What gets planned and tracked is what gets achieved

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Why Businesses Fail?

To put it straight - successful business owners create annual and quarterly goals. They think about what targets they want to achieve for their business and how they are going to obtain it. Many businesses fail because the owner has not set a grand picture for their business and has made no plans to pursue it. What prevents them from doing this is fear. The fear of failure to reach their goals paralyzes them so they avoid making them. 

Another thing that deters owners from creating goals is a lack of knowledge. They don’t realize the importance of setting goals and the power it has to focus their attention and keep them motivated to achieve positive outcomes. We know it can be a hard thing to wrap your head around, that’s why we will walk you through creating the perfect set of goals that you will feel confident you can achieve. 

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Long-Term vs. Short Term Goals 

To put it simply, your short term goals are made for the near future, say next year. Long-term goals are going to take longer to achieve, typically 3-5 years, but contribute to the big picture you’ve created for your company. 

So what is your big picture? As a business owner, it is imperative that you are envisioning the future of your company. Things to consider include growth, change of location, or more locations. You should definitely consider the idea of your company operating fully without your involvement, a central ActionCOACH pillar. This gives you the opportunity to transform from an employee in your company to an entrepreneur, building and operating over more than one business and giving you the freedom most business owners desire. 

Once you have your big picture clearly drawn out, you can start thinking about your long-term goals. This will set the direction you want to take your business when pursuing the big picture. 

Long-term examples include:

• Increase the company’s market share
• Open one or more new locations around the state 
• Triple revenue by the end of a fiscal year 
• Increase brand recognition in your community or the surrounding area
  

As you can imagine, these things take some time to complete, but they are well worth it for your company's success. Once you have established your long-term goals then you can begin thinking of short-term goals. 

Often short-term goals can help you get closer to reaching your long-term goals, supporting them in the grand scheme. But they can also be standalone goals that just may be quicker to attain but are still important to the success of your business. 

Short-term examples include: 

• Increase product prices
• Hire two or more employees
• Implement or increase social media marketing
• Improve productivity
• Reduce overheads
  

With proper planning and strategy, you can achieve these things. Think about the upcoming year. Have you considered any of the above-mentioned ideas? If not, you are missing out on a great opportunity that would lead your business to a successful year. 

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Are your Goals SMART?

Your goals should be smart in that they are attainable for you and your business, but they also need to be SMART - specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and timely. Creating goals that meet these criteria makes it clearer to see the results and easier to keep track of. It also forces you to tailor them to your business and its needs. Be strategic when planning goals.

Keep goals specific because making them too vague or broad does not create the path that caters to your unique business. You can’t follow anyone else’s plan and if its a plan that anyone can follow that doesn’t differentiate you from the competition.

If you can’t measure it, you shouldn’t do it. It is so important to track your progress in all aspects of your business so that you avoid wasting time and resources on things that are not giving you a return. 

Be realistic about your goals to make them achievable. It may be your first inclination to shoot for the moon when thinking about your business. The problem with this is that if we don’t reach it we’re brought back to earth with the weight of failure on our backs. Staying realistic about your goals by accounting for your current situation, the market and future projections will keep your goals achievable.

You also have to keep them relevant to your business. You can’t force your business to fit into the mold that another business has created. If you have a food service business than creating goals that are related to a retail shop would not be beneficial for you. You won’t see the same results.

Lastly, keep them timely. With all the goals that you set, have a specific time that you want them to be achieved whether its a month, three months or a year. This allows you to track them easier and set milestones for your goals that will make it easier to plan future goals. 

So, begin with the end in mind by setting your long-term goals for your company (i.e. what does the business look like when it is done).  Then set the 5 years, 3 years, 1 year, quarter, month and week goals.  Then quarterly, develop your action plans to deliver the goal and put a tracking mechanism in place so that you always know if you are on track to hit your goals or if you need to course correct.

Setting goals for your business creates purpose for your business. It allows you to create a path where you can celebrate the small victories. Having worked with so many businesses, one of the most fulfilling things for us is to celebrate with them. Many of the businesses that we work with didn’t have goals either, but together we created short-term and long-term goals that we have had the pleasure of seeing them achieve. If you’d like some more guidance on setting goals as a small business feel free to contact Tim Campsall, certififed business coach, to give you the help you need.