Our final of 3 ‘guidance for new entrepreneurs’ blogs looks at preparing S.M.A.R.T goals to help you gain the focus and motivation required for business growth.
2019, it’s here already and, as with every new year, many will have set themselves personal resolutions, but what about your business resolutions?
Perhaps, for whatever reason, you procrastinated in 2018 and...
- Didn’t take that leap and enter into a new business market / sector when the opportunity arose
- Chose not to approach that potential customer when you were at a networking event
- Didn’t take the opportunity to look at new methods of marketing your business and value proposition thereby boosting your brand profile
- Kept putting off investing in your teams’ skills and confidence by, for example, not encouraging them to attend networking events or paying for them to attend courses
- Recognised the changing business climate, but you stuck with the same business strategy which you’ve used for several years
Only you can make the decision to take control of your business and decide now is the time to aim higher and set some challenging business goals that will support your business growth and success in 2019.
Without business goals how do you know:
- What activities you need to prioritise?
- The resources you need?
- What customers or business sectors you should be targeting?
- The best way of marketing your business to appeal to your target customers?
- The new skills / team members you may need within your business?
When setting your goals it’s important that each one is clear and achievable. There’s no point setting a goal that you have to explain time and time again and that ultimately isn’t achievable. To avoid this, it’s important that each of your goals are SMART. There are a range of definitions for each of the letters in SMART, but we particularly like these:
- Specific – Keep it clear and concise so you know how to resource it
- Measurable – If you can’t measure it, you won’t know you’ve achieved it
- Achievable – There’s no benefit in setting an unrealistic goal that can’t be achieved
- Relevant – The goal should bring a positive impact to your business
- Time bound – Have a target date to focus your effort
The SMART philosophy is a very effective and simple tool that can be used by everyone in their business to help deliver clarity, focus and motivation.
Don’t listen to the pessimists around you who are content with where they are if you want to aim higher. Have the confidence to push forward. Surround yourself and engage with constructive and positive people who can help you on your new path in 2019.
There is no time like the present. If you would like to talk about your business growth aspirations for 2019 and beyond, please get in touch.
Contact us at info@pinnacle-ni.com.
Read more about the business growth services Pinnacle offer HERE