A goal, not a resolution

Image by lululemon athletica via Flickr

To be successful you must have goals. In your business you need to have a business plan which will set out the goals for your business and the numbers behind them. You also need goals in your personal life which will set you apart from most of the population.

When most people think of goals they think of New Years resolutions that they usually break in the first week. But a goal is more; it requires more of you so that you can get more out of it.

Here is the heart of a goal so that you can start putting some together.

First of all a goal must be written down. By writing the goal down you are making a commitment to accomplish it.

Second a goal must have a time period. Someday just does not work when setting a goal. If you want to loose 20 pounds then you must set a realistic timeline to accomplish it. If you want to do it in one week you are not being realistic. If you set a timeline of one year, you are not taking the goal seriously.

Third a goal must be specific. You must have a specific target to hit. If you want to loose 20 pounds you cannot set a goal that says that you would like to loose some weight. Saying that you would like to pay off some debt is not a specific goal, but saying you would like to be debt free in 24 months is a specific goal.

A goal must also be realistic. If I set a goal to be a player in the NBA by next year, the goal will not be realistic. First of all I have only played basketball a few times in my life. Second I am older than players coming into the NBA and third my height would be an issue.

So you have the basics of what needs to make up a goal. Now get some goals written down.

For more on setting goals head over to the expert goal setter himself Zig Ziglar for more ideas.

Are you willing to put in the time?

Image by Christolakis via Flickr

Wil Schoter is another small business blogger that I like to check in on now and again. Today he has a great entry that everyone who is considering starting their own small business should take into consideration.

When you first start your own small business you will not have a nice cushy 9 to 5 job. Starting a new business is going to take a lot of time and effort. Often it will just be you or a couple of people running the ship and you have to be there to nurture it all the time. If you look at the people who have been successful at starting small businesses, you will see that they often put in 16 to 20 hour days in the start up phase in order to get it successful.

That is one thing you want to consider especially if you have a family or don’t like to put in any more time than you have to. While in the long run the hard work will pay off, you have to ask yourself are you going to be able to make those kinds of sacrifices now.

This is another reason why it is so important to find a business that you will truly enjoy working at. You need to have the passion to see the start up times through so that you will see it through this phase and beyond.

Starting a business is not a full time job; it is a full time commitment. Are you willing to put the effort in?