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It’s the dog days of summer, but there’s no time like the present to review the past six months and make some changes for the balance of your fiscal year. Do you consider your business a success?
Review the following to see how you measure up:
1. Did you write your goals down in one central place at the beginning of the year? If not, the time to do it is now. Studies show that goals in writing are met more often.
2. How visible is your business compared to your competitors? What is your market share? How is your website ranked? What are your customers telling you about the way you do business?
3. Are you able to cover all your expenses and still have money left over?
4. Are you making more than when you were an employee?
5. Does this business have growth potential? Would you make money if you were an outside investor? You may consider adding new products or services.
6. How do you feel about the business – is it giving you the benefits you hoped for? Are you burnt out or still passionate about it?
Now begin to set your new objectives:
1. Review your mission statement. What is the overall business intent? Are you doing the day-to-day things to accomplish your mission? Do you still believe in it?
2. List your goals – Start writing a list of things you’d like to accomplish in the balance of this year. Goals can be financial, but consider non-financial goals such as brand building and improving customer relationships as well. Prioritize and decide which are most important.
3. At this point, your goals will be short term. Make sure your goals are challenging, yet attainable – making them specific and measurable will ensure they are realistic. be sure that they contain three critical components: who, what and when. Specifically, you must always identify “who” the goal applies to. Additionally, you must specify “what” behavior the goal will measure. Finally, you must specify the time frame “when” you expect to complete the goal.
4. As you write down your goals, clarify why you wish to achieve this. Checking in with your customers regarding what they like/dislike about your services or products will help give you a competitive edge in your goal-setting. This will also help you evaluate what has worked best in the last six months.
5. Identify what “tools” you will use and how will obtain the “tools” to achieve your goals. Reference your budget when working with this list.
6. Reward yourself upon reaching a goal.
Now you are ready and hopefully encouraged as you face the last half of the year. The most important thing to remember as you execute your plans is to be flexible and take nothing for granted. Be dynamic and ready to work with your goals on a regular basis. Perhaps build in alternatives, but always take action and never give up. Your vision of the future can be met by following this simple process on a regular basis.
Susan Valeri is a business and book publicist who gets clients in
front of their audience. Her company, V.A.S. & Associates, obtains
maximum visibility for their clients through personalized and
persistent contact with the media. V.A.S. offers 15 years experience
in the U.S. and Canadian book publicity market. Visit
www.powerfulpublicity.com.
