Ep 85 - Create Your 2026 Business Plan with Me (In Just 20 Minutes)

Episode Show Notes

Let’s start the year with intention.

If you’re a freelance dietitian or health professional and you’re ready to stop winging it and start growing your business in a structured, sustainable way - this post is for you.

This is the exact 20-minute planning method I use with my mastermind clients. It will help you:

• Set realistic revenue goals
• Align your offers to those goals
• Plan your sales and marketing in a way that suits your energy and your life

Step 1: Set Your Annual Sales Goal

Let’s get straight to it - how much money do you want to make in 2026?

This isn’t about vanity metrics or comparing yourself to other people online. It’s about choosing a number that supports the life you want - whether that’s reducing your NHS hours, replacing your full-time income, or giving your family more financial breathing room.

Example: One of my clients wanted to replace her NHS salary so she could quit her job. That gave her a clear £36,000 sales target for the year. 

Step 2: Break It Down Into Monthly Targets

Take your annual goal and divide it by how much you want to earn per month. For simplicity this could be 12 equal amounts, or if you know you have seasonal variations in sales or you’re planning a long holiday where you won't be working, you might have different targets for each month. 

That’s your baseline monthly sales target.

Example: If your goal is £36,000/year, that could be 12 equil £3,000/months. Keep it simple - you’re creating a plan you can actually use.

Step 3: List What You Can Sell

Now write out your current offers - whether that’s 1:1 client packages, online courses, in real life workshops, ebooks or meal plans - and the price of each.

Ask yourself:

• Are they priced correctly based on the impact of the result or transformation they provide the client?
• Are they profitable for the time and energy they take me to deliver them?

Tip: Don’t over-rely on low-ticket products unless you’ve got a very large and engaged audience with proven automated systems. One of my clients was spending all her time trying to sell a £15 e-book to an Instagram audience of 2.5k and an email list of 936 people. We shifted her focus to a £850 course, and her revenue jumped - with far less effort.

Step 4: Do the Maths

Now work out how many of each offer you’d need to sell monthly to hit your goal. Be realistic here in terms of your audience size - how many people are on your email list? Are they engaged?

Example:

• 2 x 1:1 clients at £600 = £1,200
• 5 x course sales at £350 = £1,750
• 5 x ebooks at £10 = £50

Total = £3,000

This is your monthly sales plan. 

Step 5: Decide What to Focus On

Not all offers can be sold in the same way. Some can be sold any time (like an e-book or 1:1 sessions), while others like courses or cohort based programmes are better suited to live launches or seasonal promotion.

Decide which offer will be your main revenue driver, and when you'll promote each one.

Think about:

• Which offers are easiest to sell?
• Which are most profitable for your time?
• What feels exciting and manageable to deliver?

Step 6: Choose Your Sales Strategy

You’ll also need a sales mechanism.

There are two main approaches: live launching or evergreen selling.

• Live launching means opening your offer for a short window and promoting it heavily - great for income spikes and giving people a reason to act now, but takes a lot of your energy and time for planning.
  
  
• Evergreen means your offer is always available, and people can buy when they’re ready. These are less intense, but need a solid funnel, with a steady stream of new leads and a great nurture system behind it.
  
  

You also can't sell the same offer in the same way each month. You need variation and creativity to grab people's attention.

No matter which approach you choose, remember: people need a way in. You’ll need a lead magnet or entry point - something free and valuable like a guide, checklist or webinar - that encourages potential clients to engage with you. 

From there, you can nurture them toward your paid offer through regular helpful content and intentional sales messaging.

Personal note: I use both. Some of my group programmes are launched a couple of times per year. Others, like digital products, are always available with automated funnels.

Step 7: Map It Into Your Year

Now start placing those sales events or focus areas into your calendar. Don’t over-plan. Just outline the focus for each quarter, and pencil in when you might promote what and how you will sell it.

Tip: Plan your business around your life - not the other way around. If you’ve got a holiday, school holidays or CPD commitments, take those into account first.

Step 8: Two Questions to Keep You Focused

This is one of the most important mindset shifts you can make as a business owner: move out of reactivity and into intentional action. Every single month, ask yourself these two questions:

1. What’s one thing I can do this month to attract new ideal clients?
   
   
2. What’s one thing I can do this month to make new sales?
   
   

That first question focuses your attention on visibility and lead generation - the things that help you be seen by the right people. Think about showing up on Instagram Stories with value, pitching to be on someone else’s podcast, running a simple challenge, or promoting a new lead magnet or an existing one more consistently.

The second question keeps you grounded in revenue-generating activity. That might mean making a sales offer, sending a promo email to your list, following up with a warm lead, or running a limited-time bonus on your offer.

If you’re not asking these two questions regularly, it’s easy to get stuck in work that feels busy but doesn't directly result in income generation - think content creation or admin. These questions bring you back to the core levers that move your business forward - visibility and sales.

Let’s Recap

• Set your annual revenue goal
• Break it down into monthly targets
• List your offers and price points
• Do the maths to create a sales plan
• Pick your main offer focus for the year
• Choose your sales strategy
• Map your quarters and key dates
• Use the two focus questions monthly

This is the plan I use in my own business - and it’s the plan that helps my clients grow consistently, reduce overwhelm and actually enjoy their work again.

Want Support Building This Out?

If you’d like my help putting this into practice, I’d love to welcome you into my business coaching experience - with Silver and Gold tiers available depending on the level of support you need.

👉 Click here to explore the options

📱 Or message me on WhatsApp to talk through your goals and see if it’s the right fit: Click to message me

Let’s make 2026 your most structured and successful year yet.

The Master Plan:

Helping you build the business of your dreams. Get your 22 point step-by step workbook here: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/master-plan

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Website: https://www.sarahalmondbushell.com/

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Episode transcription:

Welcome back and happy new year everybody. I hope you've had an amazing week or two off with your families over the festive period and you're back to hit 2026 with some much needed enthusiasm and excitement. And actually that's what this episode is all about. It's the start of a brand new year. And you know what? I want to ask you, how are you feeling about it?

Maybe you're excited. Maybe you're raring to take on some brand new goals or maybe you're a little bit worried about this year because last year didn't go quite as well as you'd hoped. Well, whatever the case and wherever you're at, this episode is going to help you reset, help you get into the right mindset for a new year and start 2026 with a really practical business plan.

So ideally, if you've got a pen and paper handy, that is perfect because you can just jot things down as we go. But if you're listening in the car or on a walk or out and about, that's totally fine as well. Even just listening will help you start thinking about your 2026 business plan.

One of the biggest lessons that I learned in actually both my NHS management career and in business is that people who make progress are the ones who know exactly what they're trying to achieve. So in this episode, I'm going to help you get crystal clear on what you want to achieve in 2026 and help you put together an achievable and exciting business plan so that you've got the roadmap to do it.

I'm going to walk you through my step-by-step framework for planning a successful year in your business. It's the framework that I go through with all of my clients inside my business coaching programs. And this framework is a really big part of why my clients consistently hit their financial goals. It's how they grow their client base and it's actually how they end their years feeling proud of what they've achieved.

So by the time that we're done, in about 20 minutes or so, you'll not only feel more confident about the year ahead, but you'll also have a solid plan that you can start putting into action straight away. Let's do this, shall we?

Okay, first things first, I want to start with something that comes up for so many of us at this time of year, comparison. It's so easy to look at others celebrating huge wins and think, well, why isn't that me yet? Maybe you're still in your NHS job. Maybe you're watching colleagues take the leap into freelance or entrepreneurship and they seemingly have amazing success overnight. Or maybe you're already in business, but you've had a quiet year with clients and you see other people fully booked and hitting huge revenue milestones. And it can be easy to feel like you're falling behind, right?

But I want you to remember that we've all got our own timelines and comparing your journey to someone else's only steals your focus and your energy. Your chapter three isn't meant to look like somebody else's chapter 30. So the first step to planning a successful year ahead is to stop comparing and start focusing on you, on your business and your unique goals.

Now, why even bother planning the year ahead? So I know some of you might be thinking, you know what, I'm just going to work things out as I go and see what happens. But when you leave your business to chance like that, it's very rare that you hit consistent results because without a plan, it's so easy to get distracted. It's so easy to get sucked into every shiny idea that comes your way. And you can waste months on things that don't actually move the needle forwards for you.

So when I started my business, I didn't have a plan at all. I was totally winging it. I had no strategy for what I was going to sell, when I was going to sell it, or how I was going to hit my income goals. I was reacting to whatever came my way instead of proactively shaping my business. And the results showed it. I had quiet months. I had inconsistent income. I felt constantly behind.

And one of the biggest things that allowed me to reach six figures and then grow to multiple six figures businesses was finally having a clear actionable annual plan. So now I go into every year knowing what my revenue goals are, knowing what I'm selling, know when I'm selling it and how I'm selling it. So the actions that I need to take every single month in order to hit those targets. And it takes the guesswork and the stress out of running my business. And it's exactly what I want to help you create today.

Maybe 2025 didn't go to plan for you. Maybe you didn't hit the goals that you set for yourself last year and you're feeling a little bit deflated going into the new year. Well, the first thing I want you to know is this. Just because you didn't hit your goal in 2025, it doesn't mean that you're failing. It doesn't mean that you're left behind. It doesn't mean that you still can't have an incredible 2026. You totally can. My story is proof of that.

So back in 2017, I set myself the goal of trying to double my NHS salary. That was what I had as a target so that I could eventually quit my NHS job and work for myself. And did I do it right away? Oh my goodness, no. I procrastinated. You would not believe the limiting beliefs that I had to overcome. And I had months where nothing happened, clients where nowhere to be seen and I was focusing on all of the wrong things.

It took me two whole years to hit that goal, two years of trial and error, two years of trying things that didn't work, two years of pushing through the self doubt, but I kept going and thank goodness that I did because if I hadn't kept going, I wouldn't be where I am now. I wouldn't have two businesses that bring in multiple six figures annually. So if last year didn't go according to plan for you, remember this year is a fresh start. And today we're going to talk about exactly how to set yourself up to hit your goals in 2026.

Okay. So how do you plan for an amazing 2026? When it comes to planning for this year, you need to focus on two key areas. So you, your mindset and your personal development. That's one.

And your business. So the strategy and the practical steps that you're going to take to hit your goals. Because you can have the best strategy in the world, but without the right mindset, you won't hit your goals. The change starts with you.

So the very first thing I want you to do is this. I want you to think of one thing that you need to work on to become a better version of you in 2026. Let's just think of one thing for now. Maybe it's believing that you're capable of earning the income that you want. Maybe it's stopping the comparison spiral. Maybe it's showing up even when you don't feel like you're ready. So either write it down or say it out loud.

And then on the flip side of that, you know, you could have the strongest mindset in the world, but if there's no strategy behind it, you won't know what actions to take or how to turn that energy into actual results. So this is why you need to get really honest with yourself about what's actually going to move the needle this year. Maybe it's improving your marketing. Maybe it's finally creating a consistent client pipeline or funnel instead of hoping that someone magically stumbles across your website and inquires to work with you.

Okay, let's now start creating that 2026 business plan. So what I want you to do now is decide on a specific but realistic revenue goal for the year. So essentially how much money in sales do you want to make in the next 12 months? Sales is the most straightforward metric to then reverse engineer. So once you have that number of what you want to make in sales next year, write it out, or to say it out loud if you're out and about somewhere.

So once you've set that yearly sales goal, the next step is breaking it down into monthly sales targets. So let's just divide that yearly sales goal by 12 to make it easy. Yes, some months you might make more and some months you might make less, but for now for easy back of napkin maths, let's just divide it equally by 12. Okay.

From there, you need to think about what you're going to sell and the price of that in order to make this happen. So make a list of everything that you have to offer in your business you can sell this year and the price of each.

So at this stage, you also want to be asking yourself, is this priced correctly for the change or the transformation it delivers for the person who it? Is it profitable to me for the time and energy it takes me to deliver it? You want to make sure you have the right price points before you do anything else.

So let's just quickly recap there. You've got your yearly sales goal. You've divided that by 12 and broken it down into your monthly sales targets. And you've got a list of everything that you can sell with a price for each. Now, once you know what you're selling and how much each offer costs, the next step is figuring out how many sales you need per offer in order to hit that monthly sales goal.

So an example might help you here. So let's say your goal is £3000 in sales per month. So you might have one-to-one consultations at £600 per client. And you might aim to sell say two of those per month. So that equals £1200. You might also have an online course that's priced at £350 each.

So you might aim to sell five of those in a month and that equals £1,750. And then you might also have an ebook and that's £10 each. So you might try to sell five per month. So that would equal £50. So that's your £3,000 for the month totalled up. So now you can see exactly how you can break down your monthly sales goal into specific actionable sales targets for each of your offers and that becomes your roadmap.

So the next step is, you'll now want to identify where your sales will realistically come from because not all offers sell in the same way. Some, like your packages of one-to-one consultations or an e-book can be sold consistently throughout the year, but others, like a course or a group programme, might only be open for enrolments at certain times.

So ask yourself, which of the offers will be your core monthly revenue driver? Or what's the number one product or service that's going to bring in the most money for your business? Because this is the driving force of your business and it's what you should be focusing on.

You also want to have a think about, know, which of those offers are seasonal or maybe launch-based, which ones are actually the easiest to sell and which ones are the most profitable for you for the time and energy that you have to put into it. And then once you've got all of this mapped out, the next step is to look at your marketing plan and your visibilities plan so that you can actually reach the people who would buy these offers from you and make hitting your goals a reality.

Now I want to make something really, really clear. You don't need every single detail of the entire year planned out. Your goal is not to create a rigid schedule for 12 months down to the very last task. What you do need is a clear plan for the year as a whole, your main revenue goal and your key offers that you want to sell. And then just a focus for each quarter. So for example, what your priority is going to be in the first three months and then in the next three and so on. Or if you prefer, you can just plan the first half of the year in detail and then adjust the second half as time goes on.

Okay, now what? So now that you've got your yearly sales goal, you've got your monthly targets, you've got a clear idea of what you're going to be selling, what's next? So it's time to think about how you want to attract people to you and ultimately sell those offers. And in order to make sales and get clients, people need a way in and need a way to move from being a complete stranger to being interested in working with you. So this could be something like a free webinar.

It could be a downloadable guide. could be a mini course where they give you their email address to join or get access. And then once you have their email, you can then nurture them with helpful content and show them how they can work with you. But without having this kind of entry point, it's so much harder to turn people into paying clients. Remember, it's really important to align your 2026 plan with how you want to sell and what feels good for you.

You want your plan for the year to actually fit your style, fit your energy and the way you want to run your business. So the great news is there's loads of different ways that you can sell your offers. So it's important to pick the approach that feels the most realistic and most enjoyable for you. So for example, do you want to live launch your offer?

If so, how often feels realistic for you? Because live launching is when you open your offer for a set period of time, you promote it heavily and you enroll clients during that window. Now live launches can be exciting. They can bring in big revenue spikes, which is wonderful, but they take an awful lot of energy and a massive amount of planning.

Or do you want to focus on more of the evergreen sales? So this is where your offer is available all year round and people can purchase whenever they're ready, but it's always through an automated system because they still need that nurturing that happens in between first finding out about you and deciding whether they're ready to buy. Now, the great thing about this option is there's minimal day-to-day effort once you do that initial setup.

Or maybe you want to do a combination of both and that's totally fine as well. I do both. love both. So once you know this, I want you to go and place any launch dates or key priority dates in your calendar. It doesn't have to be the exact date, but have a rough idea of when in each quarter you're going to have these specific sales periods.

Make a note of what you're going to sell and how you are going to ultimately sell it. So what free offer, for example, you want to promote leading up to the sales posts and sales emails. This gives you a visual view of your year.

And then one last golden nugget for you here. As you build out your 2026 plan, here's a habit that will really help you keep your focus. keep asking yourself two guiding questions. What's one thing I can do this month to attract more of the people that I want to work with? And the second question is, what's one thing I can do this month to make new sales? When you break your focus down into just these two questions, you immediately start prioritizing the actions that matter most for growth. It stops you from getting lost in the busy work that looks productive, but actually doesn't move the needle forward.

So let's start with that first question. What is the one thing I can do to attract new people to me? So attracting people isn't just about posting on social or hoping that they're gonna stumble across your website. It's about creating opportunities for people to notice you, to get to know you and see the value that you offer. So this could be something like hosting a free webinar or masterclass on a topic your ideal clients care a lot about. It could be creating a helpful downloadable resource, like a checklist or a guide or a mini course.

Now let's look at that second question. What's one thing I can do to make new sales? So this is about turning interest into action. Remember, sales don't have to be pushy. They certainly don't have to feel uncomfortable. When you are confident in the value and the results and the transformation that you can deliver for people, selling is really just helping people solve the problem that they care about.

So examples of actions that you could take to make new sales, include things like sending a targeted email to your list, offering a free discovery call, running a small promotion or offer for your product or service. And that could be on social media or it could be a promotion via email. It's also following up with warm leads, people who've shown interest before, but haven't yet committed. When you ask yourself these two questions regularly, you're creating a rhythm for your business. And boom, just like that, you've got a 2026 business plan.

We've covered quite a lot today in this episode. You've set a clear sales goal for next year. You've identified your monthly sales targets. You've decided on what you're selling and when, you've mapped out your client attraction strategy and chosen a few sales actions. I hope you're now feeling a little bit more confident and prepared walking into this beautiful new year.

Maybe you're thinking, ⁓ wow, there's so much to do. But remember, This planning isn't about creating more work for yourself. It's about making your life simpler and giving your business a clear path forward so that everything runs more smoothly and feels less stressful and you're not tempted by those shiny objects. You don't need to have everything perfect or rigidly scheduled. You just need some kind of roadmap that guides your actions on a day-to-day basis and helps you keep your focus on what really matters.

Now, before you go, if you've got to the end of this episode and you feel like you need some more support with getting consistent clients and growing your health business this year, whether you're just starting out and considering leaving the NHS or you're already out, but you just need more clients, more and more consistency. Well, I've got some exciting news.

After a lot of reflection the end of last year, I redesigned my business support program. I've been where you are and I know how hard it can be to get the right support without it feeling out of reach. And because of that, I've decided I wanted to include more flexible and more affordable options for people. And this means that this is now officially the lowest price I have ever offered for access to my teaching, my training and my business support guidance.

So let me tell you about my six month experience for building your business. There's two tiers available, silver and gold, where in both of them, you learn everything you need to get consistent clients without risking your financial security, things that actually don't fit a UK healthcare audience.

With Silver, you get access to all of this and you can ask me questions as many as you like inside our private community. With Gold, you also get invited to twice weekly group coaching calls where you get dedicated time with me to do some live coaching and support you with your business growth.

If you want to learn more, I'll pop the link below and you're welcome to send me a WhatsApp message or voice note me on Instagram and we can have a conversation back and forth about what exactly this entails.

We can talk through your business, your goals for the year ahead. What's holding you back from consistent clients and growth. It's completely no pressure, just an opportunity to get clear on your next steps and see how my support could help you make 2026 your best year yet. pop all the links you need in the show notes of this podcast episode.

Now, don't forget to join me next week where we are still talking about business planning, but we're looking at it from mindset perspective in our episode called the client attracting mindset you need for a successful 2026. Bye for now.