At the beginning of your business journey, when you’re creating a start-up company – you might be faced with a confusing bundle of tasks. You don’t know where to start or who to speak to, and you may have no clear direction.
We get it. Anything with an unclear vision and no goals can become a lost cause. Therefore, we believe that setting goals whether it be in the short, mid or long term is essential to a business’s overall success and longevity.
Though, how is it possible to set goals for a start-up company when the only factor in your mind is the long-term goal? Carry on reading to learn more about each type of goal and how you can practically set attainable goals for the best experience possible.
Different Classifications of Goals
When starting a new business, it is easy to try to run before you can walk. By that, I mean it is much more simple to want the end goal before considering the small steps you will have to take in order to achieve it.
Being too focused on the glitz and glamour, instead of looking to improve in small increments each day, is a mistake that a lot of new business owners make. It is important to have that dream and end goal that you want to achieve, but making sure this is not your main focus is a priority.
Many business owners will give up after a few months if they don’t see any physical improvement, or they haven’t reached their end goal. Without tracking progress, it is hard to see improvements. Therefore, setting goals is extremely vital. What are the different types of goals that can be set? Here are the three types:
Short-Term Goals
Having short-term small business goals is paramount for any form of business success. These goals can be daily goals, weekly goals and sometimes monthly goals that are set. Ensuring that they’re helping towards the bigger picture and long-term growth is vital.
Having these short-term tasks and goals will not only help startup businesses to realise the gradual advancements they’re making – but it will also give you a sense of completion and productivity at the end of it (helps boost motivation).
Medium-Term Goals
For business goal setting, these are the middle ground between the goals that you can achieve relatively quickly and your end goal. For example, this may take anywhere from 6-12 months to accomplish.
These medium-term goals can typically be an accumulation of achieving these short-term goals – which can then be used to build a formula to reach your ultimate goal(s).
Long-Term Goals
Long-term business goals are commonly known as the goals you would like to achieve within a long period of time (or your lifetime goal). Typically, these goals should not be possible to achieve within a couple of weeks or months.
They should take a lot of continuous effort with many smaller goals/ short-term goals and medium-term goals being achieved along the way. For example, a long-term goal could be to make £500,000 a year from your business.
This goal is not easy, but it represents something you have to work for and take action on every day in order to reach it.
Tips for Setting Goals as a Startup Company
If you’re currently looking to start a business or have made the first step in your industry, the fear of failure may be striking you immediately. The risk you’re taking may seem too big in your current situation.
However, if you genuinely believe you have a product or service that will help people, then don’t be afraid for that to come across in conversation! Here are a few tips that may help you in setting business goals up effectively for your new venture:
Staying Disciplined With Your Goals
When it comes to starting a new business as a new founder – whatever you decide to take up should be something you’re passionate about and willing to work hard on. If you’re not in the business for the love of the topic, you will struggle with discipline and motivation when times are tough.
Taking a break from your startup business goals is not an option and assigning someone close to you to keep you accountable is essential for any form of success. If they’re just as hungry and passionate about winning as you are, then you have more chances to grow and keep each other on the straight and narrow.
Any goal that you set (short, mid or long term) needs to be hit and that is the mindset that you need to have when you come into the workplace (wherever that may be).
Separating Your Goals
To set business goals that scare you, to begin with, can go one of two ways. The business owner can either get overwhelmed with the tasks at hand.
Or, it can work well for some. However, what has been known to reap unmatched results is to separate your goals into smaller goals – whilst keeping the same long-term goal.
As we’ve briefly discussed, setting smaller business goals into little daily, weekly or monthly goals will help give you the feeling of constant accomplishment towards something. Seeing results quicker, in the human brain gives off a great sense of pride.
This will then keep you engaged and focused for longer periods as you begin to understand that these small pieces of work are contributing to the cause massively!
Make Your Goals Achievable and Measurable
Of course, having dreams and ambitions that don’t seem possible are great for your purpose and the life you will live. However, goals that are too unrealistic in such a short time will destroy any motivation you have if they’re not achieved.
Whereas, if you set more realistic goals (still goals that need completing towards your end goal) – you will find the lust for carrying on is much stronger. Having them be challenging but not over pushing yourself is a great happy medium for this rule.
Being able to measure your goals is all a contribution to seeing physical progress. For example, if you work in the marketing industry – you should be using tools to gauge the gradual incline of your work.
Or, if you’re running ads, tracking your sales weekly to see if there is any improvement in sales and revenue is beneficial too. Tracking the customer experience from your paid program, product, service, etc is vital for loyalty and retention. This way, you will be able to receive feedback much easier by just showing the customers their results!
Mark is a multi-award winner in business networking and relationship building. He is passionate about coaching and mentoring business owners and professionals through 1-1 & group coaching, team performance workshops and group mastermind sessions.