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BTB Episode 114: Business Planning for the New Year

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Interview with Shay Cochrane

“It really is important that you have those key mile markers and touch points on your calendars for yourself and for your team to kind of stop and assess. Otherwise, time will just pass and you just keep working and you might be doing great work, but was it the work that you set out to do?”

Shay Cochrane, the founder and CEO of Social Squares, joins me on the podcast for a timely discussion about planning an end of year retreat to reflect on the previous year and plan for the upcoming year. Shay always brings a lot of practical advice and insight to the podcast and this episode was no different.

If you want to learn a little bit more about Shay, the origins of Social Squares, and productizing a service, I encourage you to check out episode 41. Today we discuss how she organizes her end of year retreat where she goes away for a weekend to reflect on the previous year, evaluate how things have gone, and put together a plan for the upcoming year.

More about Shay

As a commercial photographer and product stylist, Shay’s clients spanned the globe (brands like Sugarfina, Pure Fiji, Truffle bags and Simplified Planner to name a few). But powerhouse female entrepreneurs like Marie Forleo, Jenna Kutcher and thousands of others know and love her for her Social Squares Membership where she puts her years of work as a commercial stylist and photographer into a monthly styled stock subscription that supplies elevated stock images + digital marketing education for female-owned online brands. She has been married for 15 years to her fellow entrepreneur husband Graham Cochrane and they call sunny Tampa, Florida home along with their two daughters.

Website | Instagram | Pinterest | Instagram (Personal)

2:42 – What Shay has been up to with Social Squares
8:24 – Information about Shay’s end of year retreat
13:16 – Review the year, growth, numbers, etc.
17:20 – Review mission, vision, and core values
19:43Resources Shay uses to draw team leadership from
21:20 – Review surveys
25:51 – Planning for the new year
29:30 – Planning content for the year
32:43 – How to make sure the planned content is actually going to happen
39:14 – Things that have surprised Shay during these retreats

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