How to set business goals the right way

Now you know why you need to set goals for your business, let's get on to how. 

Before you get started

The idea of setting big goals for your business is pretty exciting. Getting out your not-so-secret stash of notebooks, highlighters and pens, and getting your ideas down onto paper is thrilling. Okay, maybe not to everyone, but it certainly is to me. And that makes it really difficult not to just jump in head first and get carried away.

Make sure that, for each of the steps below, you really take some time to think about them and that you carry out your goal-setting process somewhere that you can really focus and don't feel distracted or rushed.

1: KNOW YOUR WHY

I mentioned your purpose in the post here. That's your "why".

Your "why" or your purpose is essentially your end goal. It's what you should be thinking about every time you do anything related to your business. From making decisions to setting these goals, you should always be asking yourself if it brings you closer to your "why". If the answer is "no", then chances are, what you are doing isn't right for your business.

2: KNOW YOUR SKILLS AND LIMITS

This is probably one of my biggest business downfalls.

I'm not realistic about what I can actually achieve.

What I mean is that I tend to be unrealistic when it comes to setting my business goals. I underestimate how long my own tasks will take me and then "plan" to get 20 things done in a day when, in reality, I'll be lucky if I have time to do one of them!

This isn't about selling yourself short, doubting your abilities or putting yourself down. It's about being realistic.

Knowing what you are capable of, and what tasks you struggle with will help you manage your time and expectations. And, more importantly, set goals that are actually achievable. There's very little point in setting goals that are impossible to reach!

Feel like you’re drowning with your never-ending to do list of tasks? That’s why we’re here! To be your right-hand wing-woman in your business. Let’s have a chat to see how we can take some of those things off your plate.

3: THINK ABOUT THE BIG PICTURE

Now we're getting into the actual goal-setting part of the process.

You already have your "why" in mind, now it's time to think about what you want to achieve in the next 12 months, 5 years, 10 years...in the long-term!

These big-picture goals will be the basis for your smaller goals so make sure that you think carefully about them as they will ultimately impact everything you do for your business.

Here are a few ideas to inspire you:

• Income goals - To make £80,000 over the next 12 months

• Day job goals - To quit your 9-5 within the next 6 months and retire your husband/wife/partner from their 9-5 within the next 5 years

• Other financial goals - To be debt-free within 3 years

• Order/booking/sales goals - To sell 400 items per month by the end of next year/ to have 3 new clients onboarded each month/ to make £6,000 worth of sales each month

• Statistical/ growth goals - To have 20,000 Instagram followers within 12 months. To have 100,000 unique pageviews per month. To have 5,000 email subscribers in the next 2 years etc.

4: BREAK DOWN THOSE GOALS

Those big-picture goals are great BUT how do you actually achieve them?

It's time to break them down into quarterly, monthly and weekly goals and then break them down even further into daily tasks.

So, take one of your big-picture goals at a time and work out some sort of timeline for achieving them. For example, if one of your goals is to earn £80,000 over the next 12 months, work out how much you need to earn each month and then think about what income streams that money is going to come from.

Remember to think about your skills and limitations when setting time frames - you don't want to put yourself under too much pressure and risk getting burnt out!

And, before you know it, your huge, overwhelming goals have become small, easily manageable daily tasks!

5: TRACK YOUR PROGRESS

There's very little point in setting goals if you don't know whether or not you've achieved them. So, a huge part of the goal-setting process actually happens after the goals have been set.

Tracking your progress against your goals will help you see if you're on track and will also help you to identify any areas of your biz that might need additional work. For example, if your income goals aren't being met, you might want to put more work into your marketing.

One great part of tracking your progress against your goals is that you can see how amazing you are doing! Don't forget to celebrate the wins, no matter how small.

If you think you’re ready to outsource some of your business tasks, get in touch with us here to see how we could work together to not only free up more of your time but also grow and scale your business!