Goal setting is one of those things that many of us run from.. We might have a hint of what we want to achieve in our minds but we may fear writing this down or even believing that we can achieve our wildness dreams just in case we don’t make it!
I often write about perfectionism and fear on the blog, it’s really all about simply moving one step in front of the other and knowing that day by day we are moving closer to our dreams.
But, in order for us to move closer to our dreams and goals we first must know exactly what we really want.
Now bear with me here… it’s easy to think we want wealth, financial freedom or a nice car… but, have you really done the work to figure out what your true heart’s desire is? And most importantly why you want this?
We’ll cover goal setting here for bloggers and small business owners… But in fact most of these tips can apply to goal setting for all areas of your life as well, like fitness, career, creativity, relationships and health.
Let’s dive in and get you started on creating some outstanding goals that are incredibly meaningful to you!
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Figure out your real why
You might have started a blog, or created a small business from your kitchen table…or perhaps you started selling something you make?
Whatever your thing is… figure out your why.
- Why is this important to you?
- Why is this something that you want to achieve?
- What would it mean to you to achieve these goals?
This is going to take you a while to do this one!
On the surface you might think… because I want to have more money… or because I want to be a successful business person… But, dig a little deeper here.
- What’s your real why?
- Why do you want to have access to a consistent income?
- Why do you want to be a successful business person?
When we look a little deeper and continue to ask ourselves the question why we end up getting to our real heart centred reasons why we pursue our goals.
I want to make a decent income.
Why?
Because I want to be able to provide for my family and not have to be away from my kids working for someone else all the time.
Why?
Because I want to spend more time with my family.
Why?
Because at the end of the day spending time with my loved ones is the most important thing to me.
So, you’ve gone from wanting to make money…and being successful… to … making time for your family. Your real reason why is perhaps to create a lifestyle for yourself and your family where you’re not rushing and you’re better able to be present.
See the difference?
Making sure you’re questioning yourself here is vital… keep looking deep inside till you figure out your real why.
Set a vision for yourself
Your vision should be the thing that you want to actively achieve for yourself.
Your vision is your what.
What does success look like?
What needs to transpire in order for you to have succeeded in your goals?
You might blog about yoga for busy moms…. And your vision might be … to create a highly successful space for moms to get education and advice about ways to improve their health and wellbeing.
Or, your business might be selling wedding cakes…. And your vision might be to be the go to company for all wedding related cake services in your state.
Your vision should be large enough to scare you! But realistic enough that you can reach your goals. A vision is the tangible thing that you can visualise (see what I did there!)…. In your mind… what does your business look like in 6 months or a year??
What is your vision for your business? When you think about success what does this look like in your mind! ….
Final thought… create a VISION BOARD!
Vision boards
A vision board is a visual representation of what success looks like to you… for your business or blog this might have your ideal customer on it… this might have images of your shop front, or your products, or a launch event or… the sky’s the limit!
Grab a selection of images and create yourself a digital vision board in Canva. Then print this out and stick it to your wall! … so you can see your vision daily!
This was my vision board (for my life not just my business) from January this year…. See that grey cottage on the left… well… we bought one that looks JUST like the photo earlier this year as an investment property.
VISION BOARDS WORK, PEOPLE!
Be clear on your mission
A mission is different from a vision… a mission is what you are setting out to achieve on a grander, more holistic level. While your vision might be to have an Etsy store that sells your Eco friendly products. Your mission might be something like this…
To measurably reduce plastic waste from household product packaging and reduce the amount of rubbish that ends up in our oceans.
Another example might be your vision is to educate people on eco fashion and upcycling clothing …. And in the process create a popular blog that attracts many thousands of visitors per month. But, your mission… again… Might be something like this …
To actively create awareness around fast fashion, thereby reducing the amount of low cost, high consequence apparel sold, reducing the eco footprint on the world and improving the lives of clothing workers.
See, those missions are pretty specific right!
Following on from the examples above in the vision section… if your vision is to be the go to company for all wedding related cake services in your state, then your mission might be … to take the stress away from brides by providing exceptional, no fault quality and streamlined wedding cake services to busy working brides in your area.
A mission relates to your overall end goal. It’s your vision to create a successful shop… or to have a popular blog about eco fashion… but its your mission to leave a legacy, make a difference and effect meaningful change in our world.
Create heart centred business goals
I wrote a great post a wee while back about meaningful blog metrics and which ones you should track. One of these was hearty centred business goals!
Before we get into the nitty gritty of targets, let’s take a minute to think about setting heart centred business goals.
These are goals that when met we can see and feel a tangible benefit.
These goals are not numeric metrics on a sheet of paper but are the results of achieving success. These goals mean that when you are setting your targets you are thinking about the real reasons behind those targets…
Do you really want to create a massive empire that employs hundreds of staff?
Or, do you actually want to provide financial security for your family?
What’s your real reason behind the goal?
For instance…
Some of my heart centered business goals centre around the following questions:
- Am I well rested?
- Am I a calm and peaceful parent?
- Am I able to tackle small blips on the road with grace and a clear mind?
- Am I taking care of my body and health?
- Am I taking time for myself and my family?
- Am I fulfilling my passion?
- Am I taking care of my mental wellbeing?
- Am I able to be creative?
- Am I being of service?
- Am I creating community?
- Am I paying attention to those people I love?
- Am I frazzled or rushing?
As goals, these equate to …
Am I well rested?
- Make time to actively rest and take a break throughout the day.
- Ensure I am getting adequate sleep 8 hours minimum a night
- Take time out in the weekend to nap or create active relaxation moments
So, apart from your mammoth traffic and revenue goals. Take the time to create yourself meaningful heart centred goals around the things that matter most to you.
Set yourself measurable and achievable targets
This is a biggy for me. Making sure that the targets that you set for yourself are both measurable… canI actually measure my success here? And achievable… is this a stretch goal? (good) or am I setting myself up to fail month after month after month (not good).
I like to set myself targets that I know are a good stretch… they are going to challenge me, they are not going to be easy to meet… they are slightly outside of my comfort zone! But if I follow my plan and exercise upon my strategy I should have a good chance of meeting them! ….
Setting monthly, quarterly and yearly targets around the following metrics is a good start. And setting yourself up a day each new month to record these things is a really great habit to get yourself into.
Metrics to track as a blogger and small business owner
- Traffic – how many users visited your website in a given period
- Revenue – how much money you made prior to taking out your expenses
- Engagement – Community engagement on your blog (comments, likes) and social channels
- Social following – follows on platforms like facebook and Pinterest
- Leads – how many qualified potential leads you acquired
- Subscribers – how many people subscribed to your email lists
- Cost of acquiring a customer (CAC) – how much it costs you to get one lead or customer
- Acquisition channels – where your customers came from and what’s working
If you’re a blogger I’ve whipped up a really simple blog stats template for you on Google Docs.
Please just make sure you COPY the template FIRST and use your copy as your own version BEFORE you change anything! The cells have example numbers in them.
Just pop your own data in there once you’ve made yourself a copy. Don’t enter anything in the % difference cells. This is a formula and will automatically update for you as you add in your own data.
Measure your success and celebrate your wins
OK so targets and goals are nothing without progress right!? So, make sure you’re not only setting yourself some holistic target but that you’re also getting into the habit of measuring your results… and that once you’ve measured your results you’re refining and tweaking your strategies and goals in line with your progress…
There’s no point in hitting your traffic target by 1000 users 2 months early and giving yourself a pat on the back – then relaxing till December! Ha ha ha … make sure you’re always refining your goals and targets to best meet where you’re at.
Success check in
- Are you creating the life that you want?
- Are you easily reaching your goals every month? Do you need to make your goals more ambitious?
- Are you being the person that you want to be ?
- What does reaching these monthly goals feel like? And why does it feel like that?
- Are you deflated? Why? Do you need to lower your expectations?
Goal setting tips
Do not make it so that every single month you are NOT meeting any of your targets! This is not ambitious… this is crazy and will only serve to demotivate you.
Do create stretch goals that motivate you
Do not create only on paper goals that are somewhat outside of your control
Do create holistic goals around your heart centred vision and mission
Do not measure your progress against anyone else, everyones on a different path and at different stages
Do measure your progress against a set of tangible criteria that are meaningful to you!
Let me know in the comments if you’ve heard about heart centred business goals before and what you’ve found works best for you in your business or blog! I’d love to hear from you.
You can grab my heart centred business goal setting prompts worksheets over on Etsy to help get you started!
QUIT THE NINE TO FIVE 
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