If you are starting an online business, you are joining the ranks of hundreds of thousands of others. There are many tasks to achieve when it comes to your online business. One of the most important and perhaps the most beneficial ways to achieve success is to set clear goals for that business.
There are several ways on how to go about setting clear goals. For many individuals, their goals are so broad that success is something that never happens. However, you can learn to rely on your set of goals to achieve success if you set them up correctly.
How to Set Clear Goals for Your Online Business
1. Be specific – When you set a goal, it is imperative that you be specific about that goal. Simply stating that you want to reach a certain target audience or to make money is not a specific goal. A specific goal would be something like “I want to gain 100 more likes on Facebook in the next three months.” Or, “I want to make an additional $5,000.00 in the next three months.” Goals need to be specific in order to be successful.
2. Write everything down – No matter how trivial you may think it may sound, it is imperative to write everything down on your action plan. Without writing it down, it is as though you are not declaring it to the world.
3. Break it down – Break down your goals into sub-goals. It is as though you are choosing a niche and then choosing a sub-niche. For example, if your niche is women over forty, perhaps you could break that down even further to make it divorced women over forty. Break it down and be specific.
Breaking down your goals makes them easier to reach. If you have a goal to gain three more clients in the next six months, break it down on how you plan to reach that goal. For example, “I will guest blog on other sites” or “I will join LinkedIn and promote my business.” However, you want to do it, make sure to break it down specifically.
4. Put a timeline to your goal – Giving yourself a deadline to achieve a goal is probably the best thing you can ever do for yourself. You are accountable to yourself and your business partners by attaching a timeline to your goals. By doing this, you put a little pressure on yourself to achieve that goal by or before the set time.
5. Be accountable – Being accountable to yourself and to someone in your new business is an excellent way to make, keep, and achieve goals. Giving your word is a powerful tool in not only reaching, but also in exceeding clear and specific goals.
When your goals are specific and clear, success is just a stone’s throw away.