You may be drawn to entrepreneurship for your multifaceted business sense, or maybe you have an excellent product you need to give the world. There are many avenues into business ownership, but as the age-old tale goes, it takes a particular amount of grit and motivation to see it to its true potential.
The good news is, that motivation can be built, and goals are the bricks.
Setting and sticking to business goals isn't something you need to be inherently good at, either. It’s a skill that you can learn. And not only learn but become very good at, to the point where your goals write themselves and you ensure your path to entrepreneurial success. Below, we’ll outline five guidelines for creating effective goals that propel your business forward.
Create plans within your goals
Goals are not thoughts. Goals are visions that you assign to reach by a particular time. Start by getting crystal clear on your goals and writing them down in a physical place where you can view them regularly. Do this with a 2025 diary, and you can create scheduled plans that will help you reach your goals throughout the duration of this coming calendar year.
For example, if your goal is to acquire three new clients per month, you can write this goal at the beginning and end of each month, to keep you focused on achieving it. You can also develop plans in your diary towards the goal like focusing on outreach to draw new clients in on each Tuesday.
When the final week of the month approaches and you check your next week’s schedule, you can revisit your goal and can assess what needs to be done that week to reach it in time. You can do the same for longer-term goals, with monthly check-ins or actions to help propel you towards the goals that make your business a success.
Smart goals are still the bread and butter of goal-setting
We all want our businesses to do well, and do well quickly. But you’re only shooting yourself in the foot if you set goals that are miles from your current position. A goal of making $200,000 in revenue in the first year for a brand that just entered the market won’t be motivating for anyone when the sales trickle in slowly.
Make your goals smart. If you’re not already familiar with the SMART framework, it explains that your goals should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound. This means your goal will have a specific, measurable outcome relevant to your business and is realistic. It prevents you from making ambiguous goals and makes them motivating and doable.
Enter the future
Not physically, but mentally. Imagine you have achieved the goal already. Now, what steps did you take to get there? By reverse engineering your goal setting, it removes the barriers to understanding what needs to be done to achieve it. Starting from the end and working your way backward helps you to create a blueprint for reaching your goals.
For example, let’s imagine your goal is to increase your annual revenue by 20 percent. This is a SMART goal, tick. Instead of getting lost in the myriad ways you can start to increase your revenue, focus on what step comes right before reaching a 20 percent increase. Maybe you had a sale on the slow-moving products to get you over the line. This idea may not be good for your brand until you have more traffic to your website through an SEO initiative. Suddenly, you have two actionable and manageable steps towards your goal.
Optimise your goal setting to your work style
With a breakdown of steps to reach your goals, you can now make them even more achievable by harnessing your high-energy hours and your more passive working times. Choose a time for client outreach when you’re feeling personable and confident, this might be at the very start of the week after you’ve spent some time with loved ones. This is also a great time for brainstorming ideas and goals.
When you have lower energy or reduced output, this could be a time to attend to emails and perform any housekeeping that clears the mental and digital mess, keeping your goals front-and-centre and uncluttered by admin.
Track your goal progress and make necessary adjustments
As a business owner, you probably know a thing or two about adjusting your sails. The same goes for goal setting. While it’s imperative to plan timelines and objectives for your business, there are always estimates and guesswork involved in the beginning. When you start progressing towards these goals, you might need to make adjustments to the specific outcomes based on updated information.
For example, if you have a business goal that is revenue-based, but supply chain delays meant you couldn’t sell as many products as you planned, you can adjust the goal to reflect the circumstances out of your control. This will help you feel accomplished while remaining accountable for your business success.
However, if you didn't reach an attended goal, take this as a learning opportunity. Take accountability for what went wrong, flaws in your plans or estimates and where you can make improvements in your steps toward your goals. While tracking progress, make sure to stop and celebrate your little successes – each one is an achievement and contributes to the overall growth of your business.
Entrepreneurship offers a career like few others, with total control of your path, the joys and tribulations rest in your hands. Luckily, entrepreneurs are born goal-setters. If you are an entrepreneur you’ll likely be naturally growth-orientated and have a well-defined vision for how your business future will play out.
The process of business goal setting is becoming specific about this vision, and breaking it into actionable steps that create a structure for your business’s success. Whether you’re already a skilled goal-setter or it’s a skill you’re trying to develop, remember to always be kind to yourself throughout this process. Every failed goal is a chance to learn for the next one.
