Read any business book or hire any business coach, and they will tell you the same thing: Businesses don’t grow without good planning and execution, AND goal setting is done in January. Whoever wrote that 2nd rule never ran a payroll company.
In 30-plus years of running a successful payroll company, one thing I learned was that Nov-Dec-Jan are the worst possible months to plan. November and December are selling season. December and January are year-end. You are not planning during that stretch — you are surviving. For years, that meant I always felt like my planning was late, or that I was not preparing enough. Finally I embraced it (stopped pushing rocks uphill): your planning calendar does not have to match the calendar year. Goal setting must have a start, but does not have to start in January. That is just what everyone assumes. Build a planning calendar that fits your business, and work it.
Which brings me to why I am sending this now (this was orginally an email sent in August)
September is the best planning month a payroll company gets. You have breathing room, people are rejuvenated from summer, and PTO is light so you have the whole team for planning. The fourth quarter starts October 1 — a clean quarter to launch against. Spend September planning and setting goals, start executing October 1, and by the time selling season and year-end hit, you are already months into your plan instead of scrambling to write one. While other companies are doing their annual planning in December (battling year-end fires, PTO and holiday schedules), you will already have momentum.
An October-September planning period is what I think is the best model for a payroll company. But it may not be the best fit for how your business runs. Maybe July is your quiet stretch. Maybe March. In my own company, our planning month was February, for plans that started in March — and that worked for years. The specific 12-month period matters less than the principle: pick a period, build your planning calendar around it, and make that the start of your planning year. Whichever one works best for your business.
There are many ways to plan and set goals — that is a whole different topic. The only bad planning and goal-setting system is the one that does not exist. And as always, AI tools and YouTube are great places to shortcut the learning curve.
If you need some inspiration for setting goals, Codie Sanchez (fellow Texas entrepreneur) has a great video on goal setting: Codie Sanchez on Goal Setting
If you need a model for tracking goals, here are my recommendations:
For larger teams: we used EOS, from Gino Wickman’s book Traction. EOS is a full operating system for the business — shared vision, 90-day priorities, weekly scorecards, and a meeting rhythm that keeps everything on track. It takes commitment to install, but it scales.
- EOS Overview: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxBKVXStdg8
- EOS Goal Setting: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Igv3nGIlsnE
For smaller teams, I think two good methodologies are:
- OKR (Objectives and Key Results). Pick a small number of objectives — where you want to go — and attach three to five measurable key results to each one, so you know whether you are actually getting there. Simple, lightweight, and it works at any size (Google runs on it). Here is a 12-minute overview: OKR Overview
- The 12 Week Year. If you want something a little more structured, this one treats every 12 weeks like a full year — you set goals for the 12 weeks, break them into weekly actions, and score yourself weekly. The shorter window creates urgency that annual goals never do. And it happens to fit an October 1 start perfectly: your first 12-week year wraps up right before Christmas. Here is a good 15-minute overview: 12 Week Year Overview
Take some time this month to plan. Come October 1, you will be executing while everyone else is still waiting for January. Happy goal setting.
Anyway, that is my 2 cents, hopefully it brings you value.