When we think about goal setting, we often think about our personal goals. But did you know that there are benefits to setting goals in your small business as well?

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Even those who are big believers in setting personal goals (health and fitness goals immediately pop into mind) may not be convinced that it’s important to set goals for a small business. After all, we’re tiny…our main goal is simply to not be one of the many small businesses that never gets off the ground, or that launches only to crash and burn.
So we may ask ourselves if it is worth the time and effort it takes to set business goals?
Well, that depends on whether you want your business to be successful. Statistics reveal that most new businesses fail within the first five years. And there’s a good chance that many of those failures are because there was no plan for success – in other words, no plan to achieve the things that are necessary to remain in business.
Here’s the thing about business goals: No one but us will likely ever see these goals, and more importantly, no one else is going to care whether we set business goals or not. But the benefit of setting goals isn’t to impress others. The benefit of setting business goals is to help us clarify what we want to achieve in our business and to layout the roadmap for doing so.
Like it or not, the goals you set for your business have a direct impact on whether your business makes progress…or never makes it off the launchpad.
Since your business is important to you (if it wasn’t then you wouldn’t be here), it’s worth the time and effort it takes to really think about what you want for…and from…your business. Here are four reasons you need to be setting goals for your small business…even if no one but you ever see them.
SETTING GOALS HELPS YOU BE SUCCESSFUL
The primary benefit of setting business goals is that it helps you to move your business forward, giving it a greater chance of success. No matter which part of the business you need to improve, taking time to set the right goals can help you to take your business to the next level.
Think of it like planning a road trip.
The first thing you would do is to decide where you want to go. It’s unlikely that you’d crawl in the car and start driving with no particular destination in mind.
Instead, you would decide in advance where you want to end up. Then you’d start planning your route. What stops do you want to make along the way? What sights do you most want to see? What activities do you want to take part in along the way and once you arrive?
Setting your business goals is much the same. It forces you to ask yourself the hard questions about what you want as the end result (and what you don’t want),
It also forces you to consider:
- how many hours do you want to work each week
- what activities or aspects are non-negotiable
- and most importantly, it forces you define what success looks like to you.
Here’s something important to remember:
Your definition of success may be very different from someone else’s definition…and that’s okay.
When you don’t set goals, you won’t know which parts of your business to focus on in order to get the results you’re looking for. You’ll likely end up stuck in a rut, not really achieving anything of significance unless you have realistic, measurable goals.
But be sure to keep in mind that your mindset can impact whether you achieve your goals or not. So keep an eye on any limiting beliefs you have.
GOALS HELP YOU KNOW IF YOU’RE MAKING PROGRESS

Starting, and running, a successful small business requires planning and hard work. It also requires that you constantly have your finger on the pulse of your business and know how things are going.
What parts of your business are going well, and which need improvement? Without something in place as a marker, it’s hard to have any idea how things are going.
And flying blind isn’t a good business strategy!
Unless you’ve got a very clear idea of where you are, it’s impossible to know where you need to focus your efforts. Because here’s the thing – you want to put your efforts where they’ll make the most difference. Putting effort into aspects that are already going well while ignoring the parts that aren’t is a total waste of your time.
This doesn’t mean that you ignore the things that are working. Obviously, you want to do more of what’s working and you should always be looking for ways to improve. But ignoring the aspects that aren’t working can sink your business…and then the parts that are working won’t matter.
That’s where goals come in. If you’ve set clear goals then it’s easy to monitor them. Remember that your goals are your roadmap. You need to check the map frequently to make sure that you’re on the right path.
Here’s another little fact about goals: If you haven’t done the work to plan and set them, it’s easy to get overwhelmed and to lose sight of what you want to achieve.
Let’s fact it, sometimes the day-to-day activities feel like quicksand that is pulling us under. Without clear goals, it’s easy to get bogged down in the details and lose sight of the big picture. In fact, it’s the big picture that should help us weed out some of the day-to-day minutia so that we don’t get wrapped up in things that aren’t important.
Paying close attention to your goals helps you know what aspect of your business to focus on right now. Your business is made up of many moving parts and you can’t work on all of them at once. You need to focus your attention and energy on what is going to make the most difference right now.
GOALS HELP YOU STAY MOTIVATED

An often-overlooked benefit of setting goals is the motivation factor. Remember how excited and motivated you felt when you first started your business? That excitement and motivation is what kept you working when there were a million things to do in order to get started.
However, as time passes, it’s natural for that initial excitement to wear off. As we get bogged down in endless to-do lists, it’s easy for motivation to wear thin. That’s where your goals can help keep your motivation alive. There’s nothing like realizing you’re on target to achieve something that motivates you to keep on.
Here’s the bottom line: Without motivation you’ll eventually quit. Running a small business is hard work (despite what some people are going to tell you). It requires patience, persistence, and consistency. But very few people are going to keep on working unless they see some progress being made…and that’s where having goals that you’re achieving keeps you motivated enough to continue doing the work.
GOALS INCREASE ACCOUNTABILITY
A final benefit of setting goals is that doing so holds you accountable. We often have vague goals in our head that we want to achieve, but there’s something about writing them down and monitoring them that increases the chance that we’ll achieve them.
It’s hard enough to achieve vague goals in the first place. When they’re not even written down somewhere it’s nearly impossible to achieve them.
However, having clearly defined goals that are written down where we can check them regularly, makes it so much more likely that we’ll achieve them. After all, when we’re checking our progress regularly we can see where we need to make adjustments to get back on track.
We all know this little secret about human nature whether we want to admit it or not:
When left to our own devices, we’re often not as productive or as motivated as we could be.
So, having clear goals helps to keep our focus and mind on the tasks required to push the business forward. It’s back to that roadmap…knowing where we want to end up keeps us on the path so that we actually arrive there and not someplace else.
CONCLUDING THOUGHTS…

Goals aren’t just a mental exercise. Done correctly, the benefits of setting goals carries over into our daily life. We know what to do and when. And we can see when we need to make changes.
But we also need to remember that goal setting isn’t a “one and done” type of thing. It should be something that is not only continually monitored, but becomes a living document. As you achieve your original goals, set new ones. Always be thinking long-term and set goals that will take you and your business into the future.
That’s how you create a business you love and one that works for you.
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I help older women get past their fear and mindset issues so they can create a plan to pursue their goals and dreams.