Running a business is no easy feat. There’s always a sale to be made, a fire to put out, an employee to train, a payroll to be made. With so much going on, it can be hard to justify taking time out to step back and evaluate where things are and what may need to change. But this critical step will make life so much smoother in the long run.

Strategic planning, no matter the size of your business, will give you a plan of action to guide all of the decisions that pop up in your daily work. Should you hire a new employee? Does it make sense to go into a new market? What message should our marketing focus on? While these types of questions may seem overwhelming now, having a strategic plan in place will take a lot of the worry out of the process.

Below, I’ve outlined three big questions that strategic planning will help you answer and how those questions will help you find success.