Goal Setting Is Fundamental To Small Business Success

Posted on October 20, 2010 by Nathan R Mitchell, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.

Small business owners and entrepreneurs must ask themselves these three questions often: “Where are we now, where do we want to be, and what is the best strategy for getting there?” As a small business owner, if you don’t know where you want to go, how the hell are you going to get there? This is why setting goals is so important in business and life! Unfortunately, it is estimated that less than 5% of people set goals, and less than 3% who do set them, review them on a regular basis.

Effective goal setting will ultimately help you focus on the things that are important to your business, while serving as a guide for your actions and your efforts on a daily basis. One of the most important things about goals is that it gives you something to measure your progress against, and will also help you identify those areas where things could be done a bit better, but you must follow these important steps when setting them. Goals must be:

-Specific
-Measurable
-Actionable
-Results-Oriented
-Time-based

Most business owners will set a goal for their business similar to this one: “This year our goal is to increase sales by 6%.” Although this is a great goal, the savvy goal-setter will dig deeper. For instance, once a goal has been established more questions need to be asked. Specifically, what actions are you going to take today, this week, this month, and this year to start making progress toward its achievement? At the end of the day, if you set goals without a game plan for achieving them, although your intentions are probably good, the goal setting process will ultimately prove futile.

It is also necessary that you evaluate your progress regularly, and reevaluate the actions you are taking. I recommend that this is done at least monthly! This is why it is so important that the goals you set for your business are driven by results. If a current strategy is not working, you must learn to identify new strategies and change your approach until the actions you are taking are working in your favor.

Albert Einstein was once quoted as saying, “The definition of insanity is doing the same things over and over again, and expecting a different result.”

Keep Winning!