Join Dave Crenshaw for an in-depth discussion in this video Simplifying the goal-setting process, part of Small Business Secrets.
- Setting goals and achieving goals is a critical part of your success in small business, but sometimes this can be confusing for entrepreneurs. You're not quite sure where to start, or how big you should dream. It can also be discouraging because you may be setting goals repeatedly, but not accomplishing them. This is a concept that I go into deeper in my course here on Lynda on Achieving Your Goals. The idea here is I'm just going to summarize that into a bite-sized chunk for busy entrepreneurs like you.
The goal we want from this is to help you make progress over time. First step in accomplishing goals is to create a vision. This is often what people think of when they set a goal. It's the big picture. It's something that you're striving for. You're like Walt Disney dreaming about Disneyland. Every great company started with a visionary like you having a big vision for the future. Even Lynda started that way. Just for example's sake, let's say that our big goal for the next year is we want to make $100,000 dollars, a $100,000 dollars increase in sales.
Let's take that to Step Two which is where we take that vision, and we break it into targets, small bite-size pieces that are more attainable. This is very important. Many people get discouraged by big goals because they're trying to accomplish too much over time. By breaking our targets down into small pieces that we can accomplish a moment at a time, that's actually very motivational, and very exciting. Let's take that target, and we're gonna break it first in half.
If we need $100,000 dollars in one year, then in six months we need a $50,000 dollar increase. Now we're going to break it again in half. So in three months we need a $25,000 dollar increase, and then we're going to break it a third time down into a month and a half where we need roughly a $12,000 dollar increase in sales. Now, in a month and a half, accomplishing a $12,000 dollar increase, that's pretty realistic.
That's something that we can stretch to attain. Number Three is process into actions. When I say process, I'm referring specifically to my What, When, Where Processing System. We're going to take that target, that $12,000 dollars in a month and a half, and ask ourselves the question, "What's the next step to attaining it?" Perhaps the next step is to create a marketing program, and to launch it. When are we going to do that? Well, we're going to do that in two weeks.
And, where? Well, that refers to where are the materials that we need in order to create that marketing program? What, When, Where takes a target, and now breaks it down into specific timely action. Now, Step Four, public. We want to make this commitment as public as we're comfortable making it. We want to tell employees. We want to tell friends. We want to tell family. The reason behind this is just psychologically speaking, when you make a commitment public, you are more likely to follow through on it.
That leads to Step Five which is accountability. This is a little bit more specific. Now we're going to go to a coach, or a mentor, someone who has a commitment to follow up with us and say, "I am going to hit $12,000 dollars "in a month and a half. "Will you follow up with me?" Then they'll set a reminder for themselves to follow up with you on that date. They may even set a reminder for themselves to follow up with you in two weeks when you release that marketing program. Keep in mind, our idea here is to take big, massive, visionary goals, and break them down into small bite-sized targets.
By taking a big vision, and breaking it down into small chunks, you can progress along the path to entrepreneurship, and feel great about what you're accomplishing.
Author
Updated
3/31/2015Released
4/15/2014Skill Level Intermediate
Duration
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Introduction
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Welcome48s
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1. Finding Your Most Valuable Customers
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2. Setting Fees and Prices
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3. Solving Problems
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4. Working with Family and Friends
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Managing family and friends2m 59s
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5. Creating a Business Plan
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6. Starting a Hobby Business
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7. Discovering Your Most Valuable Service or Product
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8. Bootstrapping Your Business
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9. Creating Culture
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Building company values2m 34s
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10. Getting Organized
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Managing your time4m 45s
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11. Marketing with Social Media
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Deciding on your channels3m 11s
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12. Business Entities and Compensation
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13. Small Business Accounting
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14. Finding Your Marketing Message
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Refining your message4m 56s
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15. Documenting Business Systems
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16. Balancing Work and Life
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17. Increasing Sales in Your Business
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Developing your sales system3m 15s
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18. Testing Whether You Have an Idea or a Business
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19. Hiring Service Providers
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Selecting and hiring vendors2m 51s
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20. Hiring Employees
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Crafting a job and pay range3m 58s
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Interviewing candidates7m 25s
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21. Motivating Employees
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Developing people and paths4m 24s
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22. Seeking Capital
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Crafting your pitch5m 40s
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23. Working With Difficult Customers
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Working through complaints6m 11s
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24. Letting Employees Go
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Making a smooth transition5m 58s
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25. Generating New Sales Leads
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26. Maintaining Focus as a Business Owner
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Avoiding opportunity traps5m 26s
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27. Thinking Like An Entrepreneur
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Getting rich your own way4m 16s
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28. Dealing with Competition in Business
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29. Avoiding Blind Spots
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30. Creating a Customer Experience
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31. Networking for Small Business
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32. Building Accountability into your Small Business Culture
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33. Dealing with Business Failures
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34. Improving Sales Systems
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35. Giving Back
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36. Setting Goals for Small Business
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Measuring your success3m 31s
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37. Channeling Your Motivation
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Why you deserve success3m 8s
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38. Building a Small Business Exit Strategy
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Exit strategy options5m 7s
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39. Building Customer Loyalty
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The role of customer loyalty3m 47s
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40. Building Employee Loyalty
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41. Structuring a Small Business
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42. Branding Your Small Business
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Crafting your company story3m 39s
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43. Dispelling Big-Business Illusions
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44. Understanding if Entrepreneurship Is Right for You
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45. Managing Remote Employees
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Leading from a distance3m 11s
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46. Crowdfunding Your Business
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Understanding crowdfunding3m 29s
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47. Cultivating Entrepreneurial Curiosity
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48. Growing into a Mature Business
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Putting it all together5m 50s
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Video: Simplifying the goal-setting process