New Business Owner? Nine Tips for Effective Resource Planning

For new business leaders, it’s important to have a clear and prioritized road map for the business’s future, as this will help guide your decisions each day. However, each initiative, project and task requires certain resources — such as staff, funding, equipment, tools and more. Determining how to allocate these resources effectively is key to ensuring your business has what it needs to accomplish your goals.

That said, it’s important to regularly assess whether your resources are being used effectively and to make adjustments as needed to stay on track. To help you do this, the members of Rolling Stone Culture Council offer their best advice on how to tackle resource planning as a new business owner.

Prioritize Resources Based on Importance

Resource prioritization is the best technique to tackle resource planning. Try to prioritize resources based on the most important projects and initiatives. This will ensure that resources are allocated to the areas of the business that will have the greatest impact. This technique works well when you encourage collaboration and flexibility among teams and employees. – Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day

Guard Your Time Wisely

Your time is your most valuable resource, and I would not waste it until you know the business is a business — or until you start generating income that allows you to resource plan for legal, accounting, tax planning, bookkeeping, HR, PR, marketing and advertising. These aren’t a problem until you start generating a viable product and, at that point, revenue should start to flow or the business will start to take shape. – Adam Rumanek, Aux Mode Inc.

Plan for the Essentials

During the beginning stages of resource allocation, it’s advisable to map out which resources you need to start out and plan for the essentials regardless of budget. This might sound counterproductive, but it will let you see which areas need to be filled first once you research actual costs. Balancing out resources by doing this rough sketching makes it easier to prioritize investments. – Jacob Mathison, Mathison Projects Inc.

Ensure a Mix of Long-Term and Short-Term Resources

Create a thorough resource strategy that encompasses both existing and prospective resources. Consider the adaptability of resources when assigning them, ensuring that you have a mix of long-term and short-term resources so that you can react to market or business environment changes. You will be more capable of making educated decisions regarding resource allocation and swiftly reacting to change. – Theo Sastre-Garau, NFTevening

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Evaluate Your Inventory

As a new business leader, one piece of advice I would offer is to create an inventory of all available resources and then evaluate which ones are most important and should be prioritized. This will help ensure that you allocate your resources in the best way possible to achieve maximum success. – Kristin Marquet, Marquet Media, LLC

Be Agile and Change When Necessary

The plan you had created in Q4 for Q1 the following year is great in theory; however, things change, and you need to be ready to pivot fast. Trust your instincts and move quickly. If you make a mistake, own it and resolve it as quickly as you made it. Resource planning is about results, so understand exactly what your goal is and work toward that. – Amanda Dorenberg, COMMB

Identify Your Resources and Use Them Sparingly

First, identify what your resources are: contacts, accounts, suppliers, cash, employees, etc. Second, identify where your resources will have the most impact on forward momentum. Last, because resources are usually limited when you’re new to the business, utilize them in minimal increments so you can pivot if needed without exhausting all of your available resources. – Sheila Dedenbach, Heavenly Sweet

Allocate Resources to What Drives New Business

Focus on allocating resources to what drives new business the fastest. It’s easy to get caught up in “shiny object syndrome” instead of revenue-generating initiatives. Efforts that impact your top and bottom line need to stay at the forefront of resource planning. Set milestones and measure success in 90-day sprints. Pivot quickly if you discover you need to make adjustments to the budget. – Traci DeForge, Produce Your Podcast

Invest in Resource Management Software

As your business grows, manual data entry can drain valuable time and resources that could be spent elsewhere. By adopting project resource management software, you’ll reduce the risk of costly mistakes, while ensuring the efficient use of staff to achieve maximum productivity. – Sidon Farris, c4n2, LLC