Setting business goals

As a small business owner, it’s easy to get caught up in the day-to-day tasks and responsibilities of running a company. However, it is essential to take the time to set goals for your business to ensure its long-term success and growth. The start of a new year is a great time to set new goals or review your current ones.

Why do we need goals in business?

1. Goals provide a clear direction: Setting goals helps business owners focus on what is important and prioritise tasks. It sets out a roadmap for the direction of the business and helps to better allocate resources in the business.
2. Goals increase motivation and drive: According to a study published in the Journal of Applied Psychology, setting specific and challenging goals can increase an individual's motivation and drive. When small business owners set goals for their business, they are more likely to be motivated to work towards achieving them.
3. Goals improve performance: Research has shown that setting goals can lead to better performance. In a study published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, students who set specific, difficult goals for themselves performed better on a task than those who set easy goals or no goals at all. This concept can be applied to small business owners as well - by setting challenging but achievable goals, they can improve their performance and the performance of their business.
4. Goals provide a sense of purpose: Having a clear set of goals gives small business owners a sense of purpose and direction. It helps to focus on what is important and what needs to be done to achieve their vision for the business.
5. Goals enhance decision-making: Setting goals helps small business owners prioritise tasks and make informed decisions.

Goal setting is not a one-time activity. Business owners should regularly review and adjust their goals to ensure that they are still relevant and achievable. This can involve setting new goals, revising existing ones, or eliminating goals that are no longer necessary.

Creating your 2023 goals

Here’s our steps for creating your business’ goals for the coming year:
1. Review your performance: How has your business' performance been in the past year? What worked, what didn't? You can fill in Female Fusion's SME Dashboard which will help you review all of the key aspect of your business and help setting your 2023 goals.
2. Determine the purpose of the goal: What is the goal intended to accomplish? Is it to increase revenue, reduce costs, improve customer satisfaction, or something else?
3. Identify the target audience: Who is the goal intended to benefit? Is it the business itself, employees, customers, or a combination of these groups?
4. Set specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART) goals: Make sure the goal is specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and has a clear timeline. This will help ensure that the goal is realistic and achievable.
5. Create a plan: Determine the steps needed to achieve the goal and create a plan to follow.
6. Set deadlines: Set deadlines for each step of the plan to help keep progress on track.
7. Monitor progress: Regularly review and assess progress towards the goal to ensure that it is on track and make any necessary adjustments.
8. Celebrate success: When the goal is achieved, celebrate the success, and use it as motivation to set and achieve future goals.

By setting clear and achievable goals and regularly reviewing and adjusting them, you’ll be on track to increase the chances of success for your business over the coming year.