How to set 2015 business goals
We have all painstakingly set our personal resolutions for each new year that comes along. And sometimes, we keep our promise to ourselves, and sometimes we don’t. However, when it comes to your business, a new year is a great opportunity for you to set attainable goals that set out a timeline of milestones for you to hit and celebrate whether you are a solo entrepreneur, or you have a team working with you.
Here are 8 things to help you determine what your business resolutions will be for 2015.
#1: Take an honest look at your past year during a year-end review.
Go over your strategies for 2014 and decide what worked and what didn’t. For many clients, I like to do up an overview report for the year that looks at what we did and what some recommendations may be for the new year. You should consider doing this for yourself. It doesn’t have to be elaborate. It can be a point form list or a chart. But putting something down on paper or up on a whiteboard allows you to visualize better.
#2: Be specific and realistic.
It’s important that you set goals/resolutions for your business that you can actually achieve, and where possible, include numbers. For example, if you are a new small business and you did $60K - $100K in revenues in your first year, setting a $2 million goal for yourself by the end of the second year may be a stretch. This isn’t to say you shouldn’t go big with your goals, however you want to make sure that you are realistic with your timelines and the business strategy you have laid out.
#3: Look for growth opportunities.
Have you been thinking about expanding your reach to a new audience? Or perhaps your growth goal is simply related to revenues or hiring new team members. Whatever the growth target, give yourself actionable goals to work towards throughout the year.
#4: Expand your digital presence. Like it or not, there will always be something new and shiny when it comes to digital strategies. This is not to say you should jump on the bandwagon for every new channel that’s out there, but take some time to have a look at what’s new to see if it will work for your audience outreach. It could also be as simple as beefing up your current strategy for existing channels you are already on. Bottom line, you can likely do more and now is a good time to see how you can do it efficiently.
#5: Focus on content. Do you have a content strategy? If not, you should take a step back and have a look at developing a strong strategy. If you do have one, does your current strategy highlight the great things about your brand and expertise? Maybe it’s as simple as setting up a blog, putting out an extra post, or learning how to incorporate visuals to better attract your audience.
#6: Follow through is key. When you don’t follow through on your personal resolutions (most struggle with the fitness and nutrition goals), you can always say better late than never. However, when it comes to business, it’s important to follow through with your strategy, or at least assess why it won’t work before you give up on it. Abandoning your goals for no reason can have a negative impact on your business because, like it or not, it will have an effect on you as a business owner.
#7: Slow and steady wins the race. You’ve heard it before, “Rome wasn’t built in a day.” This will always ring true unless someone somehow invents a device to make time stand still while you continue on your merry way. Your goals/resolutions are not going to be met in January. They are meant to be achieved over the course of the year, so don’t get stressed or discouraged if they don’t happen right way.
#8: Set up an implementation timeline. To help you follow through and not feel like it all has to be done TODAY, set up a schedule for yourself with major milestones to hit for all of your goals. This implementation schedule can be set up in a spreadsheet or a chart to give you a good visualization of how your year will look. It also means celebrating along the way when you reach your milestones. Who doesn’t like a good celebration!
