Goals and aspirations are a part of life. From the everyday items you would like to complete or simply the longer term goals for yourself, we think of these “goals” moment to moment. As business owners and entrepreneurs we must continuously goal set. Our goals are a bit different, as our strategies will lead to success within our companies and field. Without setting goals for the company and for the brand, we are essentially setting our company up for failure by not establishing benchmarks for what success is.

We all set individual goals for ourselves, whether in the workforce or as an entrepreneur. We must do the same for our businesses. We must develop a list of goals we would like to achieve, and then begin brainstorming exact tactics to reach them. This is a healthy practice, just as setting a goal to save a certain amount for retirement is a common practice, this should be common for a business owner. They are on the same playing field when it comes to the financial health of you individually and of your company. When you are setting retirement goals, you state a larger goal, then break it down incrementally to say, “If I do this, repetitively, I will meet my goal”. You are essentially aiming to scale your own worth through a plan to execute something that will better your own finances long-term. We MUST do this with our businesses as well. We must continually set goals, strategically look to execute them, and maintain the health of our own entrepreneurship.

I do believe it is healthy to sit down once a quarter (every 3 months) and go over the companies goals, their strategies and if the team is obtaining them. Whether the company is just you, or you have tons of employees, this is something that will allow you to not be stagnant and always think about obtaining new goals and aspirations for the business. This will also create a trend of not asking yourself “why”, but “why not” as you continually see the incremental goals being met within the company financially and as far as project completion.  Revisit goals from time to time to make sure that they are not only just being written down, but obtained. This way, you are holding yourself and your company accountable for reaching them just as you were held accountable at your job or just as you hold yourself accountable for personal goals. You must take your business personal, you have to hold yourself accountable and make a statement that the failure of your company is something that is not an option for you and that is personally your own task to make sure never happens.

Too many times we plan for everything else, but we do not plan for our own businesses and our own economic success. This to me is the largest part of being a business owner, the continued planning and developing of a dynamic strategy to succeed. From there it is the reoccurring measurement of obtaining those goals and then creating new ones. Set short term and long term goals for the business and then set up milestones and time-frames to complete them. This will allow for short term and long term wins for the company and in turn create a system of checks and balances within your team.

We are all working towards something. If you are not aware of what you are working toward, then that thing is nothing. You must set goals, obtain them and then repeat to get to the place you would like to be as a business owner.

Ways to set goals: 

  • Be accurate: Have an actual number of projects or monetary value you’d like to obtain
  • Be persistent: Follow up on these goals on a scheduled basis so that you are now accountable for this
  • Be prepared to adjust: Aim to meet the goals as you wanted to, though be prepared for turns and curves in the road. As you reevaluate goals and projects you will then see that you are learning more about your business and its capabilities as you scale.