New Year’s resolutions are not limited to personal growth but can also be made for business growth. If you’re an entrepreneur or business owner, you might have made New Year’s goals for your business in 2021. These would include milestones to achieve, clients to acquire, sales to make, etc. With the year coming to a close, it’s time to start thinking about resolutions for 2022, and this time you will find it easier to make realistic goals and stick to them.
The first step to making and keeping goals or resolutions is to write them down. Don’t commit them to memory or save them on a file on your computer. Take a pen and write down your goals. A study by Dr. Gail Matthews at the Dominican University in California showed that you are 62% more likely to achieve your goals just by writing them down.
Planners work great for setting and sticking to your business resolutions. Buy some planners, write your goals down, and keep them on your desk to read them often. If you want to really solidify your goals, print them on banners and hang them in your office to remind yourself to keep going.
Just like with personal goals, your business goals need to be realistic. For example, if you sold a thousand products in 2021, aiming for a 10% – 15% increase is realistic. Setting realistic goals will help you meet them.
One way to identify what is realistic is by breaking down your year into four quarters. Instead of targeting a goal annually, like selling 1,100 products in 2022, target smaller goals for each quarter, like selling 275 products each quarter. Together they still make the same goal, but selling 275 products at a time seems easier to achieve than focusing directly on the bigger number.
Achieving business goals, even for solopreneurs, depends on more than just yourself. You will need to factor in resources like software, people, and material that you will use for day-to-day operations. To know how many resources you can procure and use, you will need to know your yearly budget.
It is better to plan your finances in advance regardless of whether you’re making New Year’s resolutions or not. Factor in all expenditures you may need and check your business funds towards the end of 2021 to estimate your budget for 2022.
Dr. Gail Matthews’ study found that, in addition to writing down your goals, you are more likely to achieve your goals when you share them with a friend.
Telling someone you plan to achieve a goal motivates you to pursue it. Sharing your goals serves as a reminder that there’s someone to hold you accountable. Having an accountability partner is even more potent with business goals.
If this partner is someone you work with, they will push you to achieve your goals not just because they know you but also because of the business, and consequently, their success is tied to the success of the business.
Don’t wait till the end of 2022 to see where you stand with your goals. Track them every week – what you intended to achieve, how much you wanted to achieve, and how much you have. This will help you understand if you’re on track or if you need to up the ante.
Be realistic when you review your progress and performance. It’s ok to have a few off days or even some off weeks. The tracker will help you understand where and when you need to make adjustments.
Don’t hesitate to re-calibrate your goals if you feel you bit off more than you can chew, even if it is the middle of the year. It is better to revise your goals and achieve them than stress yourself out for not being on track and then beat yourself up for not achieving them at the end of the year.
Many situations that happen throughout the year will be out of your control, and you will not be able to foresee them going into the New Year. Covid-19, for example, is an event that no one had ever imagined would happen. However, businesses adapted and made necessary changes even with a global pandemic.
As the year progresses, track your progress and if you feel the resolutions you set were too big, revise them and make them achievable. Flexibility is a big factor for your progress, so stay open to making adjustments as needed.
Sharing business growth with your customers will build trust and support with your network. It will also remind them that they are with a growing brand, which will increase loyalty. Your customers are a part of your business journey, and when you know you have to share your success with them, you will take your resolutions more seriously.
Share company milestones on signs and banners so customers can see your progress throughout the year. This strategy is particularly effective for showing customers your progress with fundraising or community-centric goals. Remember to share important updates with your social media followers so everyone feels invested in helping you reach your goals.
Unlike with personal goals, achieving business goals depends on more than just yourself. The efficiency of your employees, contractors, freelancers, etc., will heavily impact your ability to meet your business resolutions for 2022.
That doesn’t mean you should take on everything yourself. You will need to delegate work that you don’t have to do to have time to complete tasks that only you can do. When you delegate correctly, not only will you get the outsourced work done on time, you will also have time to finish other work in tandem.
As the year draws to an end, it is time to let go of any missteps you might have taken in 2021 and recalibrate your mindset. The New Year brings new tidings and opportunities, and you are all set to harness that potential to scale new heights.
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