Is It Just a Dream or an Actual Goal?

With the new year upon us, everyone is making New Year’s resolutions… lose weight, get out of debt, stop smoking.  Personal goals are important, but what about your business goals?  Every business owner has dreams of what they want to achieve, but unless you have a plan in place, those dreams will never become a reality.

Running a business requires a great deal of planning.  My husband laughs at me because I am the queen of lists and schedules, but that’s just the way my brain works.  But it’s a good thing I’m wired that way.  That’s what keeps me so organized with all of the marketing activities going on with my own business as well as my clients’.  Make your calendar your absolute best friend.  Here is what I do for myself and for my clients.

Plan things out on a yearly, monthly, weekly and daily basis.  Start off by setting some goals you would like to achieve for the year.  Maybe you want to see a 10% increase in sales this year.  Maybe you want to get your book published by end of the year.  How are you going to achieve that? By doing things on a daily, weekly and monthly basis until you’ve achieved what you set for yourself, that’s how.

Whatever your goal is, make sure it’s a SMART goal.  Most people are familiar with SMART goals, but here’s a quick refresher.  First, it needs to be SPECIFIC.  Don’t just say you want to increase sales (everyone wants that!).  How much do you want to increase it by?  Next, make sure your goal is MEASURABLE.  If you don’t have a plan in place to track and measure your results, you will never know how close or how far you are from achieving it.  Is it ATTAINABLE?  Make sure the goal you have set is actually REALISTIC.  Good for you that you want to increase sales, but if you’ve decided you want to increase sales by 200%, you might likely be setting yourself up for failure.  And finally, make sure you have a TIMELINE.  By setting a timeline, you are essentially giving yourself a deadline.  That makes your plan an actual goal, not just a dream. 

By building tasks into your daily, weekly and monthly schedules that are geared around your goals, you can achieve your goals slowly and systematically.  Schedule every hour of your day and follow your schedule.  If your personal goal is to lose 100 pounds this year, you’re going to need to follow a strict schedule of workouts and planned eating.  Your business is no different.  If you want to see success you need to build it into your schedule every single day.  So, get that calendar out and start using it.  I want you to achieve all of your goals this year!!  Happy New Year everyone!