Goal Setting For Your Creative Business
Feeling in control comes from knowing where you’re going, and that comes from planning and goal setting for your business. The internet is full of advice and tips about this stuff, but often it’s quite cold and transactional, based on previous year’s data and projecting and percentage increases. But if your business is brand new, you don’t have that data to go on. And if you intend for your business to give you a lifestyle of freedom, rather than millions in the bank, the coldness doesn’t quite fit, somehow. Right?
So here I’m going to share my thoughts on goal setting (if you're feeling really on it you may also want to read this in tandem with my How To Set Goals That Encourage Action post). Planning has been a big part of my life this year in setting up and launching my business, and I have navigated a goal setting path that has been at times chaotic and confused, but has nonetheless got me to a position of being booked out four months in. I'm going to talk to you about how I set goals that feed my soul as well as my business, and also a few things I learned the hard way about goals and why they mustn't be your be all and end all.Let's dig in.
The Goal Setting Process
How do you want to feel?
This is a question that Jen Carrington asked me a few months ago when I was coaching with her. I was right at the beginning of conceiving my business, and couldn’t think of anything specific I wanted, or needed, to achieve. It was all a big unknown and traditional goal setting techniques weren’t chiming with me. This question helped me to gain some sort of focus, a pinpoint on the horizon to aim at. Back in April, my answer to this was ‘I want to feel free’, which lead me to leave my job and helped me to think about what kind of things I could actually do to achieve this feeling.Fast forward through a hectic fourth quarter and I posed this question to myself again. This time, the answer that came out was ‘I want to feel in control’. While in reality I am much more in control of my business than I often feel I am, this question helped me see that my short term goals right now are to consolidate my business and get a bit more balance and structure back. Posing this question to yourself fairly regularly is a great springboard for goal setting and assessing the direction of your business.
Plot backwards
Once you have this point in the distance you're heading for, you need to fill in the gaps between you and it. Plot backwards from the point to work out the stepping stones you need to get there. So, for me wanting to feel in control I worked out that I needed an income spreadsheet, quarterly aims and targets and a more structured calendar. I could also break these down into further goals.For you, you may need to leave full time work to get to your end point, so then you’d break down all the steps that need to happen to be able to do that. Maybe you actually realise you want to stop doing a certain product line, so you’d break down how you can afford to do it.
How can you provide value to your people?
This is what I say to everyone, whether they are setting up a whole new business or are writing a new blog post. With every goal you set and decision you make, you must ask yourself ‘is this providing value to the people I want to serve?’. Because the harsh reality of business is, no matter how much you love something, if your target customer doesn’t find it valuable they won’t pay for it, or pay attention to it.So perhaps one of your goals is to finally set up that newsletter list. Rather than think about the things you could write about, think about your audience would actually want to read (very often these are two very different things!). Similarly if you want to start blogging regularly, how can you serve your audience through that content. If you’re thinking of a new product line… you get the idea. Keep focused on providing the most value to your customer with every goal and plan you make.
Take action
A major part of goal setting that we often forget to do is to work out how we’re actually going to get there. I’m guilty too of just writing down a number or a goal and not actually doing the second half of figuring out what I’m going to do to get there - obviously that’s because this is the hardest bit!One way to tackle this is think about what scares you or worries you about a goal. Are you worried you won’t actually get around to doing it? In that case you need to get yourself some accountability, whether through a business buddy or a coach. Are you scared that you don’t have the technical knowhow to achieve the goal? Then you will need to take a course or workshop, or perhaps even outsource part of the project to someone who does have that knowhow. When you identify what worries you about a goal you identify the thing that will stop you achieving it, so work out what action you need to take to get over that worry.
Now let’s get more specific. In terms of marketing, there are really a finite number of methods for you to use: content, email marketing, social media, PR/outreach and advertising. Then it’s a case of pairing up your goals with the best method. If you want to build community, then social media and email marketing are probably your best bet. If you want to reach a new audience, then outreach (working with influencers and other publications) is the best way to do that. If you want to strengthen your brand then content is for you, either through blogging, podcasting or video (or all three!).Once you’ve paired up your goal to the marketing method, you ask yourself that key question again, ‘how can I best serve my audience with this?’. Perhaps it’ll be by setting up a Facebook group, perhaps it’s doing giveaways with key influencers, maybe it’s giving away a little bit of your knowledge each month to newsletter subscribers. Whatever it takes, make sure that your actions not only provide value to your audience, but that they will absolutely contribute to achieving your goal.For income based goals, I would really recommend this post by Jen Carrington – it’s what I’ve been using to set my income goals this year.
Things To Remember
In my own business and with clients I don’t give goals the sanctity that others seem to; I favour having a clear direction rather than specific goals to hit. Below I explain why and how you can take your goals with a pinch of salt.
Specific goals can limit you
In January 2017 I set myself a goal to reach 6000 Instagram followers by the end of the year; in actual fact I’m ending 2017 with more than double that. It was actually a sensible goal based on the rate of growth I’d experienced up until that point, but it didn’t leave room to stretch, didn’t take into account investments I’d make in myself or the fact that growth gets easier once you get over 1000 followers.The point I’m making here is that specific goals are great for measuring yourself against, but they can also be limiting. Don’t make your goal your finish line; treat it as your pace maker, as something that sets you off at the right speed but that drops away once you’ve built up steam. Don’t allow a goal that at first feels realistic limit your potential.
Leave room for the unexpected extra
The unexpected extra is something I’m very conscious of in my business – it’s an unplanned-for, unfathomable opportunity that you might have to drop everything for. Say, for example, a big influencer buys and features one of your products and you get a sudden rush of orders. Or perhaps your favourite brand gets in touch wanting a few days of your time to create content for them. If you have stringently planned your weeks and set tight deadlines for your goals, you’re not going to be able to exploit these opportunities to their fullest potential. In my experience, the more good stuff you put out into the world, the more unexpected extra that comes back to you, so make sure you leave space for the opportunities you can’t even imagine yet.And the unexpected extra doesn’t just have to come from external sources, it can come from you too. It can be the idea that comes on a long drive and just won’t leave, it can be a project you want to join in with or a new friendship. Don’t allow yourself to feel so locked into your plans and goals that you can’t explore these things when they pop up.
Follow your curiosity
Sometimes the goals we set in the cold light of a planning session are not the right things for us to be doing at this point in our businesses. You might find that something you were committed to, that seemed like such a sensible idea, in fact leaves you cold when you sit down to actually do it. And perhaps something you hadn’t even considered will light you up instead.This is something I experienced this year. My plan all along has been to do e-courses, and I had aimed to release one this January. But for some reason, I just couldn’t get inspired by it. Every time I sat down to write, I had nothing, and with hindsight I think I wasn’t ready. I was trying to force it out whereas actually I need the ideas to simmer for much longer. At around the same time I had the idea for the Out Of The Woods workshop, and it just would not leave me alone. Thinking about the workshops just flowed, the ideas came easily and I found myself organising them in spite of myself.In this case, I made a conscious decision to follow my curiosity, to pursue the thing that was lighting me up. Although it hadn’t been in my plan, I had to trust my instincts and excitement and know that that was where I could do my best work right now. The e-course can wait. So listen to your curiosity and go where it takes you, even if that means putting another project on the backburner.
What goals are you planning for this year?
Pin for later:
