6 Effective Strategies for Setting Goals as an Entrepreneur

A goal describes a final destination point that you desire to achieve. The practice of setting goals is an on-going process.Goal setting provides you the opportunity to measure your success. Goal setting helps you measure the criteria for how you spend your time and energy or certain activities.

As an entrepreneur, if you want to have a purposeful business, it is important that you clarify what you desire to achieve, know why it is important for the business and define an appropriate action plan. To ensure that you set the right goals for yourself and the growth of your business,  here are six strategies you can use to motivate you and your team to achieve set objectives:

1.  Make it Personal: When setting goal make it personal. The chances are that you will be more motivated to achieve goals that you have set for yourself. Your goals should be yours and something you desire to achieve and are willing to commit time and energy. Your goals should be a direct result of your business missions, vision, values, and desires. As an entrepreneur when you have a clear understanding of what you desire for your business and the vision you have for your brand. It is easier to clearly communicate your vision with your team members when it is personal to you.

Whatever you want to achieve, you need to think about it clearly and then write it down. Where do you see yourself or business in the future and how do you plan to get there. What changes do you need to make in your personal life or your business? What do you need to learn? What changes have to take place? The more clarity you get, the more you will be able to bring your vision into focus and make things happen.

2. Let Your Goal be SMART:  When setting goals for your business, popular studies say your goals should be SMART-Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timely. Another explanation for this acronym is this – when setting goals, it should be Situational, Motivating, Relevant, and Trackable. Goals that are SMART are clear and believable. Goals that are SMART are within our control and have a set time for completion.

It is important to set goals with specified timelines as this helps you know when to celebrate your achievements. When you have a deadline to meet up, your sense of urgency goes up, and you can achieve success faster.

3. Visualize your Goals: To ensure that you achieve success, it is important that you visualize. What will it be like after you have reached your goals? What will it be like if you can win more clients, be awarded that contract or how will it affect you and your team members if you can make more money for your business? Your ability to visualize will keep you motivated.

Being able to visualize helps you focus and work hard towards achieving your goals. One way to do this is to have a vision board. This vision board will contain a list of things, or pictures of things that will come after you and your team have achieved a set goal. Personally, a vision board could be a picture of something you will like to have once you reach your goal – the car you want to buy, the house you desire to live in, the school you want your children to attend and so on.

4. Have a Support Group: A support group is important as it can help you maintain focus. Your support group could be people who can and who will motivate and support you towards achieving your goals. It could be your family, friends, coach, co-workers or anyone around you with resources that you need to achieve success.

A support group could also be a group of like-minded professionals, friends who are also business owners like yourself. This type of support group will give you a more personal and holistic view of how you can grow your business.  This kind of group gives you a personal sense of belonging, as they are people who understand your challenges.

5. Reward Yourself: When setting goals – set them in stages. You should set operational goals that are small and easy to achieve. When you achieve progress towards your goals, reward yourself. What you decide to reward yourself with is entirely up to you. You can choose to buy yourself a gift or take yourself out to dinner.

Rewarding yourself for each stage of achieving your goals helps you stay motivated and in the long-run keeps you committed.

6. Evaluate and Adjust: The reality of goal setting is that situations may arise which may be beyond your control. This situation may be unforeseen circumstances. As entrepreneurs, you will need to continuously react to setbacks and changing trends in a proactive manner. Make adjustments to your goals where necessary. When things do not work out as you have planned, find out why and make appropriate changes. Sometimes your desires may also change, how this affects your long-term plans also needs to be evaluated.

When we set realistic goals for our business, it leads to a long-term vision and this vision will motivate you as an entrepreneur to lead your business towards the chosen direction.  Effective goal-setting makes your business a proactive entity instead of merely reacting to changing events and trends.