Need Content Strategy? You Need Goals 1st!
Goals
Goals are written statements of what is expected for your company, products and employees (if you have any). They are written for yearly, quarterly and monthly tracking. They are specific and time bound. They provide a clear view of what is expected from owners/CEO’s and on down the line.
How Do I decide on Goals?
They should match your objectives, provide specificity and convey a belief on their importance.
How do you want people to see or describe you in your space or niche?
You’ll need a detailed list of sub-goals to guide achievement. Those become your quarterly and monthly goals. Write down all the ideas you have, things you want to do, people you want to include, target audiences, personas, places you want to go – whatever is included in your ultimate dream.
What hurdles are in your way?
These are the things you can’t change, thing you can change and those you’re unsure of.
How Do I Start?
Take the ideas you’ve recorded and break them down. First the main goal, then the sub-goals. The main goal should answer the question – What is it that you have a passion to achieve? Now break that into smaller, more achievable components or sub-goals. These sub-goals should be prioritized and given a number in order of preference or accomplishment priority (one needs to be done before the next one can be done). These promote self-esteem and instant feedback that will keep you on task.
How Do I Manage Goal Achievement?
In your Business Journal. Reserve a section at the back of your journal for your plan. Include your mission, vision, objects and goals. Leave some space to make notes for hurdles and modifications.
Record Your Achievements in your Journal beginning with the start of developing your plan. I rewrite my goals and plan every November so I always know the start/end date of my year. I use this for Gratitude cards, recording financials, and taking inventory.
Put a calendar task reminder on your phone for quarterly reviews. What do you hope to achieve each quarter? How will you track those achievements? In your Business Journal. These quarterly goals help move progress along toward that annual goal. They keep you focused and give you the motivation to move forward.
What Do I Do With Last Years Goals?
Go back to that Business Journal entry and review what you chose for this past year. What worked and what didn’t work? And why. Write that information in your journal under the current date and include any unfinished projects/goals from this past year.
Decide what steps you need to take to complete those projects or a path to removing them from the plan. Include any unfinished tasks that were “big picture” items. Either revise them so they can be completed or remove them from your plan. If you let them “hang out” they’ll end up as hurdles, and enough hurdles arise on their own without us creating them.
Now write this years annual and quarterly goals. This should allow you to reverse engineer your finances to plan for monies to complete your goals. Need to know how to do that? We’ll cover that in a future post. If you’re in need of help now, sign up for a complimentary 30-minute consultation and we can get you started.
Next week’s post – “Last Minute Holiday Plan Adjustments”
Until then - - - - - -