Why setting specific goals are an important tool in your business journey

There are a lot of tools we need to learn as new entrepreneurs, and some of the most important are setting goals and keeping deadlines. These are some of the things, along with in time learning, that will help you get going and form your business faster. In time learning, I will write about in another post. Today is all about setting goals and why it is important.

For other tools and resources look at my resources page.

Setting goals can work for both the big and the smaller things. One to get going with your business and motivating yourself to get things done. The small goals, or subgoals you set for yourself can help you realise just how much stuff you can actually get done in no time at all. The big goals will help you set the direction for your business, and help you priorities your time and energy – Read more about making the most of your time in this post here.

How I use goal setting

I use goal setting a lot, both in my business and in my personal life. Sometimes I succeed with reaching my goals, sometimes I don’t, the thing is that when I do, I have always used a version of the model I’ll share with you in a bit.

Some of the goals I have reach using this model are:

Writing, and selfpublishing a book
Selling 103 copies of that book in preorder
Raising 10,582 USD (70.000 DKK) for the Danish Scleroses society
Writing my blogposts

Do SMARTER

The model I am talking about here is the SMARTER model – you might have heard about the SMART model, but Henrik Wenøe, did a small change, and added a ER to the model – This in my opinion makes the model even more valuable, and for both my book and my charity goal, it came in very handy.

The SMARTER model

Specific

Your goal need to be specific. If you want to be successful in your business, this is not specific enough, you need to define, what does successful mean to you is it earning x amount of money each month, or is it to be able to send your kind to private school, or maybe to be able to educate yourself each month with a course, and what type of course.

Measurable

You need to be able to measure your goal, that way you know when you have reached the goal. This could be earning 10.000 USD a month, or saving x USD a month for your kids school fond.

And remember – Always celebrate an achieved goal.

Achievable

Its nees to be something that you can actually achieve, ask yourself how you can actually achieve it

Relevant

Is it actually relevant for the situation you are in, and is it the right time to do it?

If you are starting your own business, and I assume you are because you are reading this, then making a goal of building a swimming pool in your garden is probably not that relevant. But making a goal of writing 30 minutes everyday on your blog, or you book, can be very relevant.

Time bound

When do you want to reach your goal?

You need to be specific with a date, and for smaller goals maybe even a specific time of day. If you say I need to finish my website in 2 months, it is easy to push the deadline, however, if you say that you need to finish your website by the 2nd of September 2020, its much more motivating and easier to plan around.

Ethical

Is the goal you are setting up ethical, both in general, but also for the people around you, and for your own life and other projects you are working on. If you need to allocate so much time to work on your goal, that you don’t see your kids, it might not be ethical in regards to you family. Or maybe it is taking up the time where you are suppose to take care of yourself, or be sleeping – Then it might not be worth it.

Reassess

And then the last R. Everthing is a process, and instead of just dropping everthing, if it does not fit into the goal, or if you missed a deadline, maybe it’s time to reassess the goal, and make it fit your circumstances. You should not reassess lightly, and everyday, but it is a good idea to keep track, and see how everything fits.

Like I wrote above, I did this with the goal of raising money for the Danish Scleroses society. When I started out the goal was to raise 1500 USD. This I reached pretty fast, so instead of just sitting back and relaxing, I raised the bar, to 15000 USD. As we got closer to the deadline however I was not able to make this happen, so I ended up lowering the goal to 10500 USD.

This is a good example of why it’s a good idea to have the reassessment of your goals in mind. If I had not had that, I would just have stopped at the 1500 USD, as I had reached my goal. On the other hand I would have been massively disappointed not reaching the 15000 USD, but this goal still helped me aim high. Setting your goals too high is a whole other blogpost in and of itself.

From goal to plan to action

By setting goals, you have a basis for creating a plan, with a plan you know what to do when, which is one of the most important things when starting your business.

Use the SMARTER model above to set your goals, and if you want a more detailed guide on how to plan and start your business, you can download my guide 7 Steps to Plan and Start Your Business right here.

The benefits of having a paid accountability partner

There are some benefits of having a paid accountability partner. When teaming up with a friend, it might be hard to get valid feedback on ideas or projects you are working on, and there is always the risk of it being more small talk and less accountability. So this can end up being really time consuming, and not as productive business-wise. Also the friend needs to be as motivated as you for this to work.

The same goes for choosing another business partner where you help each other out, you need to be equally motivated, and you need to value each of your businesses equally.

With a paid accountability partner, YOU are the focal point. All the time is focused on helping you plan and work on your business, and creating your dream business and dream life.
You do not need to spend time and energy on someone else’s goals or business. Time you could otherwise be spending working on your own business and towards making it a great opportunity for you.

If you are thinking of working with a professional accountability partner, feel free to write me to book a free 30 minute call, to see if I can help you.

When working with me, you get a mentor kind of approach, where I always do my best to guide you and help you along the way. I am very direct and call things as I see them – But I do it with love, and to help you drive your business as far as possible in the right direction within the shortest amount of time.

Always remember – Have fun and Get Shit Done!

Diana Lund