It’s the beginning of a new year and like a good biz diva, I’ve done a lot of reflection in December to think about what I’d like to accomplish this year. My first year of business was all about exploration, and I’ll certainly do a lot more of that. I’m currently tailoring my service offerings to be lean and super-focused so I can streamline the process while delivering an amazing product.
While I’m polishing my services, I’m also expanding to include a new service after hearing so much of the same concerns with my ladies who are in years 2-5 of business – wanting to grow but not having the time to research every little thing there is to know about entrepreneurship in addition to providing a kickass service. I’ll talk more about that in another post.
Before jumping into any goal, it’s important to think about the big picture: What do you want your business to achieve most this year?
This year I want to be purposeful in the way I add value to the community of WOC entrepreneurs. This looks like – showing up regularly on social media, contributing to conversations, and creating thoughtful, actionable content on this blog.
This idea is rooted in my desire to grow my network, encourage new entrepreneurs, and help change the landscape of what entrepreneurship looks like. Many of us didn’t grow up seeing ourselves in the business owners we interacted with, but that’s changing. Our peers are side hustlers, full time business owners, and other women doing non-traditional work.
While we change the face of entrepreneurship, it’s important to connect and continue to build one another up so that we can all meet our diverse definitions of success, and create a better environment for growth. The more we know and share, the more accessible and equitable we can make resources, funding opportunities, and (buzzword incoming) scaling your business becomes a lot less like pulling teeth and a lot more like stacking receipts.
So how will we achieve our goals this year? By making them attainable and setting the path to achieve them. Ask yourself, “What goals can you realistically achieve in the year?”
This isn’t an attempt to be flaky and set super easy goals that take no time at all (and no shame if you need those easy wins) but we tend to overcommit, thinking we can do so much in just one year, but baby, I’m here to tell you, you ain’t living right.
Give your goals space to breathe, change, and take shape. Be in relationship with your goals, giving them space to grow and turn into what they need to be to give you and your business the growth you desire.
For years I was type A, feeling like things have to be just so in order to be considered a success. Never deviating, always precise. It’s exhausting and only surgeons and people dealing with highly explosive shit really need that level of precision.
Consider how you can set your goals in a way that makes it exciting, valuable, and allows room for flexibility in the event you find yourself heading in an unanticipated direction.
Ask yourself, “Am I being realistic and generous enough with the time I have set for this goal?” What does being realistic look like? If you can break down your goals into action steps and form a plan with tasks you can complete in the time allotted. Don’t skip ahead, because this part is crucial.
You’ve set your goals, great! Now it’s time to think about the path to reach them. How will you achieve these amazing goals?
I’ve broken down my large goal of providing value into actions and set a schedule for execution. Consistency towards your goals helps to ward off burnout – trying to do it all in intermittent spurts can lead you to resenting your goals, and ain’t nobody got time for that.
By determining the actions that I want to maintain consistently this year, I know it’s doable as long as I work smart and create habits that facilitate the execution. I created daily tasks that build up to larger milestones that lead to my overall goal.
Hot promotion time: I’ve written about managing and creating goals in my book, The BBF Workbook + 90 Day Planner if you’d like more support with breaking down goals into achievable actions.
“Where dem dollas at?” – Gangsta Boo
Setting your business up for success often includes financial matters. While making money is a big portion of this, also take a beat to think about how you’re investing your money, and savings. Do your financial transactions reflect your priorities, your values? If not, it’s time to get real with that bank account. Ask yourself “What’s draining my money? Am I investing in products or services that create value in my business? In my life?”
Let’s take a look at what you’re investing in. Does it support your goals? If you’re running a lean business, you want to make every dollar count. If you’re a little more flush with green, consider what investment would have the greatest impact of where you want to go. And this is where your goals come into play – my primary goal of increasing the value and impact in what I share has me investing in support and courses related to that.
Time and money investment ties so closely to your business success and I want to encourage you to not beat yourself up if you feel that you wasted money on something in the past. Money is a renewable resource, it will come back to you. Trust.
It’s time to exercise your visionary muscles. Looking at the big picture, ask yourself “Do my ideal clients understand what my brand wants to achieve?”
This is challenging because people hear and read things differently, and need to have an ecosystem of consistent messaging to fully understand. How are you getting your message across?
What is your mission and how are you positioning it to your clients? Do they know how hard you go for them, why you are their biggest fan, and what you want to help them achieve? Think about these questions as you review your clients’ journey.
This is the hard part for some and requires a special skill: self-awareness. What pain points are you creating in your own business for your peeps? How are you hindering their process to work with you? You mos def want to nip any bottlenecks in the bud.
Personally, I realized that there are plenty of other web designers out there who will do it (insert desirable quality here) but the greatest difference? They aint me 💅🏾. The weak point in my journey was the lack of connection and sharing just how fucking amazing it is to work with me.
I still have people checking me out based on referrals but I noticed the best experiences I’ve had with clients were with the ones I was able to build a relationship with prior to getting started. They appreciate what I say and how I say it with a dash of Blerdy wit tossed in.
And just like that famous Lion King song, it’s the circle of life. Shit comes full circle with my goal for the year – improve my communication. I want to be inviting and share what I know so we can all grow.
Okay time to wrap this all up. We’re setting up our businesses for success this year, so we want to:
✅Reflect on what we want to achieve
✅Set goals that support the desired outcome
✅Make sure our goals are relevant and accessible
✅Determine action steps to reach our goals
✅Do our best to invest time and money in the things that matter
✅Ensure our goals align with the business mission and vision
✅Clearly communicate our mission to our clients
For the year ahead, my goals are central to consistency, improving my client experience through tools like Clickup and Honeybook, and finding a community of WOC entrepreneurs to share, learn, and kick it with.
What are some of your goals for this year? How do they fit in with your business direction and mission? I wanna know.
If you want more support with goal setting and accountability, check out my book, The BBF Workbook + 90 Day Planner.