This is the time of year when we all set goals with every intention of achieving as many as we can. We tell ourselves that this year will be different from last year and we won’t make the same mistakes again, that we’ve learned from our errors.
We may or may not start with imagining what our business will look like at the end of five years, ten years or even one year!
Imagining or having ideas doesn’t necessarily make them happen! Goals do! Actions do!
We do however have to ensure our goals are SMART (specific, measurable, actionable relevant and timely).
Vision – We need to have an idea or concept of what our business dream is; what might the ‘end’ product be; what will the business look like when fully mature. To have this clear in our minds is a good way to start as this gives us direction for our goals.
Goal – We need to be clear what our objective is; what our aim or purpose is. These need to be SMART so they are achievable. Once we have these in place for the year, our ‘road map’ is complete, with clear direction. Often having something that is visual helps imprint this in our minds.
Action – From our goals we need to set out small steps or actions. These activities or tasks are daily or weekly to enable us to keep on track with the aim of preventing us of drifting off from the direction we’re heading in.
Here are some areas in your business you can use to focus on for 2020:
Business Development – This is probably the most important one, and covers just about everything from branding, marketing, social media, website and much more. We need to split this down as much as we can so the areas are smaller and in manageable bites. Prioritising these is also a good idea so we can see what areas we need to focus on more than others for 2020 – financially and timewise.
Personal Development – It is always hard to determine how much we should or need to invest in ourselves financially to keep abreast of technology or other areas to help us in our business, however, determining a training needs analysis for ourselves can help with this before deciding if and when any money should be spent on this area.
Balancing the two developmental areas of our business into vision, goals and actions for 2020 will help you start off on the right foot to enable you to achieve what you want for the year.
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