If you want to have a professional and legitimate solo business, you must learn the discipline of setting goals and visualizing where you want your business to be in the future.
Goal-setting is sometimes viewed as nothing more than the worthless act of day dreaming. After all, how can anyone see into the future? Why waste time in guessing where your business will end up 5 or 10 years down the road?
There are three main hang-ups or difficulties with setting goals that keep most folks from realizing the power they hold in their hand when they establish proper goals.
First, many will set a mental goal and then forget about it. Goals are only effective if they're written down and referred to often. Goals that are kept in front of your mind every day become motivators and reminders of the reason you're in business and the reward that you're working toward.
If you never look at your business goals, you won't think about them and you'll not consider taking the small intermediate steps necessary to reach them.
Second, too many goals are nothing more than "pie-in-the-sky" fluffy wishes that are so vague or general in scope they are little more than pipe dreams. You business goals should be specific, attainable, and measurable.
When a goal is specific, it forces your mind to work overtime in coming up with ways that you can accomplish exactly what's envisioned. An attainable goal is one that is reachable and realistic. It will cause you to stretch and take greater strides than in the past, but it will definitely be possible.
Measurable goals are performance based. They can be monitored, evaluated, and couched in terms that are easily tracked and evaluated.
Third, goals are seen as no-win situations by some. Reviewing your goals can be a depressing exercise if you haven't made any progress after a period of time.
People feel like they've failed or let themselves down if they don't reach a goal or even if they've just gotten behind the prescribed time line toward completion. Goals can become the source of self-incrimination.
But instead of down-playing the importance of setting goals in your business, think in terms of the dollars of value you're adding to your business as you stretch to take it to new heights.
Here are some of the areas that well-thought out written goals can be an immense help in your business operation:
- In your business and product launches. Why not set timing goals and production goals as your business takes off? How many products do you want to sell in each line or category of your business? How long will it take you to get your web site published and working successfully? What milestones can you establish toward your business becoming the top company in your niche?
- In your customer acquisition activities. Try setting goals for the number of prospects you will contact in a month, or the number of users you will register at your site over the next 90 days. These are measurable and specific goals that will motivate you to act in tangible ways in an effort to meet or surpass the written goal by the time stated.
- In your business financials. How long will it be until your business is in the black? What kind of sales revenue do you shoot for in Year 1, 2, and 3? What type of product margins are you trying to achieve? How much of the business profit do you plan to pull out of the company?
- In your marketing and advertising. How much will you set aside for marketing your business and products? What kind of mix of ads and promotions do you want to accomplish? How many dollars in revenue do you plan for each dollar you spend on marketing? Who will you partner with and what percentage of the sales will you receive?
- In planning for a final exit strategy. Do you know how you plan to someday leave your business? Have you planned an exit strategy so that you get great value for the business you created and operated? Are you planning on leaving the business for a relative to own and operate?
All of these areas within your business will benefit from specific measurable goals. You will be motivated and directed toward accomplishing your goals on a daily basis if you keep them in front of you at all times.
Goals will help you to focus your operating strategies and daily activities toward their accomplishment. In every activity you spend time, ask yourself how that task is helping you to get closer to reaching your goal. If you can't find a direct or logical answer, the task is not worth continuing - it'll be like spinning your wheels but getting nowhere important.
Two final comments on goal setting: goals were never intended to be set in concrete on the day they are established. Goals can and should be modified, refined, and massaged to fit the owner's needs.
And finally, don't be afraid to set lesser goals in support of reaching your main goals.
These "interim" goals are sometimes referred to as objectives or action steps because they are the means by which larger final goals are reached, one action or step at a time. Sometimes it's difficult to see how you're going to accomplish a large and substantial goal. It's much easier to grasp and execute bite-sized steps, one after another, that progressively move you to that final destination.
