Got Goals? Here’s a System to Achieve Them
Which of the following scenarios describes you?
- You have specific goals for next year that you’ve defined, quantified and are prepared to carry out a written plan of action.
- You have mental goals that you think are going to take you in the direction you want to go, but you have not been taking consistent action toward.
- You know you should set goals and be working toward them, but you’re not really clear about what you want to accomplish or even what’s realistic.
If either of the last two describes you, I predict you could be in for disappointment come the end of next year. What I’ve learned in coaching business owners is that goal achievement is something everyone knows about and wants, but frequently are at a loss about how to attain. Goal setting and achievement is a process with a beginning and end point with specific interim steps in between.
The game of football offers a good analogy; always seeking the end goal, but setting and achieving short term yardage goals that eventually add up to a touchdown.
Start with the most abstract aspect — the Vision you hold for your business. If you were to close your eyes and envision what your business would look like when it’s mature, what would you see? If you haven’t done this in a while, go ahead, close your eyes and take a look. Consider the scope of your business, what products or services would be included? Who would be your target market? What would your surroundings look like? Where might you be located? What revenues and profits would you be generating? What benchmarks would you consider appropriate to acknowledge you’d realized your Vision? These become your ultimate Long Term Goals.
Make as many observations as possible about what your mature business might look like. If you can’t get the picture to come into clear focus, this is the time to call upon your coach to help you clarify it. The clearer you can get, the easier it will be to stay focused on it once you have a plan of action.
The Vision for your business is the basis for everything else you do. Think about why your business exists – beyond providing you a job and an income. Whom does it serve? How is it different from competitors? How are customers or clients better for having or using what you sell? Your answer becomes your Mission.
Greg Kurzynski’s, mission for Air Messenger in Denver is to provide prompt, cost effective transport of people and time-sensitive products across the deserts and mountains of the Southwest. “When I get caught up in the daily grind of running my business, it helps to remember why I’m doing this”, he says.
Think about how long it might realistically take to realize your vision. Three years, five, eight, ten? With a ten year timeframe use your total revenue as a guide for milestones along the way. A $15 million business in ten years means you’ll need to be well along the way at five years, maybe $6 or 7 million. So what will it take to reach that in five years? And what about three years from now and then one year?
Mark Dimitri’s company provides professional video editing services and equipment. He serves a varied media base. After 13 years in business he has a Vision of financial freedom that will allow him to devote time to other business ventures, hobbies and community service. In 5 years Mark would like to be debt free and have a net worth of $5 million. He believes $5 million net worth will be adequate to provide him the level of financial freedom he “envisions”. So these can be called his Long Term Goals.
It’s best to quantify a goal whenever possible. Short Term Goals are really benchmarks designed to show where you are on the continuum toward your long term goal and offer a valuable opportunity to make adjustments based on results.
Mark’s assessment revealed he currently owes $120,000 and is worth about $500,000. The starting point and end point are the gap that must be filled over the allocated time (5 years). He believes he can reduce his debt to $60,000 in one year and can add another $500,000 to his net worth. In two years he believes he can be debt free and see his net worth at $2,000,000. He’s projecting interim targets of $3,000,000 and $4,000,000.
If we plotted this on an annual basis it would look like the following:
Current Debt $ 120,000
Current Net Worth 500,000
One Year Debt 60,000 (Short Term Goal)
One Year Net Worth 1,000.000 (Short Term Goal)
Two Year Debt 0 (Interim Goal)
Two Year Net Worth 2,000,000 (Interim Goal)
Three Year Net Worth 3,000,000 (Interim Goal)
Four Year Net Worth 4,000,000 (Interim Goal)
Five Year Net Worth $ 5,000,000 (Long Term Goal)
Just as in football, the most active strategy and planning takes place in the immediate timeframe. Long Term Goals are achieved by meeting a series of Short Term Goals.
One to two years is a reasonable timeframe to consider total revenue, total profit, market share, market position, current challenges that need to be addressed, new products/services, location and facility. This is considered short term goal setting and planning.
Danielle McGivern, owner of Cream Puff Bakeries in San Diego, says, “This year’s goal is to become more financially educated in my business operations, which will enable me to make proactive, instead of reactive, business decisions. I’d like to reach a million in sales within the next 2 years and be able to afford better incentives, such as health benefits, for my employees.”
To accomplish this she’s delegating some of her work so she’ll have more time to spend on the financial aspect of the business. And she’s using her business coach to help her understand and use her financial information and stay focused on her goals.
An easy way to approach getting from goal setting to action is to break short term (annual) goals down into quarterly goals. Set your plans to achieve this quarter’s goals, take the actions planned and monitor results monthly. Adjust as needed to stay on course toward your quarterly goals.
Determine tasks that will lead to your goals. Transfer these tasks to your weekly and then daily planner. Most Important – Allocate time on your calendar to carry out these key tasks. Give them priority. Remember, these are the activities leading toward your goals – and eventually your Vision.
To the extent that you can achieve your Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Quarterly and Annual Goals, you’ll be able to realize your Vision. I’ve created a specific tool to help you stay on track toward your goals on a weekly basis. It’s called the Goal Tracking Worksheet, and you can download it now with complete instructions on how to use it. It’s a steal at $37, but use code GTW10 and it’s yours for $27 till the end of the month. My clients swear by it.
If you’re not happy with what you’re achieving, this can be a small investment with a huge ROI. Download it now.
16 Small Business Experts
From Monday, Nov. 2nd through Friday, Nov. 6th you’ll have access to 16 hours of advice and tips from small business experts from across the country. The Virtual Women’s Economic Summit, produced and moderated by Cheryl Cook, offers an amazing array of topics and content.
I’m one of the 16 small business experts and I’ll be speaking on the topic, “The Leader Mindset: What is it and How do I get it?”. Some of the other topics are:
Build a Successful Referral Engine
Eight Insider Marketing Secrets
Client Retention Strategies
Top Selling Tips for a Challenging Economy
Organize With Confidence
Getting Started With Social Media
and much, much more.
You can access all 16 presentations during the week of Nov. 2 – 6 without charge. Click here to register.
Virtual Women’s Economic Summit
I’m really excited. I’ve been asked to speak as an Expert at an upcoming virtual event. I feel honored to be a part of this awesome lineup of experts in the Virtual Women’s Economic Summit.
It’s a virtual event, conducted over the web. (no makeup, no shoes required) and it runs from Nov. 2 – 6th. My topic is “The Leader Mindset: What it is and How to Get it”, which will be aired on Monday, Nov. 2nd from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. Once you register you’ll have access to the entire series. Click here for the full line-up and to register.
And, the best part… there’s no cost to attend!
Although the content is directed to business women, they tell me no one will be checking ID’s at the (virtual) door, so the men out there can listen in on the strategies that will be shared.
If you have all the business you want, no need for you to register. If you don’t, you’ll want to register to find better ways to market, sell and propel your business to where you’d like to be.
By attending this virtual tele-summit, you’ll get loads of innovative ideas and strategies for generating new business – all from the comfort of your home or office.
Check it out for yourself. I know you’ll agree with me.
This is a not-to-miss event!
See you there.