Setting goals: the Bradley Conn guide to getting it done

Feeling stuck or overwhelmed with where to take your business next? It happens to the best of us. Between the day-to-day hustle and all the noise around us, it’s easy to lose sight of what really matters. That’s where clear, focused goals come in.

 

1. now, where, how [and why]

Ahh, the dreaded ‘business plan’. Every business owner is told they should have one, but how many actually do?

If you search ‘Business Plan Template’ on google, you’re faced with a myriad of 10+ page documents that require you to articulate your goals and vision for the business, perform a ‘SWOT’ analysis to critically analyse the businesses’ strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats and develop strategies across all areas of the business to achieve your desired goals.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-business plan, far from it. But if the thought of preparing one is so daunting it leads to inaction and no plan at all, then there’s got to be a better way.

How about a one-page plan outlining where the business is now, where you want it to be and how you are going to get it there? By performing such a simple yet valuable exercise you’ve just created a business plan. Agreed, not as comprehensive as the 10+ page version, but better than no plan at all.

Tip: A great fourth step to add to the process is WHY. It’s a great step to loop around at the end of the process to support whether you actually want to do this or not.

Click here to see our template for the ‘One Page Plan’. Then sit down and complete it. You might be surprised with what you come up with.

 

2. goal setting the SMART way

Where are you taking your business for the next 12 months? More to the point, where is your business taking you? Have you set goals? How will you know whether you’ve achieved them? Have you determined specific strategies to help you get there?

The pace and stresses of running a business day to day leaves little time to take a step back, set goals, and design a map of how to achieve them, but that doesn’t mean you don’t do it. Yes it takes time and effort, but if you don’t, experience shows that the chances of achieving growth are slim at best.

When setting goals, they need to be SMART:

• Specific;
• Measurable;
• Achievable;
• Relevant; and
• Time bound

Tip: Review your business goals to ensure they’re SMART. If you don’t have anything to review, well then you know what to do…

 

3. get some help

So you’ve set your goals for the next 12 months, and they’re the SMARTest goals ever. So what now? Clearly you put them in the bottom drawer, never to be seen again, right? Don’t you dare! Time to make yourself accountable, otherwise the whole exercise is a waste of time.

Your Accountant / Business Advisor is well positioned to help you set the goals as well as holding you accountable to them. They are probably one of the few people [other than you] that know your business [warts and all] and have the skills to help you set and achieve your SMART goals. Then through good reporting and regular meetings they can become your business mentor, holding you accountable to the goals that you have set, and giving you every opportunity to achieve the ultimate goal of growing your business and increasing profit.

Tip: Time to ensure someone out there is asking the hard questions and pushing you to achieve them.

 

4. that’s it, no more procrastination!!…….start today

If you’re like most people, procrastination is one of the biggest things getting between where they are now and where they want to be. Time to stop over-thinking it and time to hook into it.

Here are a few ideas to help lose the stress of procrastination and get moving:

make a start

Sounds simple, and it is. Remember learning about inertia back in school? The theory of a body at rest will remain at rest and a body in motion will remain in motion is very relevant to the negative influence of procrastination. Just do something, not nothing. Once you start, you might realise what you’ve been putting off is not as scary as you thought.

don’t wait for perfect [done is better than perfect]

Doing something that’s ‘really good’ but not perfect, is far better than doing nothing at all. And the more you do something, more often than not the better you get. So just do it.

give yourself a deadline

Experience shows if it doesn’t have a deadline it won’t happen. Think about the last time a deadline, [even a seemingly unrealistic one] was set for you. Chances are you stopped fluffing about and got stuck in. The same will apply if you set the deadline for yourself. And doubly so if you make yourself accountable to someone else to meet the deadline. You might accept your excuses but chances are they won’t!

 

5. just ‘do’ it

What is going to make your new year resolutions stick this year?

Successful business owners tend to have two things in common. They ‘Do’, instead of just talk, and they get help when required.

And what do they ‘Do’?

• They ‘Do’ chart a course for their business and regularly track their progress
• They ‘Do’ develop strategies to build their brand + market their product/services
• They ‘Do’ make the customer experience a memorable and positive one
• They ‘Do’ make their customers the ultimate champions of their business, with them wanting to tell everyone how good they are.

Stop talking and start doing. And if you don’t k now how, get help from someone who does.

Tip: Less talk and more action, it’s that simple.

 

6. time to get focused

“If you chase two rabbits, both will escape.” [Unknown]

There sure is no shortage of uncertainty out there at the moment, whether it’s the ongoing Middle East dramas, what’s around the corner with Trump Presidency 2.0, Ukraine, surfing conditions at J Bay, blah, blah, blah.

With all this ‘noise’ going on around you, it’s easy to lose focus on the important things in your business. Things are tough for some businesses out there right now, but there’s a heap of them that are smashing it as well.

So what’s one thing that can separate the winners from the also-rans? Focus.

Successful business owners tend to have an internal focus on control. They don’t waste time worrying about the things out of their control; all their energies are focused on the items they can control. Some examples of internal v external focus might be:

• External: My sales are down because the economy is weak
  Internal: Maybe I can kick sales along by mining my client base for inactive / lapsed customers
• External: My staff won’t show any initiative
  Internal: I’m going to better train my team so they can bring me solutions to problems
• External: The bank won’t give me any more money
  Internal: I’m going to collect my debtors quicker by putting in better processes

Tip: Focus on the things within your control. For the rest of the noise, put your earplugs in.

 

7. forward looking

They say that when driving if you begin to swerve off the road, you should focus on where on the road you want to be, not off the road where you are heading. And when first learning to surf, if you focus on your feet and not where you’re going you’ll spend more time under the water than on top of it, [I speak from experience on this one!]

So what’s my point? It’s the same with business; success will more often result if you focus on where you want to go, not where you are going right now.

Obviously sometimes to get through the tough patches the only solution is head down, bottom up and get the job done. But this is unstainable in the long term. If growth is what you want for your business, you need to focus on where you want to be. Only then can you develop a strategy to get you there.

Tip: What you focus on will eventually become a reality. So stop looking at your feet and start looking at the horizon. It’s a lot nicer view.

 

we’re here to help

Ready to turn your goals into reality? We’re here to support you every step of the way. Reach out to our team, and let’s get started!

 

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