Small Business Goals

Small business goals are critical for the business owner who wants to see their business grow and succeed. Goals are more than ideas or dreams, they provide precise direction.

Before You Set Goals for Your Small Business

When you followed the steps for starting a small business you were actually setting goals and taking the actions needed to achieve them. Now that you're business is up and running, it's time to set new goals. What specific goals you set for your small business will depend somewhat on the type of business you own or operate.

Where to Start

One reason people don't set goals is because they don't know where to start. Responsibilities can become overwhelming and you spend all your time dealing with small emergencies or the things that demand urgent attention and you lose site of the big picture. The thing is, when you learn how to set goals for your small business it helps keep you focused even when things get overwhelming.

Think It Through

The first thing you have to do, before you start to create your goals is to take time to think it through. You should step back from the busyness and consider the direction you want your company to take. Once you determine that, you'll want to set specific and attainable goals that work as stepping stones to get you heading in the direction you want to go. Take 30 minutes to an hour to think about the skills and assets you bring to the company, and while you're at it jot down both your qualities and deficits. This is only for your eyes, so be honest with yourself. This little exercise will help prepare you to set your small business goals with a clear reminder of your strengths and weaknesses, and should help generate new thinking and options.

The S-M-A-R-T Acronym

You may have heard of S-M-A-R-T goals. This acronym helps make it easy to remember how to set successful business goals when you get bogged down in the process. However, this won't help you if you haven't taken the time to determine the future direction of your company.

The SMART Acronym stands for:

S for Specific – Vague goals will not help you. What do you want? Be clear about it.

M for Measurable – Include a number or some other way to measure the success of your goal. For example, a vague profitability goal would be: Sell more units than last year. A specific goal would read something like: Sell 10 percent more units than last year.

A for Actionable – This goal requires you to take action in achieving your goals.

R for Realistic – This is just as important as action. If you set an unrealistic goal, you're setting yourself up for failure. However, you don't want to be so cautious that it stifles growth. Find the balance between the two. It's called realistic. Also take a good look at what has held you back in the past and be realistic about that too. It will help you see what needs to change as you plan the steps to change it.

T for Timebound – This requires you to wrap your goals within a schedule. This should help the procrastinator get to work, and also helps lay out a schedule for progress.

Where to Start

Now you know your strengths and weakness and how your business goals should be set up, but where do you start? Whether you are a sole proprietor or a small group, take the time to brainstorm. Take out a sheet of paper and spend at least 10 – 30 minutes writing down every idea you can think of for how to make your goals come true. Keep writing until you run out of ideas. After this you deserve a break, so get up have a glass of water or cup of coffee, and stretch your legs. Come back to the paper filled with your ideas, and write down some more. Don't worry about whether or not you think the idea is possible; just write it down. This is the time to let your dreams flow.

Using Your Goals List

Of course you won't be using every item on your list, but it's a great resource to get you started. Look over the ideas you've written down and choose 5 that you can accomplish within the week. Along with this, pick out 5 more long-term goals. For these long-term projects be sure to follow the S-M-A-R-T guidelines. This will help you develop a plan to take action.

Timeline

For your long-term projects, it's a good idea to create a timeline. This will allow you to break projects into smaller attainable steps and see that you really are making progress in the right direction. Using a timeline will help you stay on track in a measurable way. Be sure the mini-steps you set up to achieve the long-term goals are really doing the job. If not, take action and correct course. Don't stick with a plan if it doesn't work. The goal will remain the same, but the path to achieving it may transform along the way. The important factor is to keep your eyes fixed on the goal. Setting up milestones will give you a sense of accomplishment and renewed determination along the way.

Setting small business goals may seem like a daunting task, but following these simple steps provides the foundation to get you started and on your way to reaching the success you want to achieve for your small business.

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