Have you given much thought to what your future holds? Many food truck operators purchase a food truck, and then quit thinking about the direction of their business. But where will you be in five years?

Are you thinking about scaling your business? Do you plan to be acquired by another food truck company? Maybe you plan to operate your truck for the next twenty years at different festivals while you travel the country. Either way, I want you to begin considering this process. And I wanted to give you some action steps to do so.

Tools and Resources for your Food Truck Business

Here are some tools and strategies you can use that will help you to begin organizing your thoughts:

1. Vision Board

Think about a vision board as a way to list your goals. You don’t have to turn this into a crafty project, unless that’s what would work for you. Just make a list of goals, then you have something physical to remind you of where you want to be.

So, where do you want to be in five years? Write these details down to get a picture of the whole concept. A vision board will give you a clear idea for where you are heading. How you get there, is up to you. Think big and be creative! How much money do you want to make? How many trucks do you want? How many employees will you have? Are you the number one truck in the city? The state? Consider the bigger picture! How do you wish things would turn out?

2. Trello

This is more along the lines of the vision board that I mentioned above, only Trello helps you create one virtually. However, that’s not all it does. In addition to creating boards with Trello, you can create “cards” which hold tasks for projects, checklists, group communication, and the ability to assign tasks to different team members. All in all, it’s a collaboration tool that’s really awesome.

Use it to create goals for the team, as well as for the business. Milestones are not only great for motivation and momentum, but they do wonders for your team’s morale.

What You Should Know Before Setting Goals

Sure, goals without a plan are just dreams. But even if you have a “plan” you should be able to articulate your business’ key components.

Keys to Planning Your Goals

• Know your numbers. Any business owner worth his salt knows his/her numbers, and therefore, knows what it will take to reach those goals.
• The riches are in the niches. It might seem counterintuitive to target a specific audience or specific type of cuisine, but there’s tons of research (and successful companies, for that matter) to suggest that “niching down” is a great strategy.
• Open a business savings account. Most entrepreneurs pay their expenses, and then take the rest of the profit home, assuming revenue levels will stay the same. Even if they do, in order to reach your goals, you’ll need to make investments back into the business to scale. This requires some extra moolah!
• Find a mentor. I actually hate this piece of advice, because it’s the one nut I can’t seem to crack. However, mentors come in different forms. It doesn’t always have to be a personal relationship face to face. And there are plenty of people online willing to give you bits of information.
• The obvious one. If you haven’t made a plan that contains goals, sit down and do that. Keep in mind that this plan will probably change as your business grows, hopefully for the better. And that’s simply because you don’t know what you don’t know.

As you grow as an entrepreneur, so will your ability to plan for the future. Good luck!