How To Set Goals For Your Business
We’re two weeks into a fresh new year and quarter! You likely fall into one of two camps: you hit the ground running the minute the calendar flipped to January, or you’re still wondering what happened to 2021.
If you find yourself in the latter scenario, have no fear. It’s never too late to create an actionable and realistic plan for your business that will allow you to grow to new heights in 2022. We’re going to walk you through how to set goals that are actually achievable while remaining strategic. This may sound overwhelming (especially if you’re mentally still in 2021), but these steps are simple and are critical to your business’s future growth. Remember: it’s important to work ON your business, not just IN it.
Ready to dive in? Grab your notepad, and let’s get to it.
Step One: SWOT Analysis
SWOT stands for Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats. In order to create goals for your business, you first need to understand where your business/brand/company is at overall. A SWOT analysis is a great assessment tool to give you a realistic picture of what you’re doing well, areas for improvement, potential growth areas, and challenges.
Here’s a quick explanatory video from Investopedia to walk you through the SWOT analysis process.
A SWOT analysis is a great tool to use on a yearly basis. Once you have this step completed, you’re ready to move on to step two: goal setting.
Step Two: SMART Goals
We know— there’s a lot of acronyms in this blog post, but hang with us.
SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely. Using the SMART Goals Method helps increase your chances of accomplishing your goals substantially.
Here’s how SMART breaks down, according to MasterClass:
Specific— This is the ‘mission statement’ for your goal, and should include important details and be easy to explain to others. Think of specific actions you will take to reach your goal, and write them out in this section.
Measurable— Determine which metrics you will use to measure whether or not you reach your goal.
Attainable— Based on your SWOT analysis, is this goal realistic for your business right now? It is critical you are HONEST with yourself. This goal should be challenging but not impossible.
Realistic— Make a list of potential obstacles. Will these obstacles hinder you from reaching your goal altogether? How will you overcome an obstacle when it comes your way? There will always be an obstacle— the difference between those who succeed and those who flounder, is whether or not a plan was set in place.
Timely— This step is hugely important. You must set a due date if you want this process to work for you. You can set goals left and right, but until you give yourself a deadline, you’re less likely to reach them.. Give yourself a reasonable amount of time, but once you have your timeline set, stick to it.
Step Three: Take Action
Congratulations! You’ve completed the “homework” behind goal setting, and now you’re ready to move forward! Make a monthly list of actionable steps which will lead you to your end goal, and start there. Remember, you don’t have to accomplish everything in one day! Don’t be intimidated by the whole staircase in front of you— just take the first step.
If you aren’t sure what your goals should be for your business, reach out to our team! Strategic planning is something we cover in our 1:1 consultation calls— we can assist you in creating a roadmap unique to where you are currently, and help you this year be your best one yet!