Why Great Plans Rarely Go to Plan and Lead to Greater Success

Why Great Plans Rarely Go to Plan and Lead to Greater Success

Kelly Kennedy: Welcome to episode one hundred and ninety five of the business development podcast. And today we're chatting all about the power of a plan, why planning is critical and why, if it doesn't go to plan, that is completely OK. Stick with us. You are not going to want to miss. This episode.

Intro: The Great Mark Cuban once said, business happens over years and years value is measured in the total upside of a business relationship, not by how much you squeezed out in any one deal.

And we couldn't agree more. This is the business development podcast based him. Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, and broadcasting to the world. You'll get expert business development, advice, tips, and experiences, and you'll hear interviews with business owners, CEOs, and business development reps. You'll get actionable advice on how to grow business.

Brought to you by capital business development, capitalbd.ca. Let's do it. Welcome to business. To the Business Development Podcast, and now your expert host, Kelly Kennedy.

Kelly Kennedy: Hello. Welcome to episode 195 of the Business Development Podcast. My gosh, guys, 195 episodes. It is incredible. It is honestly hard to believe that we have come this far in under two years.

Guys, we will be celebrating two full years of the business development podcast on February 6th of 2025, which blows my mind. It blows my mind because I could have never seen what we would be able to build with this show, the community, the impact we would make sometimes it is completely unforeseeable.

No matter what you planned. And so today I wanted to chat with you guys about the power of a plan. I wrote out my show topics list for 2025 today. I do it every year. It's a little yearly ritual and guys. I struggled with it, but you know what's funny? I've always struggled with it. And so I wanted to chat today about the power of a plan, why planning is important and why being flexible and going with the flow is also absolutely critical.

Every year I do two specific plans. I sit down and I do the challenging task of writing out 50 episode topics for the coming year to work from. Cause guys, you guys know it. We do two shows a week. So 50 episodes. is actually 100 episodes. By the time I factor in all of my guest interviews as well. I write out my personal goals as well.

I write out podcast goals and corporate goals for capital business development. So every year I'm pretty busy this time of year planning for the next year. And guys, you know, I'll be the first to say my plans don't. always go to plan. You know, a lot of the times I don't accomplish all of my goals. I don't think I've ever accomplished all of my annual goals in the same year.

And many are still on the to do list the next year. So understand it's not about writing out exactly what you are going to do. It's about giving you a roadmap, some place to go. Cause here's the thing, whenever you feel lost, having a place to come back to and say, okay, what have I done? What have I not done is absolutely powerful.

It's incredibly powerful. I will say that I've made great progress and have accomplished some of the goals, right? You don't always accomplish them all, but things like my topic list have made. All the difference with the success of this podcast to date when I'm struggling with motivation and inspiration, being able to fall back to a topic list can make all the difference.

It really absolutely does guys. It is absolutely incredible. You know, and the topic list, it's not always where I want to be. That's the funny thing, right? But I'll tell you what, you know, what's harder is having to come up with a topic every single week on the fly, right? The funny thing about motivation and creativity is that it strikes when it strikes.

It really is one of those things. And I am one of those people, guys, where I'm listening. When you guys send me, Hey, Kelly, have you done this topic or could you spend some time on this? I absolutely do add it to my topics list. I absolutely do make sure that we cover it. Sometimes I even cover it sooner rather than later.

Sometimes if it seems really pertinent, you guys send something and you're like, Hey, I'd love some answers on this today. I make sure that I get it in fairly recently in the coming shows, right? Because for me, it's really nice as well to know what you guys are looking for and what you want to learn on, or maybe something that I've missed, right?

Like I, I do as best as I can to try to cover the whole thing every year, but You know, I miss things. I'm human. I I don't always get every single topic or everything that's relevant to you guys in a given time period, or even in a given year. But I do try to make sure that when you do get back to me and let me know what you're looking for, that I do get it on the list, but I also have a list that I go from and guys, I've had plenty of times where I sat down and I looked at my show topic for the day and I was like, seriously, is this the show topic that we got to do today?

And it's not that it's a bad topic. It's that sometimes I'm just not feeling motivated in that moment to talk about that specific thing. Let's talk about last week. Last week is a perfect example. It's weird because I was looking for something to talk about, and obviously, you guys know, the pipe on my house burst, and we had a massive water emergency in the winter in Canada.

And so I had to put on my plumber hat and figure it out really quick. And and still record a show that night, which ended up being a what's your why topic, because without me having a purpose to this, without me wanting to make a big impact in the world and show up every single week, I'm not sure that I would have showed up last week, guys.

So every once in a while, a topic comes up where it's like, this is what I need to talk about today. It's just so relevant. And believe it or not, I had what's your why on my topics list for 2024. But it was one of those things that when I sat down, I was just never motivated to do that specific topic. I almost needed something horrible to happen where it was relevant to talk about what is my why, right?

But it was on my topics list. And I'll tell you what. A lot of the time I will challenge myself to do that next topic in the list, even if I'm not necessarily feeling it. There's something really incredible. When you write out the topic of something you want to talk about on a piece of paper, the next line flows and the next line flows and the next line flows.

And the next thing you know, you are in the groove. You are writing out a show plan. Obviously, guys, we're talking about podcasting, but this can be almost anything. It usually starts with just. Putting that pen to paper and writing something out. It is absolutely incredible what happens when you start putting a pen to paper.

And guys, as somebody who was never a fan of writing, like never guys, my hand used to cramp up in school. I hated, hated, hated writing. Frankly, to this day, I'm probably pretty lucky that computers are a thing. And we can do a lot of our writing on a computer, which is incredible. As an adult, I've really embraced Note taking and writing things out on a piece of paper.

There's something magical and cathartic about it especially in show planning, especially in goal writing for the next year, there's really something quite incredible about putting pen to paper guys, but, I guess what I'm getting at is it's a little bit like cold call cadence, right? We talk about cold call cadence on the show quite a bit, where the first call is always really hard to make that first step.

Right. And then the next one isn't so bad. And the next one isn't so bad. And the next one isn't so bad. That's the same. same thing with writing, with writing out goals, with writing out show plans, or with writing out anything that you absolutely need to write out. The first lines are always really challenging.

People won't tell you. Creativity is actually pretty hard. It's not, but taking the first step into that creativity is very challenging. And it doesn't matter whether you're creating videos for YouTube, whether you're writing a podcast, whether you're writing a business plan. Creativity initially, is challenging. But once you get going down that road, it gets easier and easier and easier.

Each step you make nothing that I have accomplished in my life. Guys, if I was to bite off the whole thing and look at it all at once would have seemed possible this show two years in where we are today. 195 episodes would have seemed absolutely. Ridiculously impossible at episode three. And, you know, I talk about it all the time on the show.

Episode three was almost the end. I can tell you right now, if you were to ask me, Kelly, where would this show be in less than two years from that time? I definitely wouldn't have said one hundred and ninety five episodes and nearly one hundred guests, right? Like I could have never, ever. Ever seen where we are going to be today.

It's like an incredible surprise. And that surprise came because I stuck with it because I just stayed to the plan. I wrote a plan every year and I did my best to accomplish it. And guys, my plans have never, ever worked out how I plan them. Literally, none of them, I could have never seen where capital business development would go.

I could have never seen where this podcast would go. I could never seen where Kelly Kennedy sits not two years from the launch of this show. Like I could have never seen any of it. It's all been absolutely incredible. But you know what it all came from? An idea, an idea that I put on paper, a plan that I put on paper.

And I've talked with enough experts to know plans almost never go to plan. And that's okay. Because so much of it is just taking steps in the right direction, whatever that direction is for you. So much of success is simply putting one foot after the other and starting the damn journey. What's holding so many of us back is simply just not putting a pen to paper and starting that journey, starting a plan or an idea of where we want to go.

There's a divine power in writing out a plan. Goals or whatever you want to accomplish. It's a declaration to both yourself and the universe of your intentions. And there is something absolutely magical about declaring your intentions to the world. It absolutely can make it real. Some of the largest projects in the world started from a drawing on a napkin.

Think about that. Think about that. It's incredible. What a great idea. Can become when you put it on paper. Now, listen, you do not have to have all the answers when you sit down and you write out your goals or you write out a plan. There's something really magical about simply writing out what you can understand and adding to it as you go.

For instance, I wanted to create the best business development show on planet Earth. Did I know how I was going to accomplish that? Absolutely not. Absolutely not. I just knew I wanted to make an impact. I knew I wanted to change the world. When I launched this show, I had no idea what I was going to do with it.

Do you know how I started this show, guys? I started this show from 50 episode topics. I sat down and I just wrote out what are 50 things that I know like very well that I could speak to. That is it. That launched everything that you are hearing right now. That launched nearly 200 episodes to date of the business development podcast.

And guys, I am pretty confident that we're damn near the biggest business development show on planet Earth. It's really hard to measure the metrics, but I'm pretty sure I'm pretty sure there's not a lot of great content on business development. I think we're making a pretty damn big impact. And I know I get messages from around the world that we are making an impact in the world that we are helping people.

Yeah. Right? So the goal is happening. The thing I set out to do is happening. And I didn't have all the answers when I started this show, guys. Just grab a notepad, grab a notepad today, sit down. If you have an idea, a business idea, a podcast idea, a YouTube channel idea, or heck, if you just have something that you want to do that you personally want to do that would improve your life.

That would change your life. It starts with a notepad guys. That's it. It starts with a notepad. Grab a notepad, write out an idea, whatever that idea is, whatever it is you want to accomplish, let's call it a YouTube channel. Let's call it a podcast. Let's call it a business. What do you want to do in 2025?

Write out, declare it to the world. What would you like to do? Write a list of things that you need to happen to make that a reality. What are the steps? What things have to happen to start a YouTube channel, to start a podcast, to start a business? What are the things do you need to incorporate your business?

Do you need to write out a business plan? Do you need to write out a podcast show plan? Do you need to write out episode topics? What are the things? List them out. It doesn't have to be detailed guys. It can be point form, just list out what needs to happen for you to accomplish this goal and give it a timeline, give it a timeline, just write on it.

I intend to do all of this by the end of 2025, 2026, maybe even in the next three months, whatever it is, whatever timeline you think you can hold to write it in, we'll get this done. By this time and date, that is it. It really is. It can be that simple. And I get it. I get it. Many of the times that I've done things similar to this guys.

Did I do it all? No, no. And many people. Many, many, many, many people understand this. You very likely will not accomplish everything that you put on the list or it will not go exactly to plan. Okay. But there's a solid chance, a very solid chance, a very good chance that you will accomplish most. Of what you put down on that list, and it may not go to plan, but once again, maybe it wasn't supposed to understand that not everything that you write down on a piece of paper will you have all the ideas of how it will come together, right?

But there's something magical about putting it on that piece of paper. There absolutely is something magical about declaring to the world what you intend to do. The power of a roadmap guys is unbelievable. Okay. It really is. Creativity is hard. Let me be the first to tell you as a creator, creativity is hard.

I have had writer's block. I have had challenges on this journey. You know, I had a lot of time reflecting back and really questioning myself as to whether the content that I was creating was as good as the content I used to create. I think it's like every creator's conundrum, right? You do hit a moment where you're like, is my content still good?

Am I still putting out stuff that's relevant to the world? That's changing the world. That's making the world a better place. And please do let me know. Would love to know if you guys are still happy with the level of content that comes out on this show. I love hearing from you. So I'm going to take a little break here.

And please, please, please let me know. Shoot me a message. If you hear this episode, let me know what you think. But there's plenty of times on this journey where you question yourself. As a creator, you question yourself, right? It's not always perfect. It doesn't always feel great in the moment. It doesn't always feel like the best show you ever put out.

I've had plenty of times where I finished the show, guys, and I was like, Oh, my goodness. I sure hope this was a good show. I sure hope that it's going to resonate with people. I sure hope that's going to help the world. Creating things on a weekly basis. The way we do is flipping hard. It really is. I'm not sure that if I would have known how hard it was going to be in the very beginning, if I would have committed to the level of show that I've committed to, right, like two episodes a week is a lot.

It's like nine episodes a month. Guys, we put out a lot of content on the show and I've stuck to it because that's what I started with. But it hasn't always been easy. And there's been plenty of times along the way where I question myself and where the road map has made all the sense. All the difference, guys, it can be easy some days and some days it can be really, really hard because creativity, it really comes in waves.

But here's the thing. Here's the thing. This is the whole reason I do the show topic list, guys. This is the whole reason that sitting down right now, you know, December 17th of 2024 and writing out a show plan for 2025 of episode topics I want to do. There's a reason it is so important, and it's because creativity can be coaxed.

It can be coaxed. You can absolutely, absolutely inspire it within yourself if you just have something to go from. Some of the hardest challenge that I've had guys was when, for instance, I would hit the end, I would hit the end of my show topics list for a year because let's get real, a lot of the times I think I might have only got like 30 show topics for the year when I sat down and like really planned it out, which means it left me with like 10 or 15 that I had to come up with on my own on the fly.

Some of them were awesome because you guys let me know what you wanted or what would be great to hear, so let's call it another, you know, 10 or so. But usually five to 10 topics a year. I kind of had to come up with on the fly, usually the day of recording, and those have always been the hardest frigging days, guys, because coming up with the topic can be harder.

Then coming up with the show plan, it absolutely can. And so being able to sit down and say, OK, today I'm talking about anxiety. Today, I'm talking about CRMs. Today, I'm talking about motivation. The rest can really flow if you can just sit down and put pen to paper. The rest can just it's like the show can produce itself sometimes.

Literally, that's how easy it's felt. There's been days where I feel like my hands just writing. It's like divine inspiration. My hand is just going, this is the plan for the show today. It's going to be incredible. And it, it happened that way because the topic was there. And what I needed to do was just put a plan around the topic.

And if, if that's the case, creativity can feel amazing. Sometimes it can feel almost automatic. So it absolutely can be coaxed, which is why having the plan, having the show plan of episode topics that I want to cover Can make all the difference in whether this show is a success and it gets done or whether I'm sitting down with writer's block trying to figure out what the hell I'm doing with my life.

It really can be the difference guys. So understand the roadmap, the power of a roadmap can make all the difference. And this isn't just podcasting. This is business. This is life. This is anything you guys want to do. Creativity topics guys can keep all the inspiration flowing, right? I have made a strong effort with this show to do every topic I wrote down.

And I talked about this briefly at the beginning of the show. Even when it was hard, even when it was like I don't, I don't know if I can do this topic because there's plenty of times where I've sat down and I've wrote out the topic and I'm like, okay, God, what am I going to talk about with this? Or do I have enough experience with this topic to speak to it accurately?

There's been plenty of times where I sat down and and I felt that way, but I have made an effort to do every single topic I wrote down guys. Every single topic, I try to do them, even when it is extremely, extremely hard. Having a topic has enabled me to keep this show going. Really? It's been the difference.

It has sitting down and writing out those 50 topics at the beginning of the year has been a differentiator between keeping the show going and just quitting guys, because knowing what to talk about allows you to create a new show, knowing what needs to be taught. Allows you to create a new show not having to come up with it right in that moment because you've planned ahead you've thought about it makes the difference between success and failure and I'm not just talking about podcasting guys.

I'm not just talking about podcasting. It can make the difference in your business. It can make the difference in you achieving your personal goals. It can be the differentiator in any type of accomplishment that you want to achieve. Now, planning is one thing. Okay, being able to change the plan is equally important and not just important, required.

Required. Let me just state this plans. Don't always go to plan because we can't see every piece of the puzzle and there's nothing wrong with that. Life is incredible. If you just let it happen, if you let the universe do incredible things for you, when you start down a path of intention, whatever you want to do, whether it's start a business that will change the world.

A podcast that'll change the world, a YouTube channel that'll change the world. Whatever you want to do that you want to change the world with, you can't sit down day one and write out the whole plan of how it's going to happen and expect that to happen. It just you can't see it. You can't see what is coming.

What is coming is probably more incredible than you could have ever imagined. ever written down to begin with, understand that the best opportunities that have ever come my way in the podcast, in my business, personally, I never saw them coming, but I was ready to say yes. When they did so much of success guys, so much of success or any type of major accomplishment that you want to achieve.

Is being available to say yes. When that opportunity presents itself. And I have talked with enough experts at this point, guys, to know that no matter what, you can't see your success coming. You can just be there ready to say yes. When the opportunity presents itself. And it's crazy because at this point I've interviewed nearly 100 rockstar experts, people that have legit.

Change the world, guys, and when I asked them, could you see your success? Could you have seen the achievement that you made in the world? Nearly every one of them said, no, I could have never seen it when we started the impact that we were going to make. But they were ready to say yes when the opportunity presented itself.

When the thing they needed to do came their way. They were ready. They were ready. You don't typically see your success coming, but it is not a reason not to plan. You still try to plan. A plan will still keep you on track. It'll keep you moving forward, but being available to change the plan is equally important because the thing that you didn't think about That is coming.

That is coming your way. And it might be more incredible than you could have ever imagined, okay? It won't always go to plan. And it is totally, totally for the best, okay? It is for the best. Look, no matter how good of a planner you are, there's something you're missing. And the universe is gonna let you know what it is.

And I think you're gonna be surprised. When it happens, right? My company did not go to plan. You know, when I started capital business development, I just thought, oh, well, that's all I'm going to do. I'm just going to do contract business development for companies. I'm going to help them at a short term here and there as we go along.

And and it'll be great. That isn't what happened. That isn't what happened. Coaching came along. This podcast. Retainer services came along consulting services came along. Like it was not the cut and dry thing that I thought it was going to be. And it's been for the better. I love teaching. I love coaching.

I love this podcast. I love making a worldwide impact in a way I could have never seen. None of this was planned. None of this was part of the initial plan for capital business development, and it's better. It's better than I could have ever planned. I could have never seen this. I didn't even know what this was when I launched capital business development.

So understand that you can't see it. You can't see the incredible thing that is coming your way, and it is okay because the thing that is coming is probably better than what you planned anyway. Guys, the show didn't go to plan, right? Like I could have never seen the success we had with this show. I could have never seen the demand for a show like this, right?

Worldwide demand. We're listened to in over 145 countries. I think at the time when I launched the show, I was going to be happy if we were listened to in the next town. Like it's it's amazing. It's amazing. I'm blessed. You guys are amazing. We have like the best rock star community on this show. I could have.

ever asked for or prayed for. Okay. I couldn't have seen the success of the show coming, but I still put together a plan and I still had a plan of attack when I went into this journey. Okay, so it's not about not planning planning is important, but it is about understanding that no matter what you plan, it's probably not going to go to plan, but that's okay.

The plan still has to happen because there's things on the plan that you can still achieve that will keep the needle moving forward. The best opportunities, guys, you won't see coming. The universe has other plans for you. A plan is really a declaration of intention. And I think maybe this is the like highlight.

This is the highlight of this episode. What is a plan really? It is a declaration of intention. It is a declaration by you to say, I want to do something. Not only do I want to do something. Here is how I think. I can achieve it. Here's the steps I need to take. Here's what needs to happen in order to make this real.

Okay. When you sit down and you write out a plan, whether that be a show topics plan for the next year, whether that be a business plan, whether that just be an idea on a napkin, you are declaring to the world, to the universe that you are going to do something that you want to do something. And there is something really amazing.

There's something that's really amazing about that declaration. Okay. Once you make one, something is going to happen and you don't know what that something is. You think, you know, trust me, you think, you know, but trust me, the thing that is probably going to happen is going to blow you away. It's going to be more incredible than you could have ever imagined, but it all starts with that declaration of intention.

Okay. Trust in yourself. Trust in yourself, in your ability to make something happen, in your ability to take steps towards action that will accomplish this thing you want to do. Let the process happen and be ready for it to be different. Be ready for it not to be exactly the way you planned it. Trust in the universe.

Trust in God. Trust in whatever you believe in. And it's probably going to be better than you could have ever imagined. You're probably going to make a bigger impact than you ever planned for. It's probably not going to go to plan in the best way you could have ever imagined. Be OK if the plan changes, OK?

It likely needed to for you to succeed in the way that you were destined to succeed. Planning is crucial to success. But the funny thing is, it's more about your intention Then it is about the exact execution. Okay, what you want to do, stating it to the universe, to yourself, to the world. is almost more important than how you are going to execute it, because the execution is going to change over time.

Believe in yourself, believe in your mission, and you are going to change the world. Show update guys, we're sitting at two hundred and nineteen thousand. thousand downloads, three thousand ninety four followers on Apple podcast and Spotify. And guys, if you have not yet followed our show come follow us on LinkedIn, on Apple podcast, on Spotify, wherever you listen, it makes a gigantic impact.

Tell a friend, tell a family member and let's change their world here in 2025. Thank you so much for supporting this show. If you have a question for the show, we'd love to hear it. Submit any community questions to podcast@capitalbd.ca or feel free to shoot me a DM over LinkedIn or Instagram, and we will make sure to get your question into an upcoming community questions episode.

And guys, last but not least, if you are looking to make a major change, a major impact in 2025, if you are running your own business and you're looking to grow it, if you're a business development specialist, a marketing specialist, and you're looking to really improve here in 2025, if you're looking to get clarity.

to create a plan to know what to do and when to do it. My business development mastery program is for you. Come on over to LinkedIn and let's book a discovery call. And let's chat about how we can help you with our business development mastery program in 2025. Shout outs this week, Jayson Chakkalakal, Sam Swirsky, Jillian Schecher, Gary Noseworthy, Susan Poseika, Colin Harms, Deanna Kean, Jamie Yates,

Ace Qureshi, Sarah Simmonds, Matthew West, Ricardo J. Flores, Vijayan Swaminathan, Derek Armstrong, Kari Watchel, Adam Kimmel, Mike Fata, Lynae Chodat. Sabira Kassam, Tyler Mosher, Michelle, Sami Wehbe, Steve Austin, and Lauren Graff. Until next time, this has been episode 195 of the Business Development Podcast.

You guys are incredible and I'll catch you. On the flip side,

Outro: this has been the business development podcast with Kelly Kennedy. Kelly has 15 years in sales and business development experience within the Alberta oil and gas industry and founded his own business development firm in 2020. His passion and his specialization is in customer relationship generation.

And business development. The show is brought to you by Capital Business Development, your Business Development Specialists. For more, we invite you to the website @ www.capitalbd.ca. See you next time on the Business Development Podcast.