Goal Setting is The Key to a Successful Business
If the first step on the path to running a legitimate successful business is, first and foremost, to avoid committing fraud when creating and operating a business, even unintentionally, and the second step is goal setting to support your vision.
Your goals may change as time goes on, but setting them early on is crucial to your success. According to Ken Collis, founder and CEO of TLK Fusion Marketing: “When you set goals, you start to create a roadmap of sorts that you’ll follow as time goes on. If you ever find yourself wondering what to do next – and there’s going to come a time when you will – analyzing where you’re at in terms of meeting your goals will help you determine where you’re at, and what you need to do next to continue on the path of achieving them.”
When you’re just starting out, you’ll want to keep your goals broad. For some folks, the goal of going into business for themselves is to be able to do the work they want when they want to do it. For others, it’s a pathway to financial freedom. Just because you’ve decided to go into business for yourself doesn’t mean you have to work long hours every day to keep your business running. “If your goal is to create an enterprise that will end up requiring as little input from you as possible because you want a lot of free time, then that’s something that needs to be determined at the beginning of your journey,” says Ken Collis.
At TLK Fusion Marketing, the importance of goal setting is never understated. When you set goals, you give yourself a framework to work within to help you achieve what it is you’re ultimately after. For example, a person whose goal is to be able to travel frequently and still be able to work while doing so, they’re going to need a business that can be run from portable devices like a laptop, smart phone, and tablet. The path that this individual needs to take to realize their dream will be very different from a person who loves to bake and wants to be able to do it all day, every day, and be able to make a living while doing so.
Setting your ultimate goal is easy; all you have to do is decide what it is you want out of your business and set that as your goal. The next step is setting several smaller goals that will lead you forward along the path to achieving your ultimate goal, and this can be a little more complicated. Ken Collis and his team at TLK Fusion Marketing have provided a few points that can make this part of the goal setting process a great deal easier.
Set Specific Goals
You need to be specific when you set a goal. If you want to open a bakery, for example, setting the simple goal of getting a storefront isn’t enough. You know in your mind what it is that you see when you imagine owning that business, let your goal reflect that. Where do you want the location to be? What kinds of customers do you want to serve? Is there any furniture inside? What types of treats are in the bakery case? Do you need a business loan? How much do you need? Things will move along much faster if you set a clear vision for what it is you want and then take steps toward making that vision a reality.
Balance Optimism with Realism
You’re going into business to make money (without committing fraud), and setting a goal regarding how much you’d like to make in a month or a year can be helpful. We’ve all heard the story about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs starting their businesses with nothing and becoming billionaires – but these results aren’t at all common. Instead of setting the unrealistic goal of making astronomical amounts of money from the get-go, set a realistic number instead. The amount of money you’ll need to pay your bills and live more-or-less comfortably is a good place to start. Once you’ve achieved something realistic, there’s nothing stopping you from raising the bar further. As a matter of fact, that brings us to our next point.
Continue to Set Larger Goals Once You Achieve Success
If your goal is to obtain a legitimate yearly income, meaning you’ll be very careful not to commit fraud, and you reach that goal, set another one with an even higher target. If your goal is to work fewer hours every week and maintain the same income and you reach it, then set another goal. As you continue to achieve and set new goals, it will both keep you focused on your business and provide you with direction.
