Setting And Achieving Big Entrepreneur Goals
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Today I’m thrilled to announce the launch of the HerPaperRoute Podcast!
It’s a show all about money and entrepreneurship.
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Where we discuss the many ways you can earn a living online, on your own terms.
Plus, this podcast allows me to feature amazing, inspiring women entrepreneurs and bloggers from all walks of life.
This is something I have been really excited to launch.
Horray! It’s here. I hope you like it!
==> More episodes
Ep 01: Setting And Achieving Big Entrepreneur Goals
On this first episode of the HerPaperRoute Podcast, we are diving right into a topic that really is the foundation of any type of business success.
And that is goal-setting and goal-reaching. Because without being able to dream big and plan hard, getting any business idea up off the floor and into the real world is nearly impossible.
So what better way to kick off our first episode than to start at the root of any entrepreneur’s journey?
At the drawing board. Where you find yourself dreaming up your goals, and then figuring out what exactly you are going to do to make it happen.
Episode one and two are streaming on iTunes now.
Shownotes – Bonuses & Resources
Related: My Daily Blogging Routine
On this episode, I mentioned a few bonuses and resources for listeners. Here’s how you can access them all:
My Blogger And Entrepreneur Toolkit is a resource library of helpful tools, planners, courses, ebooks and more. I give it to all HerPaperRoute members. You can become a member for free right here!
Sponsor Bonus
My email service provider Convertkit is giving away a free trial of their platform today!
Every entrepreneur needs a professional email management system for handling subscribers, newsletters, funnels and freebie optins. ConvertKit has everything you need to room a smooth campaign, every time.
Ep 01: How To Set Big Entrepreneur Goals And Actually Achieve Them
Getting really good at planning goals and the plan of action you will take to achieve them is something that as an entrepreneur you will find yourself doing over and over.
At first, it may be as you are growing, setting those initial plans for getting your business started, and then several times as you bear the ups and downs, adjust your strategy around your quote end quote “failures” along the way.
And then when things start working, you will be here again, making more goals because you’ve slayed all your other ones, and you need to set bigger goals now.
Be aware of what you want, speak it out loud, keep it at the forefront of your mind at all times.
It will make it way easier to reach those goals and knock them out of the park when you are hyper-aware of what it is you are working towards.
Goal setting, no matter how you do it, is important to achieving what you want in life. You’ve probably heard the quote:
A goal without a plan is just a wish
-Antone de Saint-Exupery
Do you have a goal? Starting a business? Starting a blog, losing weight, saving money? Think of that goal as you listen to today’s episode. And think of previous goals you’ve had that you didn’t quite achieve in the past.
Review your previous goal(s) and objectives
Ok, think about your previous goal and answer these questions…
- What was the goal you were previously working on?
- How do you think it went before?
- What about your goal was successful?
- What about your goal didn’t work out?
- What did you struggle with?
- How could you have done better?
Successful people make it a habit to take time each day for self-reflection. By answering these questions you can figure out what you need to do with your goal(s) next time to be even more successful
Make S.M.A.R.T. goals
If you have ever read a self-help book or blog post I’m sure you have heard of SMART goals, but let’s take a minute to review.
A SMART goal is:
- SPECIFIC – Specifically, what is your goal? I’m going to use savings as a running example here: You can’t just say “I want to save money”. Think about how much money you want to save. Are you saving for something specific? What changes do you have to make to save that specific amount?
- MEASURABLE – How much are you saving? $100/week, $1/day? How are you measuring your progress? How will you know that you are staying on track?
- ATTAINABLE – Is your goal actually attainable? For example, paying off your mortgage in a year is not attainable for most people, however, saving up $5,000 in an emergency fund over a year is a much more attainable goal.
- REALISTIC/RELEVANT – Can YOU realistically achieve your goal? Is the goal you set worth it?
- TIME-BOUND – In what timeframe will you achieve your goal?
It is really important to sit down and write out your goals and think about each of these points.
For example, setting a SMART goal changes “I want to save money,” to “I want to save $5,000 for an emergency fund by the end of the year by putting $193 from each paycheck (paid bi-weekly-26 paychecks) into my savings.
Do you see the difference there?
Write down your goals and objectives
Writing down your goals is critical!
Writing them down your goals not only helps you to remember them but also helps you to remember WHY you want to achieve them.
I am the type of person that if I don’t write something down or have a consistent reminder of things, I will forget about it.
Well, if you can’t remember your goals, how are you supposed to work on them?
There are a TON of ways to write out your goals so you don’t forget about them:
- Check out Etsy for just about every kind of goal setting worksheet you could think of!
- Create a vision board
- Start a blog to detail your progress
- Download a habit tracker/goal setting planner or apps
- Use IFTTT to help simplify your life and make your goal setting and habits easier
- Put post-its around your house to remind you of your goals-the bathroom mirror is always a prime spot
- Use ClickUp (my favorite productivity app! The free plan is all you’ll need!)
- Use the calendar app on your phone to set reminders or to-dos
If you’re looking for a goals and accountability planner that isn’t date specific, the Panda Planner is a great choice.
Create your goal plan
In order to stay motivated in reaching your goals, you need to create a plan of action!
A plan helps to break down your goals step by step so you know exactly what you need to do and when. Otherwise, you might feel like you are all over the place and overwhelmed by the big, end goal.
Your plan should detail the steps you will need to take in order to reach your goal(s).
What happens at each step? How will you track your progress?
Be as detailed as possible as this will help in your success!
Break down your goal
As I stated in the previous point, you need to break down your goal into smaller steps. When you have a BIG goal, especially if it takes place over a long time frame, it can feel so overwhelming.
Take the saving money example, $5,000 might seem like a lot, but $193 every paycheck doesn’t sound as scary. Or weight loss is another good example.
Say you want to lose 100 pounds over the next year, that is less than 2 pounds per week. See, that sounds totally doable!
If you are setting a goal for a whole year, break into down into 12, 26, or 52 steps-monthly, bi-weekly, or weekly. You will stay more motivated if you are seeing ?.
Thinking about starting a blog to make some extra income? You should!
I’ve been earning 6 figures as a blogger for years, getting to do something creative and rewarding. I think everyone should have a blog!
If we were making a S.M.A.R.T. plan to develop a new blog into a success, here’s a sample timeline of what that might look like.
- January – Think of a blog idea, name, and do some research. Get my Blogger Toolkit (it’s free!)
- February – Start a blog and create an overall blogging plan.
- March – Create an editorial calendar from your research.
- April – Monetize your blog and implement those.
- May – Put together and implement your blog marketing plan (hello Pinterest!).
- June – Attend a blogging conference.
- July – Guest post on 10 websites.
- August – Grow your email list to X subscribers.
- September – Build an emergency fund for X months.
- October – Reach X in blogging income.
- November – Grow a social media account to X.
- December – Reach a ‘blogging milestone’ like partnering with a big brand, launching a digital product, or getting into a boutique ad network like MediaVine.
Simple right? I know that’s all a lot of work. But that’s the point!
When it comes to setting goals and reaching them, it’s all about putting the work into something amazing that will pay off later.
Keep track and adjust accordingly
Just like you would get a review at a job, make sure you are reviewing your goals on a regular basis. Things change all the time.
Set a recurring time to review your goals, daily, weekly, monthly, whatever makes sense for the goal.
Having a recurring check-in will let you know whether you are on track, behind, or need to make any changes.
Looking for ways to track your finances better, check out Personal Capital. It’s a free service that can help you gain control of your spending and saving, similar to Mint.com.
But, Personal Capital also gives you access to your investments and retirement accounts!
Find small ways to stick to your goals
It happens, we all have those “off” days and fall off the wagon with our goals. The goals we set just might feel way too big some days.
When this happens, you might just outright ignore your goals, or just be lazy and put them on the back burner.
Or maybe you’re too tired or have too many other things going on. This can lead to a spiral effect and completely getting off track.
Forgetting about your goals, even for a short period of time, can cause you to get off track.
Do you feel like your goals are just too big? Try to find small ways to take steps in the right direction towards achieving your goals every day.
Try to do little things daily to work towards your goals. Habit trackers are great for this!
Just remember that even the smallest steps in the right direction are still better than nothing!
Ways you can get back on track with your goals:
Wanting to eat healthier? Have pre-made healthy meals and snacks so you don’t go for the unhealthy stuff when you’re hungry.
Don’t feel like working out? Do some small things like pushups against the counter while cooking dinner.
Struggling to make your financial goals. Try automation some things to make it a no-brainer to save-like automatic withdrawals from your checking into savings.
Motivate yourself
Consistent motivation to reach your goals will help you when you feel like quitting.
Sometimes your goals might seem impossible, and having that little bit of extra motivation can make a world of difference.
But motivation might always be easy to find either.
Here are a few creative ways to keep yourself motivated
- Create a vision board and keep it in plain sight.
- Reward yourself for milestones.
- Make your goal a friendly competition
This can help you in two different ways. First of all, if you are at all competitive, you understand what is at stake in any competition.
Secondly, this also gives you an accountability partner.
Having an accountability partner can make your goal journey fun and maybe even a little bit easier.
You also then have someone who is going through the same types of challenges that you can turn to and someone who is pushing you to succeed.
Your accountability partner can be anyone with similar goals as yourself.
Keep going!
And the most important aspect of goal setting for any kind of goal is to just keep moving forward!
It really doesn’t matter what kind of goal you are setting, you can always work to improve and expand on your goal even after you reach it.
What are some of the goals you have set for this year and beyond? What goal-setting tips do you have to share?
If you haven’t already, please go over to iTunes and listen to the HerPaperRoute Podcast and tune in to episode 2 (which is available now as well!).
If you like it, would you be amazing and leave me a nice review?
Thank you so much for your support =)
– Chelsea
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