If you really want to make a success of your business, it’simportant to define your business goals, especially before you getstarted. For some people, the goal is the freedom to do what theywant when they want, without anyone telling them otherwise. Forothers, the goal is financial security.
Setting goals is an integral part of choosing the businessthat’s right for you. After all, if your business doesn’t meet yourpersonal goals, you probably won’t be happy waking up each morningand trying to make the business a success. Sooner or later, you’llstop putting forth the effort needed to make the concept work.
At its simplest, a goal is just something you aim for. But goalsare powerful contributors to successful business growth in severalways. To begin with, the process of setting goals forces you tothink through what you want from your business and how growthmay–or may not–provide that. This process helps suggestdirections for pursuing that growth, which can greatly improve yourchances of achieving your goals in the first place.
Goals also give you a framework within which to work. This tendsto focus your efforts by helping you rule out actions that won’tcontribute to achieving the goals you’ve set. A very important partof that framework is a timetable. Any good goal has a timetable,and that timetable will influence your actions profoundly. Whensetting goals, aim for the following qualities:
- Specificity. You have a better chance of achieving agoal if it’s specific. Raising capital isn’t a specific goal;raising $10,000 by July 1 is.
- Optimism. Be positive when you set your goals. Beingable to pay the bills isn’t exactly an inspirational goal.Achieving financial security phrases your goal in a more positivemanner, thus firing up your energy to attain it.
- Realism. If you set a goal to earn $100,000 a month whenyou’ve never earned that much in a year, that goal is unrealistic.Begin with small steps, such as increasing your monthly income by25 percent. Once your first goal is met, you can reach for largerones.
- Short and long term. Short-term goals are attainable ina period of weeks to a year. Long-term goals can be for five, 10 oreven 20 years; they should be substantially greater than short-termgoals but should still be realistic.
There are several factors to consider when setting goals:
- Income. Many entrepreneurs go into business to achievefinancial security. Consider how much money you want to make duringyour first year of operation and each year thereafter, up to fiveyears.
- Lifestyle. This includes areas such as travel, hours ofwork, investment of personal assets and geographic location. Areyou willing to travel extensively or to move? How many hours areyou willing to work? Which assets are you willing to risk?
- Type of work. When setting goals for type of work, youneed to determine whether you like working outdoors, in an office,with computers, on the phone, with lots of people, with childrenand so on.
- Ego gratification. Face it: Many people go into businessto satisfy their egos. Owning a business can be veryego-gratifying, especially if you’re in a business that’sconsidered glamorous or exciting. You need to decide how importantego gratification is to you and what business best fills thatneed.
The most important rule of goal-setting is honesty. Going intobusiness with your eyes wide open about your ultimate goals letsyou confront the decisions you’ll face with greater confidence anda greater chance of success.
