Zoom out. Where this business is going over the next five years — and what has to be true to get there.
Step One of Five
Where the business is today
Start with the honest number, not the good year. A five-year plan built on your best twelve months is a wish. One built on your actual average is a plan.
If last year was unusual
Use the average of your last two or three years instead. A plan that starts from a distorted baseline produces a ramp you'll abandon by March.
Step Two of Five
The destination
Five years out, how many closings a year is this business doing? Pick the tier that describes the practice you actually want to run — not the largest number you can imagine.
Year Five gross commission income
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A larger tier is a different business, not a busier one
Moving from 24 closings to 60 isn't the same work three times over. It's a different operation — different systems, different visibility, a different Quiet Team™. That's what Step Five is for.
Step Three of Five
The life it has to support
A business plan that ignores the life around it produces a number you hit once and can't repeat. Burnout isn't a badge. Write the constraints down now, while they're still negotiable.
Reality check
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Step Four of Five
What you'll be known for
Five years is long enough to become the recognized agent for something — and short enough that it only happens on purpose. Recognition follows one clear niche, held long enough that people repeat it for you.
One niche, five years
The most common five-year mistake isn't choosing the wrong niche. It's choosing a new one every eighteen months and never staying long enough to be recognized for any of them. Recognition is a function of time held, not effort spent.
Step Five of Five
The arc, and what has to be true
Here's the ramp from where you are to where you're going. Adjust any year — this is a starting shape, not a verdict. Then name the one capability each year has to build, because closings don't rise on their own.
Year
Closings
GCI
What has to be true that year
Fill the right column with capability, not effort
"Work harder" is not a capability. "A file system I can run from anywhere," "a weekly seller update that sends itself," "one niche held for twelve months," "a Quiet Team™ that carries the follow-up" — those are capabilities. Each one, once built, stays built.
Your Plan
The five-year plan
The destination
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What it's for
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What I will not give up
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The one niche
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What I want said about me
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The arc
Year
Closings
GCI
What has to be true
Five years is a direction. Ninety days is where it's decided.
This plan tells you where the business is going. It doesn't tell you what to do on Tuesday. The Edge Business Partner™ planner carries the quarter — your closing tier, the conversation math calculated to your goal, weekly tracking of the 13 Edge Actions™, and the review rhythm that keeps a five-year plan from becoming a five-year intention.