Business Goal Setting for the New Year!

In the middle of December just like clock work each and every year, we start thinking about the things we should be doing to help our business grow in the New Year. The main question we ask ourselves is “how have we shown up in our business this year? What this inevitably means for us is evaluating the actions we have taken during the course of the year. This evaluation or assessment gives us the information necessary to make decisions about what our immediate goals and objectives will be in the New Year. In a nutshell, this includes the activities required to build our business and brand.

Goal Setting

Although we have these conversations every year, the tricky part is reaching agreement on how to move our business to that next level. Just like other married couples running a home based business, we tend to disagree on how the proceed. The issues vary for us but what to focus on is always the bottleneck. For example, will spending the majority of our time on networking and building relationships be the focus or should marketing/advertising get most of the attention? Do you experience this with your business?

Ultimately, we make decisions and then head down the path of tracking and monitoring progress throughout the year. The key seems to be getting these annual goals and objectives on paper.

OK, I know what your thinking…this is easier said than done. Sitting down and writing these things take time and energy and you are not willing to commit. As one of our favorite self improvement and personal development gurus Brian Tracy says, “committing your goals to paper increases the likelihood of your achieving them by one thousand percent!” He also says, “goals in writing are dreams with deadlines”. These statements clearly indicate the importance in getting your goals on paper especially if you value the teachings of someone as prolific as Tracy in this space.

Also, in his book entitled The Compound Effect, Darren Hardy speaks of his feelings on goal setting by saying, “something magical happens when you organize and focus your creative power on a well-defined target. I’ve seen this time and again: the highest achievers in the world have all succeeded because they mapped out their visions.” In other words, a well defined target and vision are integral in a successful goal setting process.

Are you defining and writing down your goals and objectives? The success of your small business depends upon it.