the stuff we think we need, but having everything, so if we have to pivot, we have a scrim and a diffuser, we have extra C-stands. We have extra tripods, things like that. So we're just planning for the changes that could happen, gets a job done and helps you serve your clients at a higher level still, compared to someone who might not plan and might not have any backup plans.

Speaker 2: 4:11

When things go wrong, not according to plan A, you have the plan B, c, d, things lined up to still complete the mission and get it done.

Speaker 2: 4:22

So I just want to hit on that today, because sometimes we get so focused on the one thing we need to do that we forget about the what ifs or the what could happens, that we don't plan for those and think about them ahead of time, don't plan for those and think about them ahead of time and then, when they do happen, we either run around frantically trying to figure it out or we just we just don't produce what we have or what we need to, and it's not good for anybody. So I hope this made you think a little bit more. I hope it kind of sparked some ideas on how you can you know BC in your business as well. I would love to hear from you If you've had any experience with that.

Speaker 2: 5:02

Had anything happen like that, send me a message at christanderson on Instagram. I would love to just hear about your story and what you had to do to pivot and how you did it successfully, and I'm always looking for ideas. If you have anything you want to hear on the show Topics or anything like that, let me know, because this is for you all, the ones who are trying to get their business off the ground, to be full time, you know, to build a team when it's not just yourself, so you get more time Doing things you love as well, along with, along with you know, growing the business and helping your team and those that you service. So, but until next time, continue to go out there, elevate your life, elevate your brand, and we'll talk to you again soon.

Speaker 1: 5:45

Thank you for listening to the Elevate Media Podcast. Don't forget to subscribe and leave a review. See you in the next episode.