Happy New Year Friends! If you didn’t already know, it’s one of our most favorite times of year for no reason other than it’s when we do our annual business goal setting. It happens to be one of our absolute favorite business tasks and this year is no different. While this year is going to look quite different than those past (no weddings to plan and TWO babies on the way!), we were so eager to dive in and set our short and long term goals.
But here’s the thing, we don’t like to over complicate things. In fact, we’ve become more and more strategic each year we’ve done this, so we thought this year we’d share our 5 Easy Steps for Successful Business Goal Setting. Plus, we put together a free Goal Setting Guide you can download to outline your objectives and track your progress as your work to achieve your business goals this year!
5 Easy Steps for Successful Business Goal Setting in 2019
1. Know Your Objectives
When it comes to setting and planning goals, you first have to know what your objectives are. What are your working towards this year? What do you want and/or need to accomplish?
Maybe you want to expand your referral network or define your brand to attract your ideal client. Maybe you have a specific financial goal you want to achieve this year or grow your blog readership in order to secure brand partnerships. Maybe you want to grow your social media accounts or book a certain number of clients while building your portfolio. Or maybe you want to expand your knowledge and attend an industry related conference this year.
Whatever your objectives may be (and keep it mind it could be one big one or several smaller ones), it’s always a good idea to define them so you know what you’re working towards. Setting a goal is great, but not knowing what you’re trying to achieve will only have you setting them and not achieving them.
#TheBusyBoss Tip: Be as specific as possible. The more specific you are, the better you can determine your goals and define the action steps needed to achieve them. For example, if you have a financial goal, write down exactly how much you want to make this year. This way you can begin to understand how many clients you need to book or products you need to sell in order to reach that goal.
2. Write It Down
This is what we like to refer to as a “brain dump”. Once you’ve defined your objectives, jot down ALL of your goals, no matter how big or small. This list should include short and long term goals and will likely consist of goals that you may not achieve or even begin working on this year. Regardless, write it down!
Think about where you started and where you want to go. What are some goals you’ve thought about but felt you could never or don’t have the time to accomplish? Whatever it may be, don’t be afraid to dream big and write down anything you’ve ever wanted for your business.
3. Choose Your Top 3
Looking at the goals you wrote down in Step 2, highlight your Top 3 to focus on first this year. The reason we suggest determining your Top 3 Goals is much like the reason we define our Top 3 Priorities when it comes to block scheduling. It helps you focus your time and energy on less at any given time, which in turns makes you more productive in completing those tasks. It also helps streamline your to-do’s and make each goal more attainable in a shorter period of time.
#TheBusyBoss Tip: While choosing your Top 3, think of how each goal will help you attain your Objectives in Step 1. Which ones will help you reach your business goals faster?
4. Get Specific
Next, take each goal you outlined in Step 3 individually and list what you need to accomplish in order to achieve that goal. Basically, what are the things you need to do in order to achieve those goals?
Once you’ve outlined your “to-do’s”, take each one and further determine the action steps you’ll need to take in order to begin checking off your list. For example, if one of your goals is to expand your referral network this year, one of your to-do’s is likely to build relationships with those you’d like to be part of your network. Your action items would then be to a) determine who you want to be part of your network, b) reach out to those individuals/companies, c) schedule meetings/calls with those individuals/companies and d) follow up with those individuals/companies regularly.
#TheBusyBoss Tip: Creating an outline will help you visualize your to-do’s and their subsequent action steps. See below.
Goal 1:
1. To- Do
a. Action Step
b. Action Step
c. Action Step
2. To-Do
a. Action Step
b. Action Step
c. Action Step
3. To-Do
a. Action Step
b. Action Step
c. Action Step
5. Hold Yourself Accountable
The best way to hold yourself accountable when it comes to achieving your goals is to set due dates. We learned early on in our business that if we didn’t set a due date, the task or goal was less likely to be completed. However, if we set a due date and physically put it in our calendar, we were more likely to treat it as a priority and get it done.
With that, set a due date for each action item you outlined in Step 4. Then, add it to your preferred calendar. Set reminders to work on your action items a little each day or week in order to meet your deadlines.
#TheBusyBoss Tip: Be realistic when setting due dates. Consider client obligations, ongoing projects, personal milestones, planned vacations and anything you may have scheduled for the year.
Furthermore, be sure to check in throughout the year by setting weekly, monthly and/or quarterly checkpoints to review what you’ve accomplished, what needs to be done and what needs to be adjusted to attain each of your goals. This way you never lose track of your progress.
Once you’ve taken some time to complete our 5 Easy Steps for Successful Business Goal Setting, we encourage you to organize it. Then, keep it somewhere you can refer to it daily. Keeping it organized will help track your objectives and what you hope to achieve this year and beyond.
Not sure how to organize it?
Download our FREE Goal Setting Guide and track your progress.
Don’t forget, as you reach your goals, add the next top one(s) to your list and repeat this process. Also, don’t be afraid to adjust your goals, actions steps, etc. as you go. Our journeys often present new opportunities, so don’t ever be afraid to explore them!
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