Define Your T.E.R.M.S. & Design Your Future
A practical exercise to help business owners get clear on what they actually want from their business — in terms of Time, Effort, Resources, Money and Sanity.
Most owners build the business they think they should want — not the business they actually want.
T.E.R.M.S. is a simple, owner-first framework that helps you design the next stage of your business deliberately, instead of letting it design you.
What T.E.R.M.S. means
T.E.R.M.S. stands for Time, Effort/Energy, Resources, Money and Sanity.
It's a simple way to step back from the day-to-day and look at the business through the lens of what it's actually costing — and giving — across the five things owners care about most. The point isn't to score yourself. It's to notice where the gap is, and decide what to do about it.
Three Questions To Start With
- 1
Why did you start your business?
- 2
Why are you still in it?
- 3
What do you want from it long term?
Don't rush these. Most owners haven't been asked them in years.
The Five T.E.R.M.S. Areas
How many hours a week do you actually want to work in the business — and on what? Including holidays, focused time, and time away from it altogether.
Which parts of the work give you energy, and which drain it? An honest read of where your effort goes — and where it shouldn't.
The people, systems, tools and partners you need around you to make the business work without it all running through you.
What the business actually needs to pay you — personally and into the business — to make the time, effort and resources worth it.
The quieter cost. The mental load, the pressure, the late-night thinking. The business is not designed properly if it costs you your peace of mind.
Free Worksheet
Define Your T.E.R.M.S. & Design Your Future
A printable one-pager to work through the five T.E.R.M.S. areas and the three key questions on your own — at a desk, on a walk, or with your business partner.
- Space to answer the three key questions honestly
- Prompts for each of the five T.E.R.M.S. areas
- A simple page to mark where you are today vs. where you want to be
Want help designing the business around what you actually want?
Once you've worked through T.E.R.M.S., a Business Growth Call is a practical way to look at how to actually get there — without pressure to commit to anything.
Book a Business Growth CallFree 30-minute call. No pressure.
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Business PlanningDefine Your T.E.R.M.S. & Design Your Future
Worksheet
Define Your T.E.R.M.S. & Design Your Future
Work through the five areas and three key questions on paper.
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