Goal Setting: Beyond the Basics

At this point, you’ve probably come to realize that we love our goals – and everything about them. We love setting them, the journey through them, and checking them off as we set our sights on new ones!

In our original Goal Setting post, we briefly went over the types of goals we create (weekly, monthly, annually), and short- and long-term ones.

This time around, we wanted to dive a little deeper and help you identify what goals will help you maximize the rest of the year and also help propel you into 2022!

Let’s talk specifics. Really narrowing in on your goals, especially as an entrepreneur, is your best bet to achieve success. Goals such as “I want to make at least $5K a month” are much too vague and will likely frustrate you if you don’t achieve that.

What are you currently earning in a month? Is it realistic that you can earn $5K this (or next!) month? If not, that’s okay! If you’re currently earning around $1K or even $2K, set your sights on increasing either $500 or $1000 per month and work your way up (this obviously depends on your industry and you might very well be able to make a drastic increase in one month!)
List out the mini-goals that will help you achieve your big-picture goal. Essentially: what needs to happen for you to feel successful. For us, one of our major goals is to completely supplement corporate-world income. Even though we left that life a bunch of years ago and likely could have achieved this before (which we have, but then we took some time off – #MomLife and re-evaluated our clients and let some go), getting back to that steady, CONSISTENT income is in sight! But in order for us to achieve that, we have onboarded new (and returning!) clients, re-evaluated our services and pricing, and offered monthly retainers for our regular clients. So, many steps are involved in making this one goal happen. We’ll go more into that later about what those are.

Your goal may also be focused on selling a certain number of items, adding a certain number of clients, or even launching a new program or service. Either way, be realistic about it and don’t set such a high goal that you’re bound not to achieve it, but also high enough that you need to work for it. Success for a tough goal is much sweeter!

One major part of goal setting though, and this article by Entrepreneur.com explains it best, is being truly honest with yourself. Beginning a business with a clear vision of your goals is the best way to set yourself up for success.

“Any good goal has a timetable, and that timetable will influence your actions profoundly.” – Entrepreneur.com

So let’s take some of my goals into the spotlight. When first starting my business, there were a few that were my “most important” and some that were “not as important, but still important“.

Be able to stay home and raise Remi. This was important on many levels, as Remi has a handful of medical complications which meant lots of appointments, therapies, etc. It was better for everyone if I had that flexibility in my schedule so that I could provide her with whatever she needed. CHECK! I was able to stay home with her for 3.5 years before sending her to daycare, as her appointment schedule has calmed enough that it’s not more work to be continuously running from appointment to appointment then dropping her off at daycare. (Plus, if you’ve been around a threenager long enough, it’s a jump for joy when it’s finally time for daycare!)
I wanted to supplement my previous corporate income. For some reason I had it in my head that my success as an entrepreneur meant that I had to make at least, if not more, than what I was making working a 9-5. Is this necessarily true? No. Is it a great milestone to measure financials (sort of… but not really). CHECK! UNCHECK! CHECK! I think you get where I’m going with this – income is especially fluid in this type of work and when I needed to scale back a bit to focus more heavily on Remi when she was around 2 years old, obviously my income went down. I cut ties with 3 clients and drastically scaled back my work schedule, but making sure I didn’t completely burn my business down. But it’s what I needed to do and my clients understood that – and I’m very grateful that they did. Fast-forward 1.5 years and I’ve just restarted with one, ramped up another, and scaling another on a daily basis! I have clients that I LOVE that are helping me increase my monthly revenue; essentially checking this one off (again!) for me.
I wanted to design my own schedule. This was another huge one for me, as I wanted the flexibility to be able to run errands, read, go for a walk – do whatever I wanted, when I wanted. There’s absolutely some structure needed being an entrepreneur, and I think most of us have experimented with the “how much work do I really need to do today?” Chances are, sometimes it’s worked out and you can have a great day doing whatever, and then chances are that you also had one or two of those “oh shit I missed a deadline/meeting!” It’s bound to happen, but it better not happen often. Designing your ideal life and schedule is not about doing nothing or totally dropping the ball for your clients. It’s about creating some structure so that you can ENJOY some time freedom while still showing up for your clients. I like to look at my week near the start and dedicate a morning or afternoon on a day where it looks to fit and block that out for my “freedom reward time”. What I do with that time is up to me, but it is dedicated non-work time and I let my clients know. Then there is no expectation that you’re available and you’re able to enjoy it without wondering what’s in your inbox when you return.

Setting smart, honest, realistic, and ACHIEVABLE goals is a great way to begin your business. It’s also a great way to re-evaluate where you are currently at in your business and if you are needing to make any changes. We don’t become entrepreneurs to be like everyone else or work like everyone else. We typically enter this world to set our own standards, design our own life, and make our own rules.

Don’t be like everyone else – set your goals high and your standards higher.