Setting business goals when you have a company is a common practice that is shared globally by all businesses. Those goals help increase motivation and determination, giving you and your team something to work towards. However, just setting your goals won’t take you anywhere if you don’t plan your actions to achieve it. Goal setting and planning walk hand in hand when working towards success.
Goal-setting and leadership are skills not everyone has studied or is good at naturally. It is important to research and pay attention so you don’t set vague goals that are without boundaries. The goal-setting process is made up of three phases: Pre-work – that happens before goal-setting; goal-setting itself; and ongoing management – that goes on after setting goals. After you’ve set up your goals, it’s time for planning. However, plans need to be in constant modification to guarantee you don’t slip away from the goals you’ve set.
Review last year
In the pre-work phase, you want to be looking at what you already have. Take time to think about the previous year; what worked well? That is a great place to start because you can build upon the successes you already had. That helps you acknowledge what was done right and gives you the motivation to keep going.
Looking back on what was done before also makes the goal-setting process a little bit more “accurate” since you have data to better evaluate which decisions to make and why you are making them. That being said, it is important to always document your business so you can look back on it in situations like that.
We know that not everything is beautiful and bright, so you also have to take time to look at what went wrong, what weren’t you able to get done, and what didn’t do as well as expected. Mistakes are very important in the learning process and will also be a great part of your success. The sooner you notice and fix mistakes, the faster you grow and improve your skills. Looking back at those while setting your new goals is extremely important.
Now that you know where you are coming from you can look at what is moving forward to next year. What are the trends in your business and the market, what is new out there? Take time to look not only at your company but also at the context in which it is running. You want to be up to date and have your goals aligned with the best opportunities.
Set the intention for next year
Once you have your background research you can start setting your intentions for the next year. First of all, what is your financial goal? How much revenue do you foresee for the upcoming year, where and how much would you like to invest? Keep in mind those need to be realistic goals, based on the path your business has been taking and the trends in your market.
What did you launch last year and what are your intentions for it this upcoming year? Your goals must involve continuing what you have previously done, instead of just starting new things all the time. Part of your goals can be to better promote the products you’ve previously launched or to enhance them in some way.
What are you planning to launch next year to accomplish your financial goal? Think about the new projects and what you expect to achieve with them this upcoming year. How much investment of your time and money will it take and how long will it be until you see any revenue back from your efforts?
When setting these intentions always keep in mind you have to be realistic.
Having high standards and shooting for great things is amazing but you need to plan well and create trajectories that are possible. Many times people have great ideas and end up failing, not because it wasn’t a good idea, but because they didn’t know how to build their path up there.
Yearly overview
Print off a year at a glance calendar. Once you determined your goals you want to figure out the steps towards accomplishing them and also the timing of those steps. You need to plan out your year with the actions you’ll be taking. Printing a year at a glance calendar is great to help you internalize what you planned and also evaluate if it does look realistic.
Mark off all holidays that matter to you and your clients (including birthdays anniversaries and any holidays you plan to take off). Be sure to plan accordingly for those important days. You want your plan to be as close to reality as possible. When planning, we tend to overestimate what we can do, which usually leads to a plan that can’t be followed and will leave you and your team feeling unmotivated.
Being accurate with interruptions and giving things the right amount of time to develop is essential for a good plan. Look back on the previous year and figure out where more time was needed as well as where you could cut up sometime.
Mark all your important recurring appointments and map out possible launch dates for your products and/or services. If you have seasonal products or just market trends that you’ve noticed before plan accordingly and make the most out of your launches.
Map out your year
Once you are ready to put everything down, start mapping out your year. Use a pencil! Plans will change, it’s inevitable. Having checking points on your plan where you can look back and adjust things that aren’t working well is essential to stay on track. Don’t worry about setting your plan in stone, you may not be able to foresee changes, but you can keep your eyes open for when it comes time to pivot.
Choose the projects that you want to work on this next year. Map out the time frame in which you want to complete them. Make sure you have a solid base over which you can build your quarterly, monthly and weekly plans. Remember, actions are what make things happen, but you need to have clear objectives and goals to choose the right actions to take.
Map out which quarter each of your larger projects will be worked on. The first plan you make doesn’t need to (and likely won’t) be your final plan. However, it’s important to have a good idea of how you would like things to go so that you can work towards achieving it. When mapping out your year, try to figure out what moments are the best for each one of your plans. If you have seasonal trends, a team member going on vacation, just a busier time of the year. Try as much as possible to plan ahead of time so you aren’t swept off your feet when things go a different way.
Check out my 2020 Rockstar planner!
