Set Goals, Review and Measure Often to Stay on Course

Setting Goals

I am a firm believer that when it comes to life, I come first; my wife, children and friends come second; and my job comes last. That may seem a bit self-centered but let me explain. I know that when I am at my best, whole and on my game then everyone below the pyramid benefits, when I’m off my game and I’m not sound, my family, friends and business suffer—they feel that impact. So I set goals, for my health—both physical and fiscal—so I can deliver on time—every day, week and year.

Last year I set a plan in place to be totally out of debt by a certain date and I met that goal. In the past I tried with no plan and never succeeded, but with a plan it was manageable and it worked. For business, I have set similar goals and they too have come to fruition, but only with a plan.

Take time to create a sound plan and have goals, specific goals in place. Create timelines and milestones in order to reach those goals. I would encourage you to consider the following business goals:

• Determine where you want to be at the end of this year, at the end of next year, three years and then five.
• Increase your profit margins by 5 percent every year until you hit 60 percent gross profit.
• Develop a profile on your ideal client.
• Dump the deadwood from your client base.
• Replace those clients with solid clients who are profitable.
• Develop about five solid vertical markets.
• Review your brand (aka what you look like to your clients) and all aspects of your business (social media, Web presence, collateral and marketing).
• Build measurements in all of your marketing in order to gauge success.

Review and Measure Often

Developing a sound plan and then never reviewing it, well, you might as well have not done it in the first place. My suggestion is once your plan is completed, review your plan monthly for the first six months then review quarterly for the rest of the first year.