Paint Your Own Business Canvas

The word “canvas” takes me back to high school art class but I assure you, this is not a Bob Ross “happy little tree” plug. We’re about 20 minutes into Day Two of the ERA Real Estate All-Star Agent Retreat and already, we’ve learned a great best practice – making your own business canvas from moderator Brian Copeland.

What is a business canvas? It’s a strategic way of backing into your business plan. For those of you who think very visually, it’s a fun, effective and inclusive way to figure out your most impactful and economical business practices.

Here’s how it works. Make a list titled Opportunity Activities and number if from 1 to 36. Then gather your team and write everything down on that list that makes you money.

Once you’re done, create an Impact and Cost Grid and put each of those items on the list in the category based on high impact, low impact, easy / cheap and hard / expensive. Here’s what it looks like:

When you’ve mapped it out, stop doing the practices that fall in the low impact / hard / expensive arena. Focus on high impact / easy / cheap items and work them into your 30 / 60 / 90 day goals.

Meet with your team weekly to make sure you are still on task and every few months, re-evaluate the activities in your grid to ensure they are still effective and efficient.

For more information on goal setting, consider reading “Mastering the Rockefeller Habits” by Ver.Ne Harnish.

Now, get out there, work on your own canvas and let us know in the comment section below how it works for you. Happy painting, I mean, planning!