Setting Goals for 2009

As the New Year approaches it is that time to set some New Years Resolutions.  Apart from the typical New Years resolutions to lose that last 10 pounds of pregnancy baby weight, eat healthier, exercise more, spend more time with the kids (do you ever spend enough time with the kids), read more books and of course spend more time with my husband, it is also a good idea to set some goals for each of the businesses!

How to Set Goals for 2009

Start Backwards.

First step is to think about where you want to be at the end of 2009.  These goals can best be represented in dollar amounts but could also be represented in traffic, page views, rakings for keywords and so on.  Depending on how many different websites and businesses you are involved in, this might take a little work!  It is not enough to simply say that you want to make $1,000,000 in sales for 2009!  Take each of your profit generating websites or as I like to call them, "money sites", and think about where they are at now financially and where you would like them to be at the end of the next 12 months.  Second step is to divide up the year into four quarters and to assign what goal each site or business needs to be producing each quarter in order to meet your financial goal for the year.  For example if I have a site that is producing $6K per month in sales now and I want it to go to $18K per month by the end of 2009, then for the first quarter, my goal will be to increase that from $6K per month to $9K per month.  The second quarter the goal will be $12K, third quarter $15K and by the end of the fourth quarter of the year, $18K. 

Write it down.

Second step is to write down your goals in the most visual way possible so that they will always be in front of you for the next 12 months.  My new best friend are the huge white sticky post its.  Take one of the huge post its, write the name of the business at the top and then write down the financial goals for each quarter.  Stick this huge post it in your home or work office or somewhere where you will see it every single day.  You could write your goals in a business journal or in a file in your computer but I find it best if you actually print out your goals and then post them up somewhere you can look at them everyday of 2009.

Break it down.

Next step is to write out what needs to be accomplished to be able to reach your goals.  Don’t hold back here.  On the same huge post it that you have the goals written down on for 2009, write out all the steps you need to accomplish to be able to reach your goals.  Maybe that is add live chat to your website.  Maybe start a newsletter list.  Maybe blog 2 times per week.  Write down all of your ideas and be as specific as possible.  As you achieve and accomplish each of these tasks you can cross them off of your list.  As you think of more you can also add them to your list.  The most important thing is to keep pushing towards your goals.  Many times we have great ideas but they never get implemented as we are too busy with the day to day activities.  Having the goals or steps we need to accomplish written down in a highly visual place will help us to always stay focused to the bigger picture. Some tasks can be outsourced.  I even have a list of things I want to learn how to do for 2009.  Family goals can be written down as well as personal and spiritual goals.  Don’t just write down: Read 12 books.  Write down the names of the 12 books.  If you don’t know which books you want to read, keep adding to the list as you have books recommeded to you. 

Plan it out.

Next step is to make a serious attempt to plan out how you will implement the steps to achieve your goals in 2009.  As you look at all of the steps you need to accomplish to reach your goals, it is time to plan out the calendar year of exactly when you will be focusing on and accomplishing each of the steps.  This can also be accomplished with a huge post it.  Write down the first date of each week for 2009 and write out next to it what you will be focusing on for that week.  Take into consideration holidays, family vacations, and so on.  You will soon find that the year 2009 is quickly becoming filled!  A saying we learned in college was "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail".  Take time to plan and you will soon find that as the months pass you will be accomplishing much more than in years past.

Keep Track

Last step is to create one final chart where you can record your progress.  Again, a huge post it comes in real handy here.  You don’t have to be fancy here.  Fancy takes time. A simple chart where you can record the monthly progress of each of your businesses with each of your goals.  You want to be able to quickly look and see if your efforts have been working.  You don’t want to get to the end of 2009 and realize that you worked the whole year but the strategy was not as effective financially as you hoped!  Keep track of what works and focus on the most profitable strategies first.  If something is not working, don’t wait six months to change direction.

Now go set some goals!

(PS next year I will be selling huge Post Its!)

StomperMom.Com

Ever wondered how to homeschool 3 kids, take care of twin babies, manage the household, and run a full time business all at the same time? I have news for you. You can’t! At least not alone. Almost a year ago I joined an internet marketing membership site called StomperNet. Since then I have learned some important things about running an internet business.

1. You should be working ON your business and not IN your business.
2. Do you have a J-O-B or a business?
3. Is your business an asset that can be sold?
4. Don’t forget the most important thing: Spending time with Family.
5. Your income is the average of the people you hang out the most with.

Number One: This was me about 6 months ago. In between processing orders, answering the phones, and updating the websites to delete discontinued products, there was no time left to actual work on the business. I was so involved in the every day activities in became impossible to actually grow the business to the next level. Solution: Get out of the house and get an office. Hire a Manager. Train manager to do everything I do so that she can supervise all the other people I will hire. Second step: Hire a webmaster. Third: Hire link getters. Fourth: Hire someone to work on product updates and uploading new products to sites. Fifth Step: Outsource everything else and then train manager on anything I am still doing. Granted, these five steps took six months. It takes time to train people. But once you do, you can actually start working ON your business and not IN your business. It obviously also takes cash flow. You don’t want to go into debt to pay salaries, but you have to look at things ojectively. If I can pay someone $7 an hour to answer the phone, and I choose to answer the phone instead, then I am making $7 an hour! My job is not to answer the phone for $7 an hour! My job is to work on Traffic, Conversion, and Community.

Number Two. Do you have a J-O-B or a business? Do you HAVE to get up everyday and go to work or everything will fall apart? If so, then you have created a Job for yourself. Part of the beauty of being an entrepreneur is that you have FREEDOM to go and do whatever you want, whenever you want. If I want to take the kids to the park, I CAN…. because I have a business, not a J-O-B. You need to create systems and policies and procedures so that your office can run itself. If YOU are the center of every decision, then you have a job.

Number Three. Is your business an asset that can be sold? If every day you have to work 16 hours just to keep the business running, then you don’t have an asset that can be sold. You have a nightmere! If someone offered to buy your business tomorrow, do you have the systems in place for someone to come in and take over? It is as old fashioned as creating step by step flow charts for your workers using a program such as SmartDraw so that everything can be run without you. It takes time to think out and plan the flow charts, but once in place, everyone will know what to do and how to do it. Keeping good books is also important. No one is going to want to buy debt. Make sure to pay the sales tax you collect on time to the respective states and be sure to only go into debt for inventory and office furniture. Don’t bank on tomorrow’s income to pay today’s salaries.

Number Four. Remember why you quit your job! You quit your day job to be an entrepreneur so you could have the convenience of working from home and spending time with your family. Nothing is more important than the kids. If you don’t get that project finished, so what? Who is going to fire you? Your kids however, are only little once and they WILL remember that mommy or daddy put them first before their work.

Number Five. Brad Fallon said this at one of the live conferences. Your income is the average of the people you hang around. How true is that. Don’t be afraid to step out of your comfort zone and go out and meet people in a higher income bracket. It is not about the money. It is not about what THEY can do for YOU. It is about what you can learn from THEM. It is about the tips and advice you can think about and apply to your business. It is about expanding your horizons and seeing things from someone else’s point of view. Maybe spending $30 a month on pay per click ads is a huge deal to you. Wait till you meet someone who is spending thousands of dollars a DAY! Then ASK them for some tips! Believe it or not, people usually like to talk about themselves! They like to talk about their experiences and the their successes. Be genuinely interested in other people and don’t forget to help out those that are learning!