What is success in business?
That’s up to you! Success in business is different for everyone based on what their goals might be. They could be financial, personal, or both! As a business mentor, I feel this is important to talk about.
It’s important that we don’t judge what people are trying to achieve or working towards, as the idea of success is totally subjective, each individual will see it as something different. For example, a win for you might be to achieve a certain amount of revenue within your first year in business, but for someone else, it could be simply becoming more independent, not necessarily just financially, but personally as well.
Let’s go into this in a bit more depth…
Some examples of financial goals include;
- Paying off debt e.g. student loans
- Earning a desired amount of revenue in a year
- Becoming financially stable
- Building up emergency funds
- Financially supporting loved ones
Some examples of personal goals include;
- Becoming self employed
- Improving mental health/reducing stress
- Becoming more independent
- Focusing on self care
- Learning to say no when needed
Setting realistic goals…
The way in which you set your goals and implement the actions to achieve these is key. The best thing to do is write down all your goals and organize them into short term, mid-term, and long term… When setting your goals, remember the acronym SMART.
Specific – make sure your goals are specific to what you want to achieve, the more specific the better!
Measureable – ensuring your goals are measurable means you can easily keep track of them.
Achievable – make sure these goals are realistic; don’t set goals you don’t think could actually be achieved within your time frames.
Relevant – setting goals is only going to be helpful if they’re actually relevant to what you’re doing/what industry you’re in!
Timely – are your goals realistic to your time frame?
How should I write out my goals?
How I usually teach people to set out there goals is by coming up with a 1 year plan, 3 year plan, and 5 year plan.
Start by setting one main GOAL that you want to achieve within 1 year, then one within 3 years, and then the same for your 5 year plan. So, a main goal for your 1 year plan may be to make enough money to pay off any debt.
Next you need to break down each main goal into 3 TARGETS, which are like smaller goals you would need to hit to be able to achieve your main goal. So, if your main goal was to earn enough to pay off your debt, one of your targets could be to build your social media presence and increase your engagement.
Finally, TAKE ACTION! Break down each of those targets into 3 ACTIONS that you need to complete to hit those targets. To build your social media presence, one of your actions may be to create a posting schedule, to ensure you’re delivering consistent content to your audience, leading to higher engagement.
You can download the strategy template I made here.
Remember, success means something different for everyone! Make sure your goals are appropriate to what YOU want to achieve, and what you see success as.
Why structuring your goals is essential…
Writing down your goals is important. It helps you massively keep track of what you’re trying to achieve, when you want to achieve it by, and also help implement organized plans on how to do it. Think about it, if you’re just starting up your business and your first goal is to make six figures in within your first year, that’s great! But what actions are you going to take to help you get to this point?
Sticking with building your social media presence as an example, if your brand and reputation isn’t building online or anywhere for that matter, less people will have heard of you and your business, making it much less likely for you to be able to achieve your bigger aspirations. This is why it’s so important to break down your goals into smaller targets, and then into physical actions.
It’s also about moral and motivation. You’re not going to be helping yourself if you set goals that are unrealistic. If you don’t end up achieving these within your time frame, it can be disheartening, trust me, I know! Having a clear mapped out vision is going to help you keep a logical head if things aren’t going as planned. This will further allow you to overcome any barriers strategically. If you’re taking action and implementing what you need to, it’s going to keep your moral higher. It’ll keep you motivated! As you smash your targets even more you’ll get to a place where your bigger goals are way more attainable as you and your business grow.
Keeping track…
As you keep track of your goals, and as you start noticing amazing changes, it’s going to push you to keep striving to reach those aspirations! Take it from me, as someone with three businesses, and twelve years of experience, the feeling when all your hard work pays off is really something! I hope to see you feel the same too!
It’s okay if you can’t immediately figure out exactly what you want, or what you’re trying to achieve, that’s natural! But it’s important to make sure you have a clear vision before you making too many business decisions.
‘Whatever our dreams, they’re an important part of our identities’ – Jo Bevilacqua, No Longer Last on the List.
So you see? Following this process has so many benefits; it’s certainly something I’ve always done and hopefully now you too!
If you’d like to read more on this, check out my blog on what success means in 2021!
