Why You Should Start Business Goal Planning in 2024 (& How to Make Sure it Actually Gets Done!)

One time when I was trying to get to the Boston Airport for a TSA appointment, I got lost in the city tunnels on the way there by making one wrong turn.

If you know anything about driving in Boston, you know that there are a lot of tunnels. You also know that GPS signals don’t work in the tunnels. So if you screw up, you’re entirely on your own until you come back up to ground level —  and that can take a while.

So naturally, I was panicked. I didn’t want to be late for my appointment because getting another one would be a REAL pain. 

To make a long story short, I finally made it to the airport parking garage after driving around in circles for nearly an hour and made it to my appointment with less than two minutes to spare.

It sucked, and that feeling of knowing where I wanted to go, just not knowing how to get there, was not fun. I eventually got where I needed to go, but not without a lot of run around and wasted time first. 

Sound familiar?

Maybe you haven’t gotten lost in the Boston city tunnels before, but you’ve felt lost elsewhere. Like with your business. You know what you want to accomplish, you’re just not sure how to get from point A to point B. 

That’s why you need to start business goal planning! 

Why business goal planning is a must-have in 2024

When you don’t have a plan for how you’ll accomplish your goals, you’re setting yourself in the middle of a foreign city with no map and no idea where to go. Maybe you’ll give up and call off the rest of the trip. Maybe you’ll reach your destination eventually, but hours later. 

You waste a lot of time, money, and energy when you don’t create a roadmap for where you want your business to go. But business goal planning isn’t just about creating a list of things to do. It’s about creating a roadmap so these goals aren’t just a daydream, but your REALITY. 

There are plenty of ways to do this, but I like to break it down into annual goals, quarterly goals, and monthly goals. 

Annual Goal Planning

Setting annual goals is all about envisioning what you really want to accomplish. What feels most aligned to where you want your business to be in the future? How does your goal factor into your bigger company vision? 

To set annual goals, first, carve out some time to reflect on the year prior. This will help you get closer to knowing what, exactly, you want to do:

• Reflect on last year’s wins: What worked well for you? What felt good? What did you get excited about? 
• Reflect on last year’s challenges: Did you struggle to bring in new clients? Manage a growing team? Where did you notice bottlenecks or snags in your workflow? Felt constantly burnt out?

Once you’ve got something narrowed down, you can start creating specific goals that feel aligned with your business AND attainable for you and your team. 

Quarterly Goal Planning

When you know the WHAT, you need to get into the HOW. Quarterly goal planning is all about breaking things down into smaller, more manageable tasks.

What milestones do you need to hit? What steps do you need to take to get there? For example, let’s say you want to increase cash flow so you can start outsourcing your Instagram content.

Maybe step one is assessing the current state of your finances and figuring out how much more you need to reach your goal. After figuring this out, you see that you need to increase your monthly course sales from 300 to 500 to make it happen. Then, you plan out how to optimize your funnels to bring in those course sales. 

You break this goal down to the bottom, then allocate it to each quarter so you can work on it one step at a time. 

Don’t forget to estimate your time!

It’s easy to write something down on your to-do list. What’s not easy is implementing it. If you don’t schedule time for said task, or even just plan around it, you will most definitely push it. It’s just human nature. 

We ALL procrastinate, especially when we get loaded up with client tasks that require our attention first. But you can avoid that by estimating how long each step will take, and then finding a way to incorporate that into your workflow. 

Maybe that means giving yourself one hour every day to work on your goal. Or setting aside one afternoon a week for it. Whatever works for you!

And don’t forget to include your team!

While you will most definitely need to carve out time to work on these goals, don’t forget the role your team plays in them, too. You may need their help with tasks such as turning your plans into actionable items or pulling reports so you know where you stand with your stats, finances, etc.

They’re there to support you — so give them time to do that! That’s what you hired them for, right?

Monthly Goal Setting

Time for a check-in! Monthly goals are all about monitoring progress more than actual goal setting. And it’s super important that you don’t skip this step either.

Because you can’t track how a goal is coming along based on vibes alone. You may feel like you’re making progress, or that you don’t have much left to do, but when you start tracking your progress, you realize some adjustments are long overdue. 

Maybe you’re stuck on a phase of the project. Dig into why and make adjustments. Maybe some other roadblocks are keeping you stuck. How can you work around them so you can stay productive?

This is your time to see what you need to keep moving forward!

When should you monthly goal plan?

Honestly — that doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you make time for it. Whether that’s at the beginning of the month, at the end, or somewhere in between, as long as you have an opportunity to catch up once a month, the choice is yours!

Get help with your business goal roadmap

So…goal planning isn’t your cup of tea (or coffee, or juice, or kombucha). I get it. Some people don’t like the admin work and that’s okay!

But start framing your mindset around it like this: Goal planning is a way to help you do more of what you love — like showing up for your clients! And once you get a system down, it just becomes another part of your business. Until one day, you wake up and realize you did the damn thing 👏🏻

THAT’S the real power of goal planning, my friend. Not making more money, bringing in more students to your programs, or growing your team, but giving you all the opportunities to keep on doing what lights your fire. 

Need help creating your goal roadmap? I’m just a phone call away! Get in touch with me here.