Setting
and Achieving
Your Business Goals
Note: Scroll to the bottom for the
link to a great audio interview with
SSWT Editor, Lynn Terry, on Setting Goals and 'Finding Your
Focus'!
There's
no time like the present to review the past year and make some
solid goals for your growing business. Here are a few tips for
setting and achieving those goals:
1.
Brainstorm - Start writing a list of things you'd like to accomplish.
At first, you might think you don't have any ideas, but soon
they will come pouring out. You may even end up with too many
goals that you could realistically accomplish. Prioritize and
decide which are most important.
2.
Write your goals down
in one central place and record any changes you make to your
goals - This way you can track your progress and will be become
even better at setting goals for yourself in the future.
3.
Make sure your goals are challenging, yet attainable
- In other words, don't make them all too easy, but then again,
don't list a bunch that you will never achieve. If you make
them too easy, you will feel like you haven't accomplished much
and if you make them too difficult, you'll feel defeated.
4.
Set a realistic timeframe for your goals
- Remember, you can't do everything at once. If you have short
and simple goals, set short timeframes. For your more involved
goals, analyze the steps needed to complete them and be realistic
about how much time you will need to accomplish your goals.
5.
As you write down your goals, ask why is this my goal?
- If your goal is to set up an affiliate program for your site,
you will motivate yourself better if you understand and remind
yourself why you are doing this. It may be to increase your
website traffic, to earn more income or to create brand recognition
for your product. It could be any number of things, but make
sure you know what they are.
6.
Make your goals measurable
- Don't just say, you want to learn about graphics. Make a specific
plan. Perhaps, you want to learn about Flash graphics and you
want to be able to make your own Flash movie. Or perhaps, you're
happy just being able to design your own animated gif. You need
to be able to see when you've achieved your goals.
7.
Identify what "tools" you will use and how will obtain
the "tools" to achieve your goals
- Perhaps, your goal is to build your own web page for the first
time. You need to think about what you need to do that. Two
of the many things you might need are software and a tutorial
or the help of knowledgeable friend. You'll need to purchase
the software or find the freeware. You'll also need to look
around for the tutorial or see when your friend might have time
to help you.
8.
Don't overload yourself
- We all want to get everything done and to be as perfect as
possible, but don't give yourself too much. Remember, time with
family is why you have a home business. It's okay to have a
larger number of small, easily attainable goals, but do limit
the number of major goals that require a number of resources
and significant time to achieve. Remember, as in a previous
step, you can always revisit and revise your goals if need be.
9.
Divide
your goals into short term and long term goals
- If you keep this list separate, you can better organize yourself
to complete them. Short term goals usually can be completed
at anytime with not much time commitment. Your long term goals
will require more involvement and you don't likely want to take
on too many long term goals at one time.
10.
Revisit and revise your goals when necessary
- This doesn't mean that if you're a procrastinator, you can
just come back and push all your dates back. This exercise is
to see if you are on track with your goals. Perhaps, you're
a little ahead of schedule and you can add a goal or two. Maybe,
you're falling behind, and that's okay. You need to look at
why you're falling behind. Is it because you didn't dedicate
the time necessary, you didn't have the tools to accomplish
your goals or was it just unrealistic planning? You can learn
from all these things and set better goals in the future. If
you do extend a deadline, make a new plan on how you will meet
that new timeframe.
Always,
congratulate yourself on a job well done. Share your successes
with your family and peers. Then start working on the next goal...
____________________
Alice Seba thrives on helping others build profitable online
businesses. Claim your Internet Marketing prescriptions to success
at http://www.aliceseba.com
Listen
in as Gary Knuckles and Lynn Terry talked about
having a Main Objective, regaining Focus and getting on
the fast path to achieving Goals! Click
Here to Listen
Lynn talks about: Focus!
Have a Main Objective -discover how all of your projects
and tasks benefit that one main objective, as it all relates
to eBiz. Learn to create a flow that works toward an ultimate
goal to bring you a greater amount of success (with a lot less
stress & frustration).
How
many times have you found yourself losing focus. I know I do.
Listen in as Lynn talks about how to discover what's causing
the problem and then learn the solution to help solve the problem.
Get back on track and in "Focus" and discover how
to make all of your marketing and business practices work together
for greater success.
Go
to: http://crazywebguy.com/lynn-terry.htm