249: Why Yearly Planning Doesn’t Work — And What to Do Instead
Planning a whole year of business in one go sounds impressive… until real life (and algorithm shifts) blow it all up.
That’s why I stopped looking at my business through a funnel lens and started running it like a growth flywheel — and everything changed.
In this episode, I’m taking you behind the scenes of how I use my Creator’s MBA Playbook to plan 90-day growth cycles that actually move the needle. I break down each step of my planning process, from identifying bottlenecks in your business to setting themes, scoring projects, and staying focused.
If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed trying to “do it all” — this is your permission slip to do less, but better.
You’ll learn how to audit your business the smart way, choose just three projects that really matter, and plan your quarter with confidence (and flexibility).
This is the system that keeps my business moving forward — predictably, sustainably, and without the burnout.
What You’ll Learn:
Why funnels eventually stop working for multi-offer digital businesses
The 5 stages of the Creator’s Growth Flywheel and how to use them
How to do a quarterly audit that reveals your biggest business bottlenecks
Why 90-day planning is the sweet spot for momentum and adaptability
How to set a quarterly theme that becomes your strategic filter
The ICE scoring system I use to prioritize goals with impact
How monthly and quarterly reviews compound your business growth
Your next quarter doesn’t need to be a guessing game. When you focus on the right three projects — aligned to your flywheel — you’ll feel more momentum, clarity, and confidence in your business.
🎯 Join me for the December CEO Growth Flywheel Planning Workshop when you grab your Creator’s MBA Playbook. We’ll map your flywheel, pick your theme, and walk out with your complete 90-day plan. Replay included!
Let’s make your next quarter your most strategic one yet. 🎧 Press play now!
Mentioned in this episode:
Why Yearly Planning Doesn’t Work
If you’ve ever sat down to map out a 12-month business plan and then watched it unravel three months in… you’re not alone. I’ve been there. Yearly planning looks good on paper, but for digital product creators like us — with fast-moving audiences, evolving offers, and tech that changes every five minutes — it just doesn’t hold up.
The real growth in my business didn’t happen until I stopped thinking in funnels and started thinking in flywheels. That’s when I made the shift to 90-day growth cycles, and it changed everything. In this post, I’m walking you through exactly how I plan each quarter using my Creator’s MBA Playbook so you can build a business that grows predictably, sustainably, and with a whole lot less stress.
Let’s break it down.
Funnels Are Linear — But Your Business Isn’t
Funnels have their place. They’re great for structure, automation, and moving cold leads into paying customers. But here’s the problem: they end. They’re linear. And if you have multiple offers — a membership, digital courses, evergreen funnels, workshops — trying to run your business only through funnels starts to feel exhausting.
That’s why I moved to a growth flywheel. Unlike funnels, flywheels compound over time. Each quarter becomes one full turn of your flywheel, strengthening your systems and building momentum. And when you plan your business around your flywheel, you’re not just chasing tactics — you’re building strategy.
The 5 Stages of the Creator’s Growth Flywheel
This is the foundation of everything I do inside the Creator’s MBA Playbook. Every system in my business falls into one of these five flywheel stages:
Attract – Bring new people into your world consistently
Engage – Turn attention into connection
Nurture – Build trust and warm people up to buy
Retain – Deliver, delight, and increase customer lifetime value
Advocate – Encourage referrals and promotion
Each 90-day cycle is a chance to strengthen these stages. And when even one of them gets stronger, your business gets better.
How I Plan Each Quarter in 5 Simple Steps
I use the Creator’s MBA Playbook to walk through the same five steps every quarter. Here’s how it works:
1. Audit Your Flywheel
Ask yourself: where is momentum slipping? Do I have a reliable way to attract new leads? A weekly nurture rhythm? A customer journey that leads to repeat purchases? I use these questions — and sometimes Harper, my AI strategist inside the playbook — to pinpoint exactly where my focus needs to be.
2. Choose a Theme and Set Direction
Before goals, I choose a theme. Maybe it’s visibility, automation, or simplifying. That theme becomes my filter for the quarter. If a project doesn’t align with it, it waits.
3. Map Projects to Flywheel Stages
This is where planning gets strategic. I don’t just make a giant to-do list. I match projects to the stage they support. Updating an evergreen freebie? That’s “Attract.” Improving onboarding? That’s “Retain.” This ensures I’m strengthening the right part of the business.
4. Prioritize with ICE Scoring
ICE stands for Impact, Confidence, and Effort. I rate each potential project and only move forward with the top three. Not ten. Not twenty. Just three high-leverage goals that I can realistically finish in 90 days.
5. Review Monthly and Quarterly
Every month I do a quick check-in. At the end of each quarter, I wrap up what worked, what didn’t, and what I’m focusing on next. That’s where growth compounds — not from perfect quarters, but from complete ones.
Why This Works (Even When Life Gets Messy)
The beauty of 90-day planning is that it’s short enough to stay flexible and long enough to make real progress. When AI changes things? When your offer shifts? When your audience's needs evolve? You’re not locked into a 12-month plan that no longer fits.
Instead, you’re working with a system that adapts with you — and builds momentum every time you turn the flywheel.
Ready to Build Your Own 90-Day Growth Cycle?
Here’s how to get started:
Pick one flywheel stage that needs strengthening.
Choose a theme for your quarter.
Use ICE scoring to select your top 3 goals.
And if you want hands-on help, join me in the December CEO Growth Flywheel Planning Workshop. When you grab the Creator’s MBA Playbook, you’ll get access to the live session (or replay), where I walk you through your audit, theme, project map, and prioritization — so you walk away with a complete plan.
🎯 Let’s make your next quarter your most strategic one yet.
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Transcript:
[00:00:00] Welcome to the Creator's MBA Podcast, your go-to resource for mastering the art and science of digital product entrepreneurship. My name is Dr. Destini Copp, and I help business owners generate consistent revenue from their digital product business without the need to be glued to their desk, constantly live launching, or worrying about social media algorithms.
Hi there, friends, and welcome back to the Creator's MBA Podcast. Destini here, and today I want to dig a little deeper into something that sits at the core of how I run my business — the Creator's Growth Flywheel — and specifically how it shapes the way I plan my quarters.
[00:01:00] If you've listened to the show for a while, you know I love a good funnel. Funnels are helpful, they automate things, and they give your business structure. But here's the thing I've learned after running digital product businesses for years: funnels can only take you so far. They're linear — they end — and they constantly make you feel like you're rebuilding or tweaking something.
[00:02:00] If you sell digital products, especially if you have multiple offers like a membership, evergreen funnels, or workshops, the funnel-only approach eventually starts to feel heavy, unpredictable, and frankly, tiring. Real momentum came when I stopped looking at everything through funnels and started running my business like a growth flywheel.
A flywheel isn’t linear. It loops, it compounds, and it gets stronger every time you turn it. When I started planning around the growth flywheel instead of funnels, everything clicked. I could see where momentum was breaking down and knew exactly where to focus to get the biggest lift in my business. My 90-day planning cycles finally started working the way they were supposed to.
[00:03:00] So today, I’m going to walk you through the growth flywheel — what it is, how it compares to funnels, and why it matters so much for digital product entrepreneurs. Then, I’ll share exactly how I turn all of that into a clear, strategic 90-day plan using my Creator’s MBA Playbook.
[00:04:00] First, let’s talk about why I plan in 90-day cycles. Yearly planning looks nice on paper, but in the real world, everything changes — our offers, content, audience needs, and technology (especially AI). We need to be flexible. 90-day increments are long enough to make real progress but short enough to stay adaptable.
Each 90-day cycle represents one full turn of your Creator's Growth Flywheel. If you're new to the flywheel, here are the five stages:
[00:05:00] 1. Attract: Bringing new people into your world consistently.
2. Engage: Turning attention into connection.
3. Nurture: Building trust and warming people up to buy.
4. Retain: Supporting and delighting existing customers.
5. Advocate: Encouraging referrals and customer success stories.
[00:06:00] As each stage strengthens quarter after quarter, your business grows in a way that’s predictable, sustainable, and less stressful. Funnels give you tactics. The flywheel gives you full strategy.
[00:07:00] Step one in my planning process is to audit your flywheel. Inside the Creator’s MBA Playbook, this is always the first step. Ask yourself:
Do I have a reliable way to attract new people?
Is there a clear path from attention to action?
Do I have a weekly nurture rhythm?
Is my customer experience retaining buyers?
Am I encouraging referrals?
[00:08:00] Then I rate each one. This is your truth moment — where you figure out exactly where momentum is slipping. If I want more clarity, I run this diagnostic through Harper, my AI business strategist inside the playbook.
[00:09:00] Step two is choosing a quarterly theme and focus. Before I set goals, I set direction. I ask:
What’s my top growth priority from the audit?
How do I want my business to feel this quarter?
What would make this quarter a success?
Then I choose a theme — like visibility, automation, or simplification — and use it as my filter. If a project aligns with it, it stays. If it doesn’t, I push it to the next quarter.
[00:10:00] Step three is mapping projects to flywheel stages. Most people make a big to-do list. Instead, I map projects to the part of the flywheel they support. Examples:
Attract: Update your freebie or pitch podcasts.
Engage: Optimize your tripwire funnel.
Nurture: Improve your weekly newsletter journey.
Retain: Onboard members better or upsell current buyers.
Advocate: Gather testimonials or build your affiliate program.
[00:11:00] This approach makes your quarterly plan strategic — not scattered.
[00:12:00] Step four is ICE scoring. ICE stands for Impact, Confidence, and Effort:
Impact: How big is the win?
Confidence: How sure am I I can get it to work?
Effort: How much time and energy will it take?
Low effort, high impact scores move to the top. I choose just three projects. Not ten. Just three that matter most. That’s what turns your plan into momentum.
[00:13:00] Step five is monthly and quarterly reviews. Every month I check in: what worked, where I felt stuck, and what I’m focusing on next. At the end of each quarter, I review wins, lessons, numbers, and priorities for the next cycle. You won’t have perfect quarters, but you can have complete ones.
[00:14:00] If you want to start your own 90-day flywheel cycle:
Pick one flywheel stage to strengthen.
Choose a quarterly theme.
Use ICE scoring to choose your top three goals.
That alone will move your business forward.
[00:15:00] I also want to invite you to the December CEO Growth Flywheel Planning Workshop. When you purchase the Creator’s MBA Playbook, you get access to the live workshop (or replay). We’ll audit your flywheel, set your theme, map your projects, score them with ICE, and you’ll walk away with a complete plan.
If you want ongoing support, the Creator’s MBA Lab is where we host monthly sprints, workshops, and provide strategic guidance, accountability, and community.
[00:16:00] That’s it for today’s episode. I hope this helps you rethink how you plan your next quarter — and how you think about your business as a whole. See you next time on the Creator’s MBA Podcast!
Thanks for listening all the way to the end. If you love the show, I’d appreciate a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast platform. Bye for now!