These 13 Founders Share Their Number 1 Piece of Advice to Help You Set and Achieve Your Business Goals

From time management tips to shifting your energy these founders share their go-to business tips to help you thrive in 2023.

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By Jessica Abo

If your business needs a boost, these founders share their number one piece of advice to help you set and reach your goals this year.

1. Alicia Underwood, Founder and Principal l Strategist, TwentyThree, LLC

"TwentyThree, LLC is a strategy-driven digital communications studio. My goals are to strategize your digital marketing plan, create systems to streamline your campaigns and analyze your data, so you're empowered and well-informed when launching your next plan. My one piece of advice when it comes to setting and reaching your business goals is to create a process. Whether it's for production or marketing, a streamlined process will ensure that the wheels in your business are turning in the right direction."

2. Nailah Queen, Founder and CEO, Regally Insane Hair & Body Health Line

"Regally insane is a hair and body wellness line that protects you from your crown to the ground. We help restore healthy hair and give you body wellness options that you can take on the go that won't disrupt your daily routines. One piece of advice that I can give you to help you set and reach your business goals is to set SMART goals. With SMART goals, I mean specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and timely goals. This framework helps ensure that you achieve your goals."

3. Sarah Jansel, Founder and CEO, Jansel & Co.

"Jansel & Co is a boutique agency built to help clients build awesome websites on Shopify or Kajabi so they can focus on their business and sell more of their offerings. My advice is to find a coach or a community who can keep you on target, hold you accountable and help you grow your network in the areas that you're striving for."

4. Yesenia Reinoso, Founder and Digital Marketing and Media Relations Officer, Y Communicate

"Y Communicate is a communications & PR organization aimed to help clients establish and maximize their identity, reputation and identity through in-house corporate communications. In order to set and achieve your goals take things one day at a time — baby steps. The reason is, when you focus on one or two core areas, you'll be able to concentrate more attentively, formulate it to perfection and have greater flexibility when multitasking across the spectrum of divisions."

5. Melissa Lohrer, Founder, Waverly Ave

"Waverly Ave is a coaching and consulting business focused on driving growth for agencies and their leaders. My advice is to have a core focus and really go all in on it. Find that sweet spot that's a combination of your passion and your strengths and align all the areas of your business to it, from your hiring practices to your technology, to your marketing strategy."

6. Ashley Nickelsen, Founder and Chief Snack Officer, B.T.R NATION

"B.T.R. NATION is on a mission to unjunk the junk food industry. They take on-the-go snacks you'd find in a typical vending machine and give them a much-needed upgrade. Low in sugar & made with seriously clean ingredients to nourish your body, mind, and taste buds. My number one piece of advice is to tell your story. Share your why. Not only will it keep you aligned with your mission, but it will help you reach your target customer in an authentic and cost-effective manner."

7. Corene Phelps, Founder, Corene Phelps

"I run a high-performance business coaching and consulting company that uses innovative practices to help women build wildly successful businesses and careers without sacrificing health and happiness. I want you to look at your goals, and I want you to write down all of the reasons why you don't want to hit them. Now, I know this sounds crazy, but we often have this conflicted split energy around our goals, and that's the thing that sabotages us and holds us back from hitting them."

8. Summer Lee, Founder, Spark Talent Group

"Spark Talent Group is a leading influencer marketing and talent agency that serves top-tier digital creators, influencers, and tastemakers. We allow creators to stay creative by managing all back-end administrative tasks, brand partnerships and advising on channel growth and strategy. The biggest piece of advice that I have for other entrepreneurs is to try things and fail fast."

9. Dana Paskalis, Founder, Life Reset Labs

"Life Reset Labs create experiences that empower individuals to be strong leaders in their personal and professional lives, through community and connection. Our vision is to support transformational change for organizations and individuals, one experience at a time. The best advice I've been given is to always ask. Regardless of the answer or the outcome, when you ask for what you want, the possibility will always be there to hear yes, versus never knowing what you could have achieved."

10. Estani Frizzell, Founder and Creator, The Unique Beak

I teach vocal and music production along with school workshops about self-reliance and self-confidence through our book series, "The Unique Beak". I aim to empower, educate, and inspire kids and adults alike in reaching their highest potential through creative arts. The best advice I've ever received to help me set and achieve my business goals is to write a to-do list every day and get at least one of those items on the to-do list done. It'll help you not put so much pressure on yourself and reach that bigger picture of your ideal business model."

11. Reda Hicks, Founder, Nexus Consulting, LLC

"Nexus Consulting, LLC helps businesses fix what's broken and imagine what's possible for their organizations. The best I ever received about achieving goals is to focus on the increment. It's good to have really big goals, but breaking them down into small, tangible actionable pieces that you can keep track of over time, not only helps you make progress that you can really see but also reminds you to celebrate the small wins."

12. Meg Clarke, Founder, Clapping Dog Media

"Clapping Dog Media helps online businesses get found by Google and increase their organic reach. The number one piece of advice that has helped me reach my business goal is to keep on keeping on. We have bad days, we have bad weeks, bad months even, but the ability to get back up, start again, and meet each day with a fresh new perspective has really helped me."

13. Caitlin Meister, Founding Director, The Greer Meister Group

"The Greer Meister Group is a private tutoring and educational consulting practice whose mission is to bring evidence-based, strengths-based, neurodiversity-affirming practices to students, families, schools and organizations. My number one piece of advice about setting and achieving your business goals is to think in actionable increments. Sometimes we have a tendency to set a very large goal without thinking about the steps we need to take to get there. So what I want you to do is think of that very first step that you can take today that will get you closer to achieving your goal."

Jessica Abo

Entrepreneur Staff

Media Trainer, Keynote Speaker, and Author

JESSICA ABO is a media trainer, keynote speaker, and bestselling author who uses her 20+ years of TV news experience to help entrepreneurs, C-Suite executives, celebrities, and philanthropists share their stories with the world. An award-winning journalist, Jessica has presented all over the country including at TEDx, Facebook, Microsoft, Delta Airlines, WW, and the United Nations. She has appeared on The TODAY Show, ABC News, Access Hollywood, KTLA, CBS, and NY1 and in Forbes, Fast Company, and Women's Health.  Her debut book Unfiltered: How To Be As Happy As You Look On Social Media sold out on its first day and empowers readers with tools they can use to take back their happiness IRL (in real life).

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