Setting Your 2009 Business Goals
The new year is rapidly approaching. Are you ready yet? Don’t panic. You still have time to plan your business goals for 2009. And planning doesn’t stop with the new year, either. Setting goals should continue throughout the year – as should evaluating your progress.
Did you accomplish what you wanted in 2008? Did you meet sales goals, get new customers and increase your income? If yes, congratulations! Plan to build on that progress next year. If no, it’s time to take a look at what didn’t work and find new ways to do things in the coming year.
Take some time to look at what worked and didn’t work over the past year. Did you keep up with your filing? Expense reporting? Customer retention goals? All of these things (and so much more) are important to your business success. What failed? Do you know why?
Use your experiences this year to improve on your goals for next year. And don’t forget to make those goals SMART so you can track your success. And review those goals at least once a quarter to make sure they’re still relevant to you and your business.
A new year is the perfect time to take stock of how you’re doing things, and make plans for your future success. No one else is going to plan it for you. What do you think is important for you to focus on next year?
3 Comments
Bill Hewlett said, “You cannot manage what you cannot measure…..and what gets measured gets done.” Not only should you set goals and objectives, but you should set goals and objectives that can be measured. Then, over time, you should refine your strategy (if necessary) to ensure that you achieve your goals.
Absolutely. New Year’s goals do you no good if there’s no way to figure out if you’ve been successful.
We are lucky to be able to choose a profession, and pursue it with success. To continue that success in your chosen profession, you need to do your best setting the right goals, and be able to depend on your back-up to help you in their part of the responsibility without question. The job description of the responsibilities, our achievements, and the paycheck are important in setting our goals, and reviewing them routinely in order to achieve them on schedule.
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