We all have goals, or we should have them. If you don’t have them then your life and your business are surviving by default.
If you set your goals to low, you have failed before you started.
When you are in default mode you are susceptible to any storm that comes your way.
When the storms of losing your main distributor, lease, how much you owe in taxes, or whatever life will throw at you. And believe me, you will get things thrown at you, operating in default will ensure that those events will cause a disaster in your life and\or in your business.
So you should also have goals that you strive for daily. This is probably the hardest thing to do because it is do easy not to do.
But you know what? Most people who start goals never finish them, or forget about them completely. It needs to be you mission in life to go after you goals and to go after them with vigor as if your life depended on them.
And you know what? Your life does depend on them!! Your financial life, your dream life, social and even marital life.
When don’t reach your goals what happens? What happens is that you will sink into a sea of mediocrity. Who wants that? Do you want your life and your business to be mediocre?
Was that you plan as a kid? You said to yourself. “I am going to be a mediocre businessman when I grow up”. of course you did not. You may have done this before you started your business, which is a big mistake, or you may have defaulted to it because of the properly setting business goals and maintaining them.
How to you set business goals? Well that depends on your situation. Let’s say you are starting a new business. So you need to do a few things
- What are the expenses you absolutely must pay .(Hint, Cable TV is NOT a must have)
- How much money you absolutely must have to start it.
- How much effort must you do in order to achieve your goals?
The effort question is the tricky one, because most people underestimate the effort it will take to get a business going and profitable. Sometimes it takes more effort than you have ever dreamed possible. Well,not sometimes, more like usually.
I recently heard a story of a guy who’s dad purchased a pizza place. The reason for it was so that he could spend more time with his family.
Well, that is a pretty strong why. The unfortunate thing was that after a couple of years, they gave up and sold the pizzeria. Why was that?
Well, I was not close enough to this person to find out about their finances or the amount of effort put it, but I can take pretty accurate guesses because this is what generally happens.
The incorrect amount effort was not put in the correct areas.
That could be the quality of the food, the smile and kindness to the customers who you want to keep coming back. Not enough customers because you did not advertise enough.
This bring up another point. Maybe they did not realize the amount of money would be need for advertising to get the business of the ground. Usually in the beginning you need quite a bit of advertising as to you can fill the pizzeria. No one likes eating in an empty restaurant. The start wondering if they are going to wonder why is it empty and catch ebola.
Also, I hate to say this, but maybe the why was not powerful enough or he needed more why’s
No matter what it is, it is simply a matter of not having enough of one or more things.
So properly set your goals and the effort and money it will take to achieve them.
A good read is also The Art of the Relationship.