IE 48: How to Plan to Hit your Business Goals

Ready to have the best 2018 in your business yet?! We’re diving into How to Plan to Hit your Business Goals so you are more organized and profitable.

IE 48: How to Plan to Hit Your Business Goals

I am excited to welcome back the guest that I had on the podcast way back in episode 6. Nicole Culver and I are chatting all things goals today, as we look ahead to 2018. We aren’t just talking the numbers, but diving into performance goals so that you will be set up for success in the new year!

One reason we are talking about this now is that this is a busy time of year. As the holidays approach, women are busier than ever with their families and holiday prep. Making plans and setting goals for your business can take a back seat if you aren’t super intentional about it. If January comes and you haven’t set any goals or made any plans, you are already behind. That’s no way to go into a brand new year, which is the reason for this episode and the Planning Party that Nicole talks about towards the end of the episode.

See the Year as a Whole

Nicole begins by taking a look at the entire year. This is a great time to go ahead and block out anything you already know is coming at you in the year ahead.

Do you have a baby coming? When are your kids on school break? Are you taking a vacation out of town? Is your babysitter going to be out of town for any period of time?

Taking a look at the big picture helps you to get a feel for what you need to get on the calendar first. Then you can pull back and begin to set goals and plan projects. Even if you don’t have children, you still have things coming up that you need to plan around.

Seasonal Content

To work with brands-

If you work with brands to create seasonal content, like crafts or recipes for specific holidays, you need to go ahead and get those projects on the calendar. By planning these things out now, it gives you time to contact brands and get those sponsorships ready that you will need later.

You should be contacting brands at least 3-4 months in advance of a holiday or season if you want to work with them. Planning out your content like this gives you that push to know what you are going to be talking about and who you want to work with on it.

For your own content-

Even if you aren’t working with a brand for a specific post or series of posts, you may still have series or projects for your blog that need to be planned ahead of time.

Let’s say you plan to run a series at the end of February and you need about 8 weeks to get the content created, Pinterest images ready, social media images done, etc. Now is the time to work backward and figure out when you need to get started on the project.

Maybe you want to increase your engagement or followers on Instagram. Decide what you need to do to make that happen, figure out how long it will take, and come up with a plan to do it.

Once you know your project and how long it will take, begin to plug it into your weekly calendar. This way, you aren’t stressing out when Monday comes around because you know exactly what you need to do that particular week to meet your goal.

Measuring the Goal

I know you hear all the time about SMART goals. As a teacher, I thought my head would explode if the school administration told us one more time that we needed to set SMART goals for our students. But in business, setting SMART goals is crucial if you want to see serious traction.

The piece we are talking about today is the M, the measurement. If your goal can’t be measured, how will you know when you reach it?

If you know that your blog posts need stellar images for Pinterest, you might set a goal that for each post you write, you will create 3 graphics for it. That is a measurable goal. If you create a post and you only create 1 graphic, you have not met your goal.

If your goal is to create those images, you shouldn’t be spending several hours a day scrolling through Instagram or even creating posts for Instagram. You should be spending the few precious hours you have for your business working on things that will get you where you want to go.

The Planning Party

Nicole has a special project she holds this time of year called the Planning Party. Last year, over 1,200 people participated and she already has that number registered for this year, so it’s going to be a great time!

This party will begin by looking back over 2017 to see what worked and what didn’t, and then Nicole will move into planning for 2018. Every day there will be a video as well as a download for you to work through, so by the end of party week, you will have your first 90 days of the new year actually planned out.

Creating the plan now gives you all the margin you need to enjoy the holidays with your family. Then when January hits, you are ready to dive right into your plan and start hitting those goals that you set for yourself and your business.

You need support-

How many times have you sat down to work on goals for the upcoming year or figure out how to make a project happen and you just draw a blank or have no idea where to even start? All of us have been there!

That’s what I love about Nicole’s system; she doesn’t just tell you what to do. Anybody can tell you what to do. But she actually works through it with you so that you get it done. There is a very active and super supportive Facebook group to go along with the party and the folks in there are so helpful and encouraging.

One of the biggest things that Nicole emphasizes is community. The internet can be a lonely place. You need to find your tribe of people that support you and that you can bounce ideas off of and also that you can help and encourage. You don’t have to figure out your business alone.

The group is free, so there’s no reason not to join and get the help you need to make 2018 your best year yet! Be sure to sign up for the party. I will be going through it again this year because it just relieves so much stress to know I have at least my first 90 days of 2018 planned out.

Need Accountability?

One of the great things about Nicole’s planning party is the ability to be held accountable for setting your goals. I know that some of you may want that same thing during the rest of the year though, so I will be opening applications for my mastermind group.

My mastermind group consists of 5-6 bloggers or influencers who are interested in taking their blog or business to the next level. We meet twice a month for a 60-minute group call. I have 2 people in the hot seat per call, and we talk about their business. They are able to ask questions specific to their business, and specifically how to move that business forward.

Once a month, I do a one-on-one consult with each mastermind member as well. The commitment is for 3 months, so if you are interested, sign up here today!

As always, let me know how I can help you. If you aren’t in my Facebook group, be sure to request to join. The group is active and helpful in all things entrepreneurial.