Long-term Planning Every Entrepreneurs Should Focus

Many companies are stuck solving day-to-day problems and do not have time for long-term financial goals. R&D, marketing, training, employee development, community engagement, and capital development allow a business to thrive in the long-term and make everyday tasks easier. If everyone is constantly treating their job like there is a fire to put out, then there will be no time for long-term development. Brandon Frere, CEO of Frere Enterprises and other businesses, reminds entrepreneurs that long-term planning is essential for ongoing business.

“It’s not enough to play the game. You need to think about how to stay competitive and keep winning,” said Brandon Frere. “Every bit of slack that you get now should and can be used to develop something to help kick butt later.”

Using company profits and planning on effectively using slack time can help make progress toward the company’s long-term financial goals. Every minute or dollar saved can be an investment into the company’s future. Google’s “20 percent time,” often called “120 percent time” due to time constraints, is the often referenced policy for innovation, but Apple’s Blue Sky, Microsoft’s Garage, and LinkedIn’s InCubator are all methods that give employees access to the workplace in order to generate innovations. Amazon often uses the company profits to expand its business, which leads to a short-term loss, but the investments often work out. All of these giants have a different plan for encouraging innovation and growth. Each company encourages this growth in subtly different ways. Figure out the way that works best for your company and prosperity should follow.

It is often difficult to measure long-term developments. A “do whatever you think works best” approach tends to create a lack of direction. One option is to judge branches of the company by the number of initiatives the company produces and level of tangible impact the initiatives have. For example, an R&D department that produces patents may be a good measure of success. Patents create a new option or source for the company to take advantage of. Even though every patent isn’t necessarily going to be well used, it creates something new, interesting, and provides the company with additional resources when facing a problem or when in the process of creating new assets for the business. Once a measurement is discovered to indicate progress, it’s easier to see how progress can be made.

“Every dollar that is spent on the long-term pays for itself in the future,” said Brandon Frere. “A business that is focused on the nitty-gritty of every day should take the effort and time to look towards the future, or else they won’t be able to maintain existence.”