Setting Business Goals

The biggest mistake made when it come to setting business goals lies in tying a goal to a result that is beyond your control.

How often do you choose results based goals when setting business goals? Have you ever said to yourself something like:

• I will increase sales by 20 percent this quarter.
• I will make ten times my booth fees in sales at the next craft show I attend.
• I will double the traffic to my website in the next two months.
• I will lose ten pounds this month. (O.K., this one is not really a business goal, but it's a common enough goal nonetheless.)

What's wrong with these goals? They are out of your control.

While you can perform actions that have a good chance of leading you to those goals, you do not have reasonable control over whether or not you achieve those outcomes.

What if the craft show you attend happens to be an outdoor show and it's rained out? Despite your best efforts, you may not meet your goal of making ten times your booth fee. It's out of your control.

Perhaps you watch your calories and exercise regularly, but your body hits a plateau this month. You won't meet your goal, and you will feel like you have failed in spite of the great efforts you have made to live a healthier lifestyle.

The problem with results-based business goal setting is that you can easily set yourself up for failure. When the goal is not reasonably within your control, there's a real chance that you will not reach that goal through no fault of your own. So, if your goal was to make ten times your booth fee, and the show is rained out, although your sales a may be good in light of the weather conditions, you'll still end up feeling like you failed because you didn't meet your goal.

Instead of setting business goals based on results that are beyond your control, focus on setting goals that are based on accomplishments that are well within your control. For example:

• I will research and implement two new strategies for selling crafts this quarter.
• I will plan and create an effective craft show booth over the next three months.
• I will write five new articles for my website this month.
• I will walk on the treadmill for 30 minutes, four times this week.

While some are more ambitious than others, all of these goals are well within your control. You may need to seek out help in achieving some of the goals, but whether they get accomplished or not is largely up to you.

Setting business goals that are within your control helps you to maintain motivation and provides effective guidelines for your day to day work. Don't set yourself up for failure by setting goals that are beyond your control. When you control your successes, it will be much easier to continue to move forward in building your craft business.