Sasha 2020 — A dream without a plan is nothing more than a wish:
By: James Orsini
Tags: Consulting, Business Strategy, Advertising, Education, Social Media

Sasha 2020 — A dream without a plan is nothing more than a wish:

By James Orsini — President of The Sasha Group

In late 2019, as we wrapped up our first successful year of operations (see The Sasha Group, a year in review; the decade ahead), we entered into planning for 2020. Being a new offering in the marketplace, The Sasha Group used the 11 months of prior learnings, along with our vision to grow profitably, to develop our plan for 2020 and beyond. We leveraged an approach called The Eisenhower Matrix. This decision process was named after Dwight D Eisenhower, our 34th President and a very successful commanding General during World War II. He used this quadrant approach to prioritize decision making by determining actions based on 1. Urgent and important, 2. Important, but not urgent, 3. Urgent, but not important, and 4. Neither urgent nor important.

I remember developing the matrix by hand on paper late last year, then meeting with Gary Vaynerchuk to collaborate on reprioritization, ahead of finalizing for the Leadership team. By the end of 2019, the leadership of Sasha Group had bought into our approach of how we would attack 2020. As I reflect back on the year since crafting the matrix, I know I speak for our entire team in being so proud of having accomplished every single priority we set out to do, in the midst of Global Pandemic no less.

See Sasha Group’s Eisenhower Matrix attached, and I’ll take you through each endeavor. Starting in the upper right quadrant of urgent and important, and working counterclockwise around the matrix:

Launch A Subscription: I could not be prouder of our STORK membership model. We originally launched in April as a free COVID Service for businesses who were forced to pivot in a work-from-home environment. Now a paid service, we provide social media and digital marketing tactics for entrepreneurs, business owners, and team leaders via a private Facebook Group and weekly email newsletter. Each week is specific to a topic, with a 5-minute tactical video released Mondays, followed by additional articles on the topic and an Ask Me Anything Live later int he week. We now have nearly 300 members paying $300 per year for the service.

Find New Mentors: VaynerMentors is for the premium clients of The Sasha Group’s consulting practice. Through our mentorship program, we work with mature businesses (3–5 years old, doing at least $10MM in revenue) to unlock explosive growth. This year, we were so happy to service the Handel Group and Harvest Dental, and look forward to their three-year growth plans.

Hire Creatives: As we launched a version of the Volume model at The Sasha Group, I am pleased to say that we have leveraged our residency program to double the size of our Creative Department and introduce new roles, such as Micro Content Producers, into the mix.

Assist Existing Mentors: Another priority of 2020 was to continue relationship building and our open dialogue with our existing VaynerMentors clients. We even hosted virtual Wine Wednesdays with the program. I am pleased to share that our first mentor has achieved his goal of doubling his business in 3 years, and was even featured on an Ask GaryVee podcast, going behind the curtain of our Mentors program. “We win when you win”

Redo Our Website: It was so great to give members of our team creative liberty to mature our website and brand positioning. Check out the results for yourself at www.thesashagroup.com

Establish Sasha West: Oh that we did! From one senior leader put into position at the start of 2020, we were able to bring on two very talented individuals by March. Against the odds, revenue began flowing effectively in April with a run rate of $750K. Now, two others will be joining the West Coast team in January. The future is bright for Sasha West.

Fix Ecom: Simply communicating who and what we had was not selling for our clients. They wanted and needed more. Enter Gary, who made an early 2020 Acquisition in order to form VaynerCommerce, perfectly positioned for a time when the world was forced to pivot to online purchases. Happy to say we currently share 3 clients together. Mission accomplished.

Develop Book in a Box: This concept is what eventually led to our very successful Virtual 4Ds sessions. We launched the first in October and had a second in November, with two more scheduled in January and March of 2021. Despite whatever happens in a post-COVID environment, I believe we will now always offer Virtual educational sessions (in addition to in-person) to reach those across the world with the Daily Digital Deep Dive.

Franchise Work: We have a gift with Franchise work. While we have had several serviced this year, our most successful is currently Bojangles.

Small Brands, Large Companies: Sasha Group prides itself on unlocking explosive growth for small businesses. But we love to mix in large companies when we have the chance. We could not be more thrilled with our Work in the North with Hain Celestial and in the South with Utz Brands.

Corporate Education Opportunities: Expanding education services was a recognized opportunity in 2019. Our work with Credit Union Awareness (formally CUNA) has allowed us to showcase our corporate educational offering.

Redo Case Studies: Sasha Group has done great work in the two years we’ve been in operation. Being able to communicate that concisely via case studies was important. As of this year, our Case Studies have been recast and are now part of the new Zoomifier software package we use.

Launch Podcast: While not urgent, having a Sasha podcast remained important to us all. I am so happy we launched our teaser for “Building While Flying” on Small Business Saturday. It will be live before year end.

Well, there you have it: a dream without a plan is nothing more than a wish. Looking forward to sharing how 2021 unfolds for The Sasha Group, which is now 60+ folks strong across three locations. LOTS more work to do but happy with our progress to date. So very proud of the talented team that makes it all possible.