By Shelby Newsome

You’ve been saying that you’re ready to take your business more seriously and that you’re ready to take the next steps to do so. At the beginning of the year, maybe you set some goals for your business. You want to grow your online presence, increase sales, secure funding, or maybe something else.

No matter what goals you want to accomplish, setting goals in an effective way will give you a better chance of reaching and achieving your goals.

Goals? But why?

It has a lot to do with our brain. Setting goals will help trigger new behaviors, guide and focus your energy, and create momentum. When you vividly describe your goals AND write them down, the likelihood of you achieving them increases.

Writing down your goals helps you store that information in your long-term memory. Once you’ve written down your goals, you can post them somewhere you see everyday to review the and keep them top of mind. 

By setting goals and writing them down, you’re putting yourself in a space to take actionable steps with a guide to meet your goals. As you begin to make progress, you’ll gain momentum that will push you to want to accomplish more.

The first step is setting your goals. In this blog post, we’ve outlined a few methods and strategies that will help you get to where you want to go.

Get SMART with your Goals

There are a dozen ways you can set your goals. We think that one of the more effective strategies in goal setting is turning them into SMART goals. Let’s break down what SMART stands for. It’s an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Specific: Your goals shouldn’t be vague. Clearly define your goals so you know and understand what you’re trying to accomplish.

Measurable: Quantify your goal so you can track your progress. This will help you see how far you’ve come and where you need to go.

Achievable: You want to actually be able to reach your goal. Don’t set a goal that is too big because you may not be able to meet milestones. Try turning bigger goals into smaller goals to serve as a benchmark to meeting the overall goal. 

Relevant: If your goal doesn’t align with what you want to accomplish in your business, it’s not relevant. Think about the reason for your end goal – what do you really want to achieve?

Time-bound: Deadlines. Deadlines. Deadlines. They help get things done. Attach a target date to your goal. Make it realistic and know you may need to be flexible with this date, but use the deadline as a way to motivate yourself.

As you begin working on your SMART goals, write them out, making sure they’re specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. 

Here are a few examples of SMART goals:

I’m going to start a business by setting up an Etsy storefront for my jewelry (specific) with 10 products ready for sale (measurable) within the next 4-weeks (time-bound). This will allow me to turn my hobby into an actual business (relevant) and begin creating a customer base (achievable).

I want to grow my social media following (specific) by 5% (measureable) in the next 3 months (time-bound). I’ll do this by posting 2 times a day and engaging with my current audience and other users on the platforms (achievable). By increasing my following, I have a chance to showcase my products, share user-generated content, and convert my following into customers (relevant).

Find your People

You don’t have to do this by yourself. SEEN has built a network of over 55 entrepreneur service organizations in the Sandhills region that are here to help you. We want to help you find the right resources when you need them. 

Once you tell us a little bit about yourself, your business, and the goals you want to achieve, we’ll send you a Personal Action Plan with next steps you can take, along with real contacts in the Sandhills region that can help you. Oh, did we mention that this is free? Fill out this questionnaire to get started.

Find folks that will hold you accountable. These people could be your friends, family, or a mentor. We’re here to be your accountability partner, too! Check in regularly with your accountability partner and ask for help when you need it. 

Want to stay-in-the-know about events and other opportunities that can push you towards your goals? Sign up for The Snapshot – a SEEN newsletter with curated content that can help you build your business, sent right to your inbox. 
Building a business is hard, we get it, but we’re here to help. Set your goals and let us know how we can help. You got this!