Every new year, people aim to do things differently or improve on what they have done in the past. To truly change, setting goals for the upcoming year is crucial. Setting objectives can give your life purpose and ensure your actions have direction and are fruitful. A new year’s resolution is ideal for getting started on your goals.
Having a goal will serve as a reminder of why you started your business and give you the motivation to hit the ground running in the New Year.
Your business goals for this year may take some time to develop, but you can start by answering yourself the following questions:
- Do I have any goals in mind?
- How can I grow my business?
- What can I do differently to grow my customer base?
- How will my business adapt this year?
It is best to set goals based on your values and where you want your business to go. When you know who you are and what is important to you personally, it is easier to identify the right business goals.
Business goals do not have to be extravagant. Whatever your goals are, always begin with what you must work with before carefully planning how you will achieve them. When your strategy is well-organized, it is easier to stay on track to meet your objectives.
Business goals do not have to be extravagant. Whatever your goals are, always begin with what you must work with before carefully planning how you will achieve them. When your strategy is well-organized, it is easier to stay on track to meet your objectives.
- Objectives: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-Bound. This is a formula for ensuring your goals are actionable and can be followed through on.
- Specific: Use as much fine detail and precise wording as possible when crafting your goals. Vague goals do not set the stage for easy strategizing and implementation. Specificity will help your goals be more effective.
- Measurable: Adding a quantifying aspect to your goal makes it easier to track progress and success. To make a goal as impactful as possible, incorporate numbers that can help act as progress benchmarks.
- Attainable: Goals should inspire you and push you out of your comfort zone. While they should challenge you, they should also be realistic and within reach.
- Relevant: This is your opportunity to evaluate whether your goal is truly important to you and your business. Ask yourself, if you follow through with your goal, what impact will this have on your business? Is the goal aligned with your overall vision?
- Time-Bound: Objectives tied to a deadline will reduce procrastination and keep you moving forward in a timely fashion. Time-bound goals should include a plan of when you would like to have the entire goal accomplished. You can consider what can be accomplished weekly, monthly, or quarterly to contribute to your annual goals.
How can I accomplish my business goals for the coming year?
It is important to start creating a strategy to achievie your business goals as soon as you have determined what they are in detail. This strategy ought to contain:
- Have a budget:
- Having a budget help track where your money is being spent and allows you to analyse what type of advertisements work best for you.
- Conduct a marketing audit: Occasionally, we become so engrossed in “doing” that we neglect to consider whether what we are doing is valuable before investing our time and resources to it. When was the last time you assessed how well each of the marketing strategies you employ to promote your small business is working? Make a commitment to do a marketing audit this year to maximize the return on your marketing spend.
- Hire a certain number of employees: You can start by hiring someone to do all the little tasks that have to get done but don’t contribute to the bottom line. These tasks take your attention away from growing the business, so delegate them out to others to save yourself time and energy.
- Reduce operating costs: Running a lean business should be the goal of every entrepreneur. After all, every dollar saved in business expenses is an extra dollar in your pocket. The problems arise when you cut into areas affecting the bottom line. For example, it’s always tempting to look at payroll first because it’s such a considerable expense in most businesses. But will cutting sales staff hurt sales? What about the shipping department or customer care? You might not feel the effects of those cuts right away, but if you’re not giving the customer the experience they expect, you will feel it down the road.
- Work on personal brand: In small businesses, success often relies on the business owner and their ability to stand out in the crowd. Therefore, it is so important to develop a personal brand. If you have not yet spent time creating your brand, make it a goal for this year, and boost your credibility simultaneously.
