If you want to grow your business and reach new heights this year, start by setting short-term, manageable goals that can be achieved through a series of actions. Rather than simply listing out what you want to accomplish and leaving it at that, writing down what you will do and how frequently you will do it will be the key to your success. As the saying goes, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” Here are some ideas to get you started on setting goals for 2014, and steps you can take each week to achieve them before the end of the year.
Goal: To expand your knowledge of Market America products.
Plan of action: Tune in to a minimum of one MeetON broadcast per week.
MeetON provides you with a wealth of knowledge, right at your fingertips! Whether you are a Market America newbie or a veteran UnFranchise® Owner, there is something for everyone on MeetON. Make it a point to expand your knowledge about the business and our products this year by watching at least one MeetON broadcast or pre-recorded video per week.
Sound too dry and boring to you? Why not combine friends, food, and MeetON into one event by inviting your team members over to watch a live broadcast? If you have a Smart TV or a Blu-Ray player that can connect your TV to the internet, pull up the MeetON homepage before everyone arrives so you don’t have to fiddle around with technology right before the Meet starts. If you don’t have a Smart TV or a way to hook your TV up to the Internet, ask your team members to bring laptops to watch the broadcast.
Whether you choose to tune in to a live or prerecorded Meet, make sure to invite your business partners over at least a half an hour prior to when you plan on watching it. Ask everyone to bring a healthy snack, and something to take notes with. Once the Meet has ended, ask everyone to stick around and discuss questions and comments about the information presented. If the broadcast covered a new product, what remaining questions or comments does your team have about the product? Was there anything you didn’t understand, or felt like you missed? Learning together in a supportive environment is one of the most beneficial learning exercises you can do, and hosting a MeetON broadcast event at your house is one of the easiest ways to do it!
Goal: Expand your business knowledge and professional network.
Plan of action: Attend X number of local events per quarter.
Attending major events like World Conference is vital to your success, but don’t forget about your local NMTSS events! Have you checked to see who’s speaking at a local seminar over the next few months? When was the last time you attended a regular UnFranchise® Business Presentation? It never hurts to hear about the business from a perspective other than your own. Check out our blog every Thursday for a list of local seminars planned for that weekend. Want to know if there is an event planned for your region a few weeks out? Contact your local NMTSS and they will be able to give you the information you need. Create a schedule of the events you will attend before the end of the quarter, and stick to it! Attending small events in your town or local seminars in your region will help you build your professional network, your understanding and knowledge of the business, and confidence in yourself and abilities.
Goal: Move closer to achieving a big business goal in 2014.
Plan of action: Reassess your goal statement and plan out what you will do each month this year to get you there.
Ask yourself what is the biggest (yet reasonable) goal that you want to achieve this year. Now think about why you want to achieve that goal – what are the motivating factors behind it? Regardless of what your goal is, write down what it is you want to achieve and why you want to achieve it. Once you have your goal and your “why,” break down step by step what you have to do each quarter, each month, each week, and even each day to achieve it. If you want to add 10 new business partners to your team, what do you need to do today, tomorrow, the next day, and the day after that to move you closer to your goal? Review your goal, your why, and your plan of action often (daily!) to help keep your sights set on achieving what you want most. Staying focused, consistent, and persistent will be the key to your success when it comes to achieving big goals, regardless of what they are.
Goal: Learn how to use social media to build your business.
Plan of action: Spend 20 minutes per day on social media, and focus on 1-3 social networks to start.
Social media can be very daunting and time consuming, but it doesn’t have to be. Because of this, many UnFranchise® Owners shy away from using social media to build their business. Instead of getting frustrated and giving up, break your goal down into small, manageable steps. Select between 1-3 social networks to focus on and learn as much about them as you can. Utilize the “Help” section of each site to find answers to questions you may have about different functions or features of the network. And remember: the more time you spend on social media, the more you run the risk of getting sucked into the “productivity black hole of doom” (our term!). Set a time limit of 20-30 minutes per day that you will devote to getting to know the 1-3 networks you selected, and stick to it. You can even go to the extent of mapping out what you will do during those 20-30 minutes, like posting an update to your Facebook page, responding to your friends’ comments, engaging with one of your friend’s recent posts, retweeting someone you’re following, or reposting a photo on Instagram. Simple tasks, like sharing a few updates and responding to comments, can all be achieved in under 20 minutes (and once you get the hang of it, even less!).
Goal: Learn about growing your business from well-known entrepreneurs and business leaders
Plan of action: Read X number of books each quarter about business or other entrepreneurial-themed topics.
As an entrepreneur, it’s your responsibility to seek out information and find new ways to motivate yourself every day. If one of your goals is to find out how you can improve as an entrepreneur and business owner, why not hear it directly from entrepreneurial thought leaders like Grant Cardone or Guy Kawasaki? To do this, start by browsing your SHOP.COM portal for book titles by these and other authors, and create a list of the books you want to read or listen to on tape. Set a goal for how long you will give yourself to read each book – even break it down by chapter! You know your lifestyle and time constraints best. The last thing you want to do is set an unreasonable goal of reading one book per week, end up feeling completely overwhelmed, and abandon your goal altogether.
If you learn best by discussing ideas, business concepts, and things that confuse or even inspire you, why not take it to the next level and start a book club? Ask friends, business partners, mentors, and even family members to be a part of your group. Make it fun and casual, but make sure that everyone commits to keeping each other accountable for reading the selected chapters. Rather than reading the whole book at once and meeting to discuss it in its entirety, agree to meet once a week or every other week to talk about 1-2 chapters. When it comes to motivational books, quality trumps quantity, so don’t try to cram it all in at once.
When you go the extra step to plan out how you will achieve your goals, you are setting yourself up for success! What are your tips for setting goals and planning how you will achieve them?