It’s the first week of January, your sleeves are rolled up, messy bun in place, pencils sharpened, and your favorite notebook in your lap ready for some goal setting. You’re telling yourself, “This is going to be my year!”
And you really mean it… but then a year passes, and you’re in the exact same spot as you were last year.
Can you relate? If the answer is yes—it doesn’t have to be that way, friend.
Don’t worry, we know it’s not for lack of ambition. It can be tough to come up and FOLLOW THROUGH with a plan that’s actually going to move the needle in your business and change your life.
That’s where goal setting and business planning for entrepreneurs comes in.
We’ve got your back! Let’s hop right in.
FIRST STEP IN GOAL SETTING?
The first step toward goal setting? Reflection!
It’s time to roll up your sleeves and get (more) serious about your goals for 2020. Start by taking a step back and reflecting on the past year.
- Overall, how do you feel about 2019?
- What were some big wins or highlights throughout the year?
- How about the lows? What didn’t work for you last year?
GUT CHECK
All right, now that we’ve got the wheels turning… take 60 seconds and jot down a few things you’d like more and less of in your life in 2020.
This is a really quick and simple exercise so you don’t lose the “gut feeling” as we set your goals for the next year.
- This year, I’d like more of…
- And less of…
2019 BUSINESS ASSESSMENT FOR 2020 GOAL SETTING
Now that we’ve covered the lifestyle aspect, we’re going to get down to the nitty gritty of your business for proper goal setting. Let’s assess how 2019 went for you.
- What was your top-line revenue each month? How much of that did you take home?
- What drove revenue this month?
- Where were you focusing your marketing efforts this month? Is there anything you’d like to do better next year?
- Overall, what worked well in 2019?
- What didn’t?
LET’S TALK MONEY, HONEY
It’s crucial to have complete clarity around what you want your financials to look like a year from now, or you’ll be holding yourself back. Let’s “reverse engineer” the revenue you need to pull in and make sure that you’re getting those dollars into your jeans!
(This will be super easy if you download this workbook!)
- What’s your current take home pay?
- What is your goal take home pay a year from now?
- What’s the gap between those two numbers?
- What’s your current revenue?
- What is your goal revenue a year from now?
- And the gap?
Now let’s peep back into 2019 and see where those dollar bills actually came from.
- What drove the most revenue this year?
- Is scaling these products / services sustainable & bucket-filling for you?
- What do you love & hate about each of these revenue-generating offers?
- What generated the least revenue this year? Is it time to let go?
From there, we can gather a pretty solid idea of where we should be focusing our efforts in 2020!
- What are your 2020 products & services?
- Price?
- How many sales do you want to make?
- What’s your revenue / take home pay estimate? Does this line up with your goal revenue?
CAST A VISION
How we spend our days is how we spend our lives. But here’s the thing—it changes overtime, but not usually in big leaps and bounds. Tiny habits run everything and have the ability to change the trajectory of your entire life.
- Envision your life a year from now. What does a perfect workday look like for you? What about a perfect weekend? Who’s with you, where are you, and what are you doing? The more detailed, the better.
- Compare your perfect day with a typical day today – you’ll be able to spot small habits that you can start instilling today to get yourself closer to your Perfect Day. (Start small, and work your way up!)
PERSONAL AND SMALL BUSINESS GOAL SETTING
You know what worked for you and what didn’t. You know what you want your life to look like. So let’s set some goals!
Time for a brain dump! You’re ambitious, we know, and we’re really in goal setting mode now—so let’s write down every single goal that pops into your brain in the next five minutes.
What do you want to accomplish this year?
Pro tip: Categorize your goals: health, finances, business, lifestyle, personal or spiritual development, contribution, and relationships.
MAKE IT HAPPEN
Time to edit your list into something a little more manageable! You probably noticed some overlap as you were jotting down your goals. Let’s refine that list into a few big goals for 2020.
Narrowing your focus is what’s going to get you BIG results this year! (It’s like they say… how do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time.)
Remember to make your goals SMART – specific, measurable, actionable, realistic, and time bound.
Example of a goal that’s not SMART: Start blogging. Get in shape.
Example of a SMART goal: I will increase my annual revenue by $25,000 by December 2020. I will host 50 episodes of my podcast by December 2020.
All right! You have your goals! That’s ALREADY a huge step in the right direction.
Set Yourself Up for Success
But now, it’s time to set yourself up for success.
This is where the rubber meets the pavement – download the worksheet and define action steps, milestones, and a timeline that’ll help you take your small business goal setting to the next level.
TIPS TO STAY ON TRACK
- Once you’ve wrapped this up, you can take it a step further and create a 90 -day action plan. We’ve given you a lot to chew on already, but here’s the gist:
- Which big goal(s) are you focusing on this quarter?
- Brainstorm every single action step that you’ll need to take to achieve your goals.
- Add ‘em to your calendar!
- CHECK IN every day, week, month to make sure you’re taking action.
- Find a friend or business acquaintance who’s happy to sit down once a month over coffee or wine to chat about goals. Even if you’re self motivated, having an extra layer of accountability is going to significantly increase your chances of success!
You get what you work for, not what you wish for and you’ve just taken huge strides into making that happen.
Cheers to making 2020 your best year yet!
