I taught a workshop this month about goal setting.
I know, I know. I talk about goals a lot.
But as a business owner, goals are essential to your success, your profit and your growth.
If you don’t know what you are trying to achieve – then how can you achieve it?
I set lots of goals. Some I reach, others I don’t. I don’t beat myself up about the things that don’t go well. But I do ask myself why they might have failed, so that I can do better next time.
For instance, I joined a 100 connections challenge earlier this year. The challenge was to reach out 100 people in 100 days about your business. That means 1 per day. I knew I could do it. I was excited about the idea of having 100 conversations about my business. I know first-hand that is a successful step in any business. However, I got about 3 weeks into the challenge and I was bogged down with follow up. I got behind in my new connections and I couldn’t keep up with the daily goal. I stopped. But it wasn’t a bad thing at all. I suddenly had about 20 new people in my pipeline and I got some new clients, and some new strategic partners. But the challenge in itself failed for me because it was just too much for me to handle.
What did I learn from that challenge? That 100 days is too many for me. If I were a new business and didn’t already have a full business calendar then it would be a GREAT idea. But I do, so the challenge was too lofty for me. Scaled back it was perfect though. In fact I teach people to make 1 connection every day for 30 days to get 3 clients!
So failure doesn’t always have to be a bad thing. It’s why we look at what we are trying to do – and assess whether it is working or not. We can always adjust our sails so that what we are doing a) makes sense for our day to day activities and b) is in line with what we are trying to achieve.
Did you reach or exceed your goals this month?
Many of you will probably say no. Likely because you didn’t set any goals. I often get told, ‘I don’t know how to set goals.’
It’s not that hard, though. You just pick something you want to get done, then you decide when you want to have it done by, and then you break out the steps that you need to do to reach it. You have to do all 3 of these steps, or you will not be successful.
And you don’t always have to just make goals about money. In fact, it’s sometimes easier to make goals in a different area all together – and then the money simply comes.
One of the things that came out of the workshop I taught was that one of the registrants said she never set goals. She didn’t really know why, but after my workshop she left with a full page of goals written down. Without prompting from me – which is important – she was excited as she scribbled on her paper. I had helped her see that there are lots of ways to set goals. Looking at it from a different perspective is important sometimes.
Goals are important for everyone.
Here are a few different ideas for you if you get stuck on goal setting:
- Financial (make more)
- Connections (build more)
- Follow Up (do more)
- Clients (get more)
- Expenses (trim more)
- Products (offer new)
- Training (learn more)
- Productivity (set up more)
If you build more connections, you will get more clients and make more money.
Same goes for doing more follow up.
If you trim your expenses, you will make more profit.
Same goes for making yourself more productive.
Sometimes it’s just the way you think about things that makes you get stuck.
If you open your mind to ‘more’ of something, then you open the door to set great goals that can really help you be more successful.
If you need help with your goal setting, check out this blog post – it’s my 30 day challenge to you!