Lately I’ve been doing a fair amount of self reflection, I’ve been thinking a lot about goals, how to make them, what to target, and what’s a reasonable timeframe to accomplish them in. This of course led me to think about realism, and the setting realistic goals and expectations.
It’s funny because most people I’ve run across have this rather healthy sense of self-belief, which is great. But is it really realistic? Is it practical for me to say to myself: “My goal is to be a rock star”? Well seeing as I’m just an average joe, i.e. my singing is nothing to write home about, I can’t play an instrument, and my rock knowledge is fair a best, this might be a touch unrealistic. Why? Well, I haven’t taken any steps to get me there. I haven’t signed up for drum lessons, I haven’t joined the local choir, in fact I haven’t really done anything to put me on the path to rock stardom aside from watching the occasional American Idol episode. Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with dreams of glory, just remember the old adage: You must crawl before you can walk, walk before you can run, and run before you can fly.
Now let’s apply this to your small business for a second. If you’ve started your own business, you’re obviously fairly ambitious, you’ve got a plan and you’re implementing it (which is great). Most likely you’ve also set some business goals for yourself too (another great idea). My advice is to make these goals incremental, manageable, and obtainable. Baby steps if you will. Rather than saying that by Christmas your brand spanking new store is going to be averaging 100K in sales a month, try starting small. Having some basic marketing activities set up and getting a couple unique site visitors a day by December is probably a lot more achievable. Then once you’ve achieved that goal, set another small one for yourself. Just remember, more often than not, if your expectations are too high for one person-or one business-to meet, you may inadvertently hijack your efforts and your goals will do a better job at holding you back rather than pushing you forward.
Here are a few tips for you to chew on:
- Pace yourself - Set high enough expectations and goals that you’re motivated but not so high that you’re setting your self up for failure.
- Don’t promise more than you can deliver – There are only 24 useable hours in every day, be reasonable when setting expectations with customers, every will be much happier if you set a reasonable expectation and over deliver (as opposed to making unreasonable promises and failingly to live up to them).
- Take disappointments in stride and learn from them – the occasional disappointment is inevitable, so rather than thinking of these little hiccups as gross failures, use them as learning opportunities and grow from them.
References: Keeping It Real by Max Berry
Oh so true! Try not to get caught in the excitement of making $100k the first week your online store is up and running!! You can't believe all the hype that's out there on making money fast....it takes hard work, commitment and a strong desire to succeed. Don't give up, but be prepared to take baby steps to your goals.
Posted by: Candyce Castaldo | September 01, 2009 at 07:14 AM