Setting 2015 Business Goals

With the holidays rapidly approaching, it’s hard to believe that 2014 will be over before you know it. With just a few weeks remaining until we ring in 2015, now is a good time to set your business goals for the year ahead.

In a recent Inc. Magazine article, “How to Set Business Goals,” 80% of small businesses surveyed did not keep track of their business goals, and 77% have yet to achieve their vision for their company. It is not surprising that a business owner who fails to understand where they are has trouble getting to, or even knowing, where they want to go.

Your first step in determining 2015’s goals is to take an introspective look at the current state of your company: what has been your greatest achievement in 2014? What has been the biggest challenge? Where are you succeeding, and where is the greatest need for change?

Looking a few years into the future, where do you see your company? How many employees do you have? What is your annual revenue? Do you have more than one location? Most importantly: what is the number one thing that you want for your business within the next five years? Take that five-year goal and work backwards, detailing each step that you need to achieve to get you to that end goal.

Once you know that, you can begin to design a month-by-month strategy and daily actions for yourself. Remember, every action step you take for your business, as small as it may be at first, compounds into long-term success. You can read more about this mind-blowing business theory in Darren Hardy’s The Compound Effect.

While not all of your plans will work, embrace each setback as education. Instead of dwelling on mistakes, make changes and keep moving forward. Your consistence in planning, persistence in following through with the necessary actions, and unwavering commitment to your long-term goal are the ingredients to achieving your vision for your company.