
Where did the time go? It’s April already!
That means that the first quarter (Q1: January, February, and March) is in the rearview mirror and the second quarter (Q2: April, May, and June) is upon us.
How are you doing on your goals for 2023?
This is a perfect time to assess where you stand. Have you made progress toward the goals you set for yourself as a solo small business person this year?
If not, it’s not late! You still have most of the year to reach your objectives.
What were your goals for 2023?
What did you hope to accomplish when it comes to your small business this year? If you wrote those goals down, open that document, or find that piece of paper. Time to take inventory.
What’s that? You didn’t commit to any concrete goals for 2023? Or maybe you had a vague hope of “doing better” or “taking your business to the next level”?
That’s OK too. You still have time to practice effective goal-setting. In fact, it matters a lot less when you do it, but that you do it.
Research suggests that setting goals can help you find success. At the very least, it pays to step outside of your business every so often, and to think about what you hope to achieve.
Playing catch-up: Make 2023 goals if you haven’t
So let’s take a moment to include anyone who hasn’t had a chance to come up with goals for their small business this year. If you have already finished your homework (🏆 for you), and you have your jotted-down 2023 goals at the ready, you can still double-check your list.
You see, not all goals are created equal. “I’m going to be smarter about my business this year” may be a fine sentiment, but it’s not a great goal. What does smarter mean, exactly?
The fact is, effective business goals share common traits. Let me focus on just three here:
- Specific. Drill down to articulate goals that are specific to particular facets of your business. (This is one reason that most small business people have a small subset of goals, plural.) For example, if you send a customer experience questionnaire at the end of each relationship, you might set a goal for 2023 that you will see an improvement in specific areas.
- Measurable. You need to be able to quantify your goal – and what qualifies as an achievement. For instance, if you are a dog-walker looking to expand your client base, you might set a goal to increase your number of paying customers from 35 in 2022 to 50 in 2023.
- Attainable. Your goals can be aspirational, but they should be reachable. As a bookkeeper, for example, it may not be reasonable to hope for a 50% increase in year-over-year income, but you could work toward a 10% increase in income in 2023, as compared to 2022.
One other note about annual business goals? They are different from new year’s resolutions, which often involve personal choices, like weight management or smoking cessation.
Many people “break” their resolutions early in the year. We want the goals for our small business to be different: These are concrete, attainable goals that we intend to realize!
Assess, then achieve
OK, back to the opportunity to reflect here at the start of Q2. Assuming for the moment that you charted out goals for 2023 back in December, how are you faring here at the quarter-year mark?
Maybe you worked especially hard in Q1 – or you were lucky – and you are well on your way to reaching your 2023 goals. If so, congrats! Be sure to identify what it was that helped you soar this past winter, so you can keep the positive trend going in Q2, Q3, and Q4.
But, if you’re like most of us, you may have only inched toward your goals – or made no progress at all.
Again: That. Is. OK.
Not only do you still have 275(!) days left in 2023, you are doing the right thing now. You’re thinking critically about your goals, your progress, and what you can do differently in the months ahead.
As you assess where you stand, consider:
- What held you back. What stood in the way of making progress toward your key goals? Sometimes, those can be factors out of your control, such as bad weather or a downturn in the economy.
- Make it visible. Assuming that you set goals for 2023, did you write them down? Putting pen to paper (or fingers to keyboard) is a form of accountability that makes your commitment tangible. The next step? Put your written-down goals somewhere where you can see them every day. Consider pinning that list to the bulletin board right above your laptop – you want to be reminded of your goals often.
- Break up big goals into smaller steps. Yes, a goal for a whole year can seem daunting. But see if you can’t cut that task down to size by setting sub-goals for each quarter. Take that goal of higher customer experience scores, mentioned above. If you set a goal of a .5 increase in overall client satisfaction for the year, ask yourself if you can’t see a .25 increase by halfway through the year (July 1).
- Don’t give up. It’s easy to get disheartened if you’ve made no progress toward a particular business goal after three months of work. But keep trying. You never know when a bunch of new leads will come in mid-year and rescue your goal of an expanded client base. Or a happy customer’s glowing Insta review of one of your add-on products may revive your hopes of increasing your average total sale for the year.
And permit me to add this: 17hats can be instrumental to reaching many small business goals. Whether it’s time management, nurturing your leads more effectively, or providing a better customer experience, 17hats stands out as the premier business management platform. Everything about 17hats is designed to help small business people – especially solopreneurs in service-driven fields.
Your goals are within reach
You have nine months left in 2023. Amazing things can happen in that span of time.
So take stock of your goals – or make some 2023 goals, if you haven’t already!
If you have set specific, measurable, and attainable goals … and you’re mindful of what you can do, now, to realize those aims … then you’re positioning yourself for success in the year ahead.
Want to learn more about setting goals for your business? Check out this webinar from our Small Business Accelerator series on 17hatsUniversity.com