BUSINESS GOAL SETTING
So you’ve set your 2025 goals. Now what?
This is the season when the internet lights up with countless articles about yearly goal setting. That’s something we start with our clients around September/October so they’re already well-prepared for the upcoming year.
If that’s not where you’re at today, don’t stress. Of those who set New Year’s goals, Pew Research reports that only about 13% of them are sticking with it by the end of January.
One of my regular resolutions is to do better at eating lunch. I do it for about a week. And then clients ask about booking at 11, 12, and 1. And suddenly, I’m back to fishing Magic Spoon bars out of my filing cabinet.
It’s really hard to go from Never Lunch to Always Lunch. Part of the reason I’m bad at lunch goals is I don’t have a habit loop. I don’t have a place. I buy kid lunchbox food, but I forget about it for me. I am unwilling to spend $20 a day for salad. I have to consciously consider what I want for lunch every day, which takes up mental space. Just writing this gave me lunch overwhelm.
It’s the same when we try to go from where we are today to something a lot more advanced. Resolutions usually involve a leap, and that leap takes us right off a cliff.
I’ll help you avoid this situation. Here’s how…
Achieving your business goals without overwhelm
We start the year with lofty goals. Goals are easy to set, but implementing the steps to make them happen is hard. Here are three tips I tell my clients so they can stay motivated to reach their goals.
Tip #1: Be 10 percent better
We love to go big. But often, it’s better to walk before you run. Even if you’re in great shape, you can walk a lot longer than you can run. And it’s hard to fail at walking. So pick something with a high likelihood of success that you can achieve in a shorter period of time.
Focus on areas where small improvements add up. Ten percent higher checkout conversion. Ten percent better step conversion. Ten percent fewer customer service inquiries. Ten percent faster processes.
You might ask, is that even worth it when you have 2x, 3x, 4x revenue in mind? It’s hard to solve for a big leap. On the other hand, I bet you have several ideas for achievable ten-percent improvements. It’s a problem you can solve. Small improvements build your skills. You get wins, which encourages you to keep going. You collect data and get better at asking questions. And it’s easy to pick something and get started.
Tip #2: Go for smart wins
Is doubling your revenue the right goal? Are you asking how much it costs to generate that money? How much time, people, and stress? How will you deliver at that level?
Last year, I asked this question of a client. She wanted to increase revenue by 50% so she could pay herself more. But in looking at her projects, we were able to meet that goal, without additional sales, by increasing her unit margins by two percent. That’s two-dot-zero percent. What that meant was we found a way to spend less money to deliver the same quality at the same price. The solution cost us almost nothing and was a smarter way to deliver. It actually made her clients happier. And that was ultimately what increased her revenue, more profitably.
You don’t need to be bigger for the sake of being bigger, especially if you’ve self-funded your business. Look for ways to work smarter. Negotiate better pricing. Implement a referral program. Reduce your merchant fees. Improve your credit score. Find ways to get paid faster. Keep two percent more margin.
Identify the right goal by considering your end goal. Is there another way? This approach will help you grow sustainably and improve the overall health of your business.
Tip #3: Make the goal achievable
What’s your favorite food? Could you eat it every day? Exactly that thing, every day, forever? My guess is, no matter how much you love burritos, you might want something else from time to time. But my other guess is, if you set a goal of eating Chipotle 100 days a year, you could probably do it.
So what’s the difference? One goal is a blanket resolution: I will only eat burritos. It’s a chore. Burritos, again, always burritos. The other is more of a challenge with milestones: I will eat Chipotle for 100 days. That’s about 8 times a month. And you could build a pattern, a habit, around that. It’s your Monday and Friday thing. You eat two burritos a weekend.
If it’s something you have to do every day, it starts to feel like a chore. If it’s a periodic challenge, you want to win in the time allowed. So keep your goals fresh and progressive. Try to be five percent better in the first month. Try for five percent over that in the next month or quarter. Then go for 10 percent. But check with your doctor before you go for 100 days of burritos.
Strategies to restart when you’ve gone off track
If you find yourself off track, first of all, don’t panic, and please give yourself grace. We’re ambitious, we set big goals, and sometimes, we have setbacks and failures. These are invitations to learn and improve.
It’s natural to want to shame spiral. Forgive yourself. You tried something out of your comfort zone. Mistakes are a required part of meaningful change. Take what you can learn and keep going.
Also, ask for help. If you’re overwhelmed by feelings of how this could have happened, feel like you’ve failed, or just can’t quite get back on track, talk to someone. Start with a peer. I guarantee every entrepreneur has stories to tell that will make you feel better. If you’re laughing at your friend’s thing but still stuck on how to course correct operationally, ask a business pro. In my consulting, I check in on how and why you’re doing things. We put together a roadmap of what to do, month by month, to address those worries and insecurities and get back to doing.
