Setting Your Goals for 2018
Episode 154: Show Notes
2018 is right around the corner and if you’re feeling flustered about all the things you want to do and achieve, this episode is here to help. Today, we are talking about goal setting. We look at the importance of reflection in being able to move forward and why you need to analyze what worked and what didn’t for 2017 to help pave the way to a more successful 2018. We also take a look at how you can set attainable goals, identify your money strategy and the value of being SMART.
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Entrepreneurs often veer away from their goals if they haven’t been clearly set. This results in them spending time on tasks that aren’t going to generate them any income or help them achieve their goal. We want to ensure you are setting the right goals to grow and scale your business effectively and this episode is here to remind you that if you break your big dreams down into day-to-day tasks, they can be achieved! Start off your 2018 with a bang by listening to this episode for actionable steps toward your own attainable goals.
Looking Back Before Moving Forward: The Importance of Reflection
Reflection is a huge component of goal setting. You have to look backward in order to move forward! There is no way for you to be able to set new goals or even reach them without reflecting on what has worked for you this year. So take a look back at 2017. What were your numbers? Do you really know what your growth was like on all your channels? Which products were thriving and which were flopping? How many customers do you have? These are the sorts of things you need to be looking closely at to arm and prepare you for next year. Outside of the data, you also need to reflect on what you enjoyed doing this year. What things do you want to try more of? What way of working did you truly enjoy and truly hate? What could have helped you more in 2017? The answers to these questions need to start meshing into your goals for 2018.
Identifying What You Need To Survive, Financially
Now that you have all of this data, first and foremost, let’s talk money, honey. Regardless of your financial situation, we want you to put yourself on a budget. What do you need to survive? What is the bare minimum and what do you need to plan for financially? You need to separate your needs and wants into two categories and work out what amount needs to be coming into your household in order to live. Once you’re looking at those numbers, we want you to be picking strategies to help you reach those goals.
What Exactly Is Your Money-Making Strategy?
If you are not picking money-making strategies, you are going to go out of business. What that means is – creating a shit-load of products, just for the sake of having options, is not a money-making strategy. Marketing the one product that sells really well is a money-making strategy. What are the things that are going to get put out the door and get in front of people’s eyeballs in order for them to say, “Yes, I will buy it from you”. We don’t want you to fill yourself with fluff. For example, perfecting the appearance of your feed is not a money-making strategy. Money-making strategies are things that are going to make you an immediate return on investment. It’s easy to get caught up in shiny details, but we want you to make money your number one focus, especially if you are trying to set goals and don’t know where to start. Take the X amount you need and multiply it by two. That’s a pretty good financial goal to have if you don’t know where to start.
Setting Your Subscriber Goals
Now that you have your financial goal, we want you to think about your subscribers and set your subscriber goal. How many people bought your product and how many people do you have on your email list? Work out your average conversion rate as well as the average amount that your customers are spending. So you can look at your financial goal and work backward to get to your subscriber goal. If your subscriber goal seems really out of reach, perhaps you flip-flop it to, “I’m going to increase the average subscriber spend to X.”
Your Content Game Plan
So, how can you use your content to get people on your list? Whether it’s a blog, on Facebook or a live video, what is getting people to share? What is creating a community for you? Where are people participating? You need to figure out where your people are and show up there consistently. If you don’t have your content game-planner yet, that non-negotiable has to be a game plan for 2018. So what do you need to do in order to reach your content goal and increase those subscribers? It might be implementing some new systems. Maybe it’s hiring or outsourcing. Maybe it’s even launching your own website. We need you to get definite about what you need to do to achieve these goals.
Why SMART Goals Are Our Favorite Way To Make Goals
Anyone who has been successful in reaching a goal has set it up in this way. A SMART goal is essentially this: The ‘S’ stands for Specific. You cannot just say, “I want to grow.” That is not specific. What do you want to grow? Put a number on it. That’s specific. The ‘M’ stands for Measurable. Is your goal measurable? The ‘A’ is for Attainable. You might not know if your goal is attainable at the get-go. It might seem like a bit of a stretch and you might fall really short of that but you need to set a goal that appears to be attainable. For example, it is highly likely that you are not going to go from $0 to one hundred million dollars in a month. The ‘R’ stands for Relevancy. Does this goal ultimately affect your business and move it forward? Is it going to reach your people? Is it going to get you the results that you need? The ‘T’ stands for Timely. You can’t reach you set goal tomorrow. You have to give yourself a realistic amount of time. Be SMART!
Breaking Big Dreams Down Into Day-To-Day Tasks
For the first 90 days of the year, we want you to take your first-quarter goal and break it down into six steps. One of the reasons why businesses often fail is because something happens and they change course, forgetting the goal and everything they’ve learned. You need to create consistency and create habits. So if one of your goal-reaching tasks was to write a blog post every week, don’t stop doing that once your audience numbers have been reached. Keep at it! When you are initially planning your goal out, it might seem overwhelming but you once you’ve broken everything down to a point where you’re only looking at what you need to accomplish today – it is so much more manageable. So schedule it out, break it down and know you are going to have an amazing 2018!
Quote This
If you are not picking strategies that are money-making strategies, you are going to go out of business.
Highlights
Looking back before moving forward: the importance of reflection. [0:03:30.6]
Identifying what you need to survive financially. [0:06:30.1]
Finding out what exactly is your money-making strategy? [0:08:30.1]
Setting your subscriber goals. [0:13:00.1]
What is your content game plan? [0:14:30.1]
Why SMART goals are our favorite way to make goals. [0:21:05.1]
Breaking big dreams down into day-to-day tasks. [0:33:40.1]
ON TODAY’S SHOW
Abagail & Emylee
The Strategy Hour Podcast
We help overwhelmed and creative entrepreneurs break down their Oprah-sized dreams to create a functioning command center to tame the chaos of their business. Basically, we think you’re totally bomb diggity, we’re about to uplevel the shiz out of your business.
KEY TOPICS
2018 goals, SMART goals, How to set goals, Business goals, Setting realistic goals
