Goal Setting for the End of the Year

Can you believe it’s September already? This year has gone by so fast it is unreal. Hopefully your business has been successful so far.

In December of last year or possibly January of this year, you set business goals for the year. Each month you should review those goals to make sure you are still on track. You should mark off a goal when you reach it and make any necessary changes.

When the last quarter of the year comes along, you need to sit down and review your yearly goals in detail to make sure you are going to reach them.

To do this, you will need some paper and a pencil. You will also need some time to yourself so you can focus. Distractions will cause you to miss things or to stress and you don’t need that.

First think you need to do is review your goals. You need to cross off any goal that you have reached. Put a smiley face next to it so you know you reached it. Next, cross off any goal that you will not be working on and put an X next to it. Now this can be a goal that changed because the direction of your business changed or it can be a goal that was just not reachable. Now don’t feel bad about the last one because it happens. Businesses change and life changes and there is nothing you can do about that.

Now you need to rewrite your goal list so you are not spending time going through the ones you have crossed off. Plus, you run the risk of missing a goal. Once you have done this, you are ready to get started with the details.

Take the first goal on your list and write it on the top of your paper. Below that you need to edit it in any way. For example, if your goal was to reach $12,000.00 in income for the year, you need to figure out what you are at as of the end of August and adjust the number so you know what you still need to do to reach the goal. Going with this same goal, say you need $4000.00 to reach this goal. This means you need to make $1000 each month for the next four months to reach it. Below your edited goal, write $1000 a month. Now you need to look at your business and write down things you need to do to reach that goal. If you have one product you sell and it is $100, you will need to sell 10 to reach your goal. Now you write down ideas on how you can get those sales. You can advertise market, network, write articles, etc. Once you get this done, you are ready to do the same thing for your next goal.

When you get the above step done for each goal you are ready to break your monthly goal down to weekly goals. Weekly goals are easier to deal with and easier to feel a sense of accomplishment. When you think about it, it’s easier to think of making $250 a week than it is to make $1000 a month, even though they are the same.

Setting goals is important in business. This article gave you some tips to reach your goals towards the end of the year. You can use these same tips when you set your goals for the New Year.

Corrie Petersen runs a successful Virtual Assistant and Advertising business. She also has a free advertising tips newsletter that she creates to help others. Check out her website at www.VirtualFreedom4You.com.