Your 36-Month Year
How would you run your business if your year was 36 months long instead of 12?
While you consider that question, let me explain why I am asking…
Right now, you are thinking about the end of your business year. You are likely in a mad dash to make or break your Q4 numbers and your targets for 2023. You push on the members of your team, you push on your clients, you pressure your prospects and you make deals to attain a “score” you set in January.
This is how it goes every year, over and over. Sprint after sprint. Quarter to quarter and then year after year while never feeling like you can do the things that would create the size and scale of the business you truly want. All because of a calendar construct you did not create.
Why?
We watch the news and hear about the public companies we admire as they announce their quarterly numbers and see their stock rise and fall based on how they did and how they say they will do. So we measure ourselves the same way with our businesses.
Why?
If you are not a public company and do not have shareholders that are measuring you on quarterly or annual performance, then why does it matter? Seriously. As long as your profit margins are healthy and cash flow is strong then why do you care about the short term so much?
Sure, there are annual employee reviews and taxes to pay that are based on a 12-month year. But, you can change how you reward your team based on the long-term goals that matter to you most (And should matter to them if you are communicating them well). You can treat taxes as 3 known expenses across your 36-month year.
So, imagine now that I roll out a new year for you starting on January 1, 2023 and it is 36 months long. You have 36 months to build a business that will finally be what you really want at the end of this new, much longer, year. No arbitrary sprints. Just the right amount of time to build something that will make you proud.
In the early months, you can “plant seeds in new fields” and build up the machine that will be able to produce massive results in months 24 and forward.
A 36-month year allows for patience.
A 36-month year allows everyone in the company to be aligned with your long-term goals.
A 36-month year eases the pressure that you deal with every single year. It is not fun for you and you better believe your team hates the Q4 pressure as well.
Whether you want to sell your business, double revenue, transform into new markets or just double your profit then you need to create as long a year as you need to give you the time and space to make the smartest moves to get there.
Let patience be your business virtue.
A 12-month year is playing someone else’s game. It causes persistent short term decision making that is hurting the long-term results of your business and the exponential growth/results you truly want.
January 1, 2023 is the start of your 36-month year.
Start playing YOUR game.