How to set your first-year business goals

Time to Set Your Sights: Let's Plan Your First Year

You've launched your business, made your first sales, and gathered some initial feedback. Brilliant! Now, it's time to look ahead. Setting goals can feel a bit corporate and stuffy, but think of it like this: you wouldn't start a long car journey without a destination in mind. Goals are your business's sat-nav, guiding your decisions and helping you see how far you've come.

This guide will help you set meaningful goals for your first 12 months using a simple and effective method called SMART.

What on Earth are SMART Goals?

SMART is just a handy acronym to make sure your goals are clear and powerful, rather than vague wishes. It stands for:

• Specific: Be precise about what you want to achieve.
• Measurable: Include numbers so you know exactly when you've hit the target.
• Achievable: Be ambitious, but make sure the goal is realistic with your time and resources.
• Relevant: Does this goal actually matter to the success of your business?
• Time-bound: Give yourself a deadline to create a sense of urgency.

For example, instead of a vague goal like "I want to get fit," a SMART goal would be: "I will be able to run 5k without stopping by the end of June by training three times a week." See the difference? It's clear, motivating, and you'll know for sure when you've smashed it.

How to Set Your First-Year Business Goals

Ready to give it a go? Follow these steps to create goals that will drive your business forward.

1. Look at Your Starting Point

   Before you can plan where you're going, you need to know where you are. Take a look at the information you've gathered from your first few weeks or months of trading. How much revenue did you make? How many customers did you serve? This isn't about judging your performance; it's about creating a baseline to grow from.

2. Decide What to Focus On

   You can't improve everything at once. For your first year, it's best to focus on a few key areas. The most common ones are:

   • Revenue: The total amount of money you bring in.
   • Customers: The number of people who buy from you.
   • Growth: This could be growing your social media following, website traffic, or email list.
3. Turn Your Ideas into SMART Goals

   Now, let's apply the SMART framework to those focus areas. Here’s how you can transform a simple idea into a powerful goal.

   Focus Area: Revenue

   • Simple Idea: "Make more money."
   • SMART Goal: "To achieve an average monthly revenue of £1,500 within 12 months."

   Focus Area: Customers

   • Simple Idea: "Get more customers."
   • SMART Goal: "To gain 75 new paying customers by the end of this year, averaging about 6-7 new customers per month."

   Focus Area: Growth

   • Simple Idea: "Grow my Instagram account."
   • SMART Goal: "To increase my Instagram followers from 200 to 1,000 within six months by posting five times a week and engaging with 10 other accounts daily."
4. Write Them Down and Keep Them Visible

   Don't just keep your goals in your head. Write them down and put them somewhere you'll see them every day – on a sticky note on your monitor, a whiteboard in your office, or as the background on your phone. This keeps you focused and accountable.

5. Break Big Goals into Smaller Steps

   A 12-month goal can feel huge and far away. Break it down into smaller, quarterly or monthly chunks. For example, if your goal is to earn £18,000 in revenue over the year, your first quarterly target might be to earn £3,000. This makes your big goal feel much more manageable and gives you milestones to celebrate along the way.

A Few Final Tips

• Be flexible. The business world can be unpredictable. It's okay to adjust your goals if your circumstances change. A goal is a guide, not a rule set in stone.
• Don't be afraid to start small. It's better to set a realistic goal and achieve it than to set an impossible one and feel demotivated. You can always set more ambitious goals next year!
• Celebrate your progress. When you hit a monthly target or a small milestone, give yourself a pat on the back. Acknowledging your hard work is essential for staying motivated for the journey ahead.