Guide · Planning

Set up your Plan

The Plan holds your long-term bet, how each brand gets there, and the score. This guide walks through writing one, so the day-to-day work in the planner adds up to something you chose.

In design

In design The Plan section isn’t live yet. Steps 1, 4 and 5 use pieces that are live today (goals, commitments, tagged links), so you can do them now and the Plan will pick them up.

1. Decide the bet and its window

One or two sentences: what you’re going long on, and until when. Then one sentence on why. Keep it about the business, not the tactics.

Good	Too small
Grow the agency from an audience we own: posts bring people to the newsletter, and the newsletter books the calls. Jan 5 to Jun 30.	Post more on LinkedIn.

2. Map each brand’s engine

Audience
Who the brand is for, in a sentence. Esy writes for them.
Newsletter
The audience you own, and what it promises: “one system a week, built and shown”.
Channels
Every place people find the brand. Name the ones you’re not doing yet too; they show as “Still to decide”.
Offers
What the newsletter sells, each with a stage: selling, building, or idea.

3. Give every channel a rhythm

A rhythm is how often a channel posts: “one a day”, “two a week on Tuesday and Thursday”. Rhythms are the lead measures, the part you control. Put the ones that matter most on the critical checklist, so a miss shows on Home. Leave the rest off, and they’re still counted.

Start with what you can keep

Begin with the rhythms you’re sure of and add one when they hold. A channel posted to on rhythm gives the Plan a clean count to read.

4. Set the score

Add a goal with a measure for each engine (usually newsletter subscribers) and one for the money (sales, or clients). Put them in order: the first is the one that matters most. See Goals and pace.

5. Tag your links

Every post’s link to the newsletter carries its channel: /newsletter?src=linkedin, ?src=youtube, ?src=instagram. That’s how the Plan counts which channel brought each subscriber. Untagged signups show as “No tag”, never guessed. Use the same tag for a channel every time.

Channel	Tag
YouTube (description, pinned comment)	`?src=youtube`
LinkedIn	`?src=linkedin`
Instagram (bio link)	`?src=instagram`
X	`?src=x`
Facebook	`?src=facebook`
TikTok	`?src=tiktok`

6. Check in once a week

Once a week, with the numbers in front of you: did the rhythm hold, what moved the score, is the bet still right? After three weeks of tagged links, each channel’s yield (subscribers per post) says where the next hour is best spent. Change the plan on purpose, with a reason; it keeps every revision.

In short

A bet with a window, an engine per brand, a rhythm per channel, a goal per engine.
The most important rhythms go on the critical checklist.
Tag every link with ?src= now, so the Plan can count from the start.