The success of your business in 2020 may very well depend upon your ability to set and achieve small and large goals during the year. In order to be a true success, you need to be able to do more than simply set goals. You must also be able to create goals that are achievable, actionable, inspiring, and that the people who work for and with you will be proud to adopt as their own. Setting realistic business goals may seem like another challenge but if you want to create and maintain a business that is destined for growth it is a necessary challenge, nonetheless.
Set your Personal goals first
When you want to take your business in a new direction and begin implementing serious goal setting for the sake of achievement, it is best to start by looking in the mirror. As the head of the company you need to have your own personal goals and plans for your future success and the betterment of yourself and your family.
When you’ve set goals for yourself, you’ll be better prepared to serve as an example to others when you set goals for your business. You’ll also have a little perspective when it comes to planning for the successful achievement of these goals.
Set Goals that are Realistic and Visionary
Your goals should be big but achievable. It isn’t a goal to achieve something you’re already doing or even something that is easy to reach based on what you’ve already done. Your goals need to challenge you, your business, your employees, and your business model while leaving you with plenty of room to succeed and achieve those goals.
Why is it so important to set realistic goals?
If you set the bar so high that no one can conceivably achieve the goals then you’re setting yourself, your business, and every member of your team up for failure. No one likes to feel like a failure day in and day out. Eventually people will stop trying to reach goals they feel are impossible.
Create an atmosphere of positive attitudes, ideas, plans, and dreams for your company and rely on the people that are making your small business grow now for truly visionary ideas for expansion and growth in the future. Some of their ideas may surprise and inspire you.
Creating a Plan to Meet Your Goals
It isn’t enough to set goals you believe to be challenging but achievable. If you truly want to inspire
everyone involved in your small business to help you meet those goals you need to roll out a plan
of action designed to make it happen. A great way to do this is to have smaller goals that make steps
in the right direction leading up to the larger goal that is your primary objective. Small changes in attitude, work habits, and business attitudes can mean big changes for the bottom line and future of your business. When everyone in the company is on board making these changes each day, there is no limit to how far your business can go in 2020.
Planning helps you by providing guidelines and goals for future decisions
1. It helps you exercise more control in a situation, establish goals ‘proactively’ and consider contingencies.
2. It can help ensure a set of actions are implemented that are consistent with your values and priorities.
So how do you start this process? Firstly, take some time out in early January/February to write down your personal objectives such as income, time away from work, health etc., and then proceed to review what your business should be doing over the next year. Consider:
- Turnover
- Products/Services
- Market Position
- Costs
- Profit
- Customer Services
- Quality and others
In essence, you must think carefully what your business should look like in 12 months’ time and then write down some targets. Measure these monthly, know your key performance indicators and be prepared to change direction now and again! If you are thinking of writing your 2020 business plan, please talk to us.
What can we do to help?
At Paul O’Donovan & Associates we always have a team of experienced qualified accountants on hand to provide assistance and advice when you need it most. If you are having difficulty paying a Taxation liability, please let us know and we will endeavour to help by either arranging prompt payment loans with banks to meet current year income tax liabilities or by arranging an instalment arrangement on your behalf with the Revenue Commissioners. The Revenue Commissioners are working with us as tax agents to negotiate and put in place instalment arrangements that are workable with your cash flow and are financially affordable and realistic in the current economic climate.
