115: Setting The Right Goals Whether You Are Starting A Business Or Side Hustle, A Solopreneur

115: Setting The Right Goals Whether You Are Starting A Business Or Side Hustle, A Solopreneur, Entrepreneur, Mompreneur, Freelancer, Bookkeeper, Virtual Assistant, Business Owner, Or Self-Employed

The great danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark. I love this quote from Michelangelo. It really puts into perspective how important it is to not only set goals but to make sure that you are setting goals that make you reach a little further than you’d normally reach so that you can achieve those goals and have an amazing experience all along the journey to get there. When you set goals, you are creating a roadmap for a purpose-driven life, so when you set goals for your business, you are creating each and every milestone you need to take to make the vision for your business a reality. In today’s podcast episode, I’m taking you step by step through the process of how to create goals for your business, all the way through the best ways to track and review your goals. Whether you are starting a business or side hustle, you’re a self-employed individual, a solopreneur, entrepreneur, mompreneur, freelancer, small business owner, a remote, virtual, online, or in-house bookkeeper, or a virtual assistant or VA, being passionate about what you do and having goals gives you something to shoot for in your business so that you not only have an ordinarily successful business, you are able to create an extraordinary business in which you know you are reaching beyond the normal levels that you can be proud of. These tips are essential whether you are using a computerized software system like QuickBooks, Xero, Wave, or FreshBooks for your business finances; or doing your bookkeeping manually with an Excel spreadsheet or even a Google Document…

Schedule a free consultation, and we’ll work together to dive into where you’d like to see yourself and your business in the future. We’ll create a laser-focused plan, including which action steps you need to take to get started on the path to success:

https://www.financialadventure.com/work-with-me

Join us in the Mastering Your Small Business Finances PROFIT LAB if you are ready to take control of your business finances and create the profitable business you are striving for. Are you ready to generate revenues and increase the profit in your business:

https://www.financialadventure.com/profit

The Strategic Bookkeeping Academy, including Bookkeeping Basics, is open for registration! You can learn more and sign up here:

https://www.financialadventure.com/sba

Grab Your FREE guide: 5 Essential Strategies For Stress-Free Bookkeeping:

https://www.financialadventure.com/5essentials

Your FREE Online Virtual Bookkeeping Business Starter Guide & Success Path is waiting for you:

https://www.financialadventure.com/starterguide

Apply to join the Mastering Your Small Business Finances CEO Mastermind or the Elevate Your Bookkeeping Business GROW Mastermind group:

https://www.financialadventure.com/mastermind

Looking for a payroll solution for your business? You can get an exclusive 15% discount on your payroll services when you sign up here:

https://www.financialadventure.com/adp

Sign up for a virtual coffee chat to see if starting a Bookkeeping Business is right for you:

https://www.financialadventure.com/discovery

Join Our Facebook Community: https://www.facebook.com/groups/womenbusinessownersultimatediybookkeepingboutique

Are you a bookkeeper looking to start, grow or scale your bookkeeping business? Join our FREE bookkeeper community here:

https://www.financialadventure.com/bookkeepercommunity

QuickBooks Online - Save 30% Your First 6 Months:

https://www.financialadventure.com/quickbooks

Show Notes:

Welcome Back…Setting goals in your business gives you something to strive for, as well as the motivation to achieve your goals within your specific time frame. You need to set and track your goals so that you can monitor the progress and stay accountable for the actions you take in your business. Goals give you the roadmap or milestones so that you know exactly what you need to do next to reach the goals you set in your business. It doesn’t matter if your goals are big or small, short term or long term; each goal you set, as long as it aligns with your overall vision of your business, will help you achieve your success. Business owners who set goals are more likely to succeed. They are more aware of what needs to get done and how they are going to reach the success they want, so let’s make sure you are one of these business owners who are succeeding.

Once you understand how important it is to set goals, it’s time for you to set them. This tends to be a roadblock for most business owners. You know how important it is to do, but when you actually sit down to start creating your goals, you don’t know where to start. Ask yourself, what do you want your goals to be? Think about what you’d like to accomplish this year. You can start with what your overall vision is for your business. Where do you want your business to go? What do you want to accomplish with your business in the next three years, five years, and even looking out to the next ten years? When you are creating goals, they need to be in alignment with what you want to accomplish. Each goal needs to move the needle in the direction you want to go so that you are reacting to the exact accomplishments you want. You can set goals to be either short-term, which would include goals that you want to achieve within three to six months, or longer-term goals, which typically take six months or longer to complete. Your short-term goals are typically stepping stones to help you reach your long-term goals. Each of these goals will help drive your business in the right direction toward your overall vision. It is essential to make sure you are setting both short-term and long-term goals for your business. Think about what you want to achieve at each point in your business. Each month, each quarter, each year. Another way to look at creating new goals is to do a SWOT analysis. When you do this, you take a look at your strengths and what is working, your weaknesses, or which areas in your business need to be fixed. You take a look at the opportunities your business has, such as the market, your processes, products, services, growth, and the overall potential of your business. And you look at any threats or challenges that could occur to your business from competitors or demand. This SWOT analysis can give you an additional perspective when creating your goals. A few examples of goals that business owners set are, reducing business expenses, increasing leads, increasing business growth, increasing leadership skills for the business owner or team members, decreasing the amount of debt the business has, and developing a new product or service for the business.

As you are setting each goal, you need to make sure it is SMART. When you set SMART goals, this will help you create a goal that gets you where you want to go. A SMART goal takes into consideration different aspects of your goal. SMART stands for specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Let’s dive into each of these separately. When your goal is specific, you need to ask yourself what do you want to accomplish and why it is important to you or your business. You need to think about who is involved in reaching this goal and which resources you need. When your goal is measurable, you will know exactly how you will measure your goal as well as how you will know you have accomplished it. What are the key performance indicators or KPIs that you can design to help you track the progress of your goals? Do you have a way to keep track of what you are measuring? For example, if you are tracking your sales, you could monitor your profit and loss report or your income statement to see what your sales are from month to month. You also want to make sure your goal is achievable. Is the goal you are setting realistic? You should be setting big goals, but they should be achievable. You’ve probably heard about people setting big, hairy, audacious goals. You need to do this as well. Push yourself a little so that you feel your goal might be a stretch but is still achievable. Think about how you can accomplish it. Making sure that it is relevant will ensure you that it is the right time and it is applicable and worthwhile to your business. Lastly, you want to make sure your goal is timely. What is the deadline that you want to make sure you’ve achieved this goal?

Next, you need to make a commitment to your goals so that you can reach them. If you have a lot of goals to accomplish, you may need to prioritize them so that you don’t start feeling overwhelmed. You could start by focusing on the top three goals first. Decide what needs to be done daily, weekly, or monthly. Once you have these commitments recognized, get them on your calendar, and don’t budge on getting them done. When you are looking at all the tasks you need to do in your business, you should be able to track each task to a specific goal you have for your business. If you are finding tasks that are not aligned with the vision of your business or your goals, you may want to reconsider why you are doing them in the first place. Remember, you are setting a deadline so that your goals are achieved in a timely manner, so you want to be focused on the right tasks in your business. If you have a team, make sure each team member has goals that align with the overall business goals, and take time to go over your business goals with your team, so everyone has the same vision for the business. You may also find that your team members might have additional insight to help you achieve your goals in a more efficient manner.