A Step-By-Step Guide to Making Achievable Business Goals

By Amera Alleyne

Running a business comes with its own set of challenges and responsibilities. Sometimes, it can be easy to get dragged into the day-to-day responsibilities. But if you want to achieve success, you must look into the big picture and seek clarity on how you want your future to be.

If you want a better system for setting and achieving your business goals, here is a quick step-by-step guide.

Step 1: Think About Your Specific Intentions

This may seem like the beginning of a longer process, but when you get right down to it, it’s the most important part. When you set specific intentions, you give yourself a particular vision of where you want to be in the future.

This means that you are more able to formulate a business goal that is achievable in the short term and can grow into something grand in the long term.

Additionally, specific intentions allow you to consider the different steps you could take to achieve your goal.

Step 2: Decide on Your Potential Goals and Objectives

The next step is to decide your potential goals and objectives.

This means that instead of just setting a few broad and open-ended business goals, you should look at specific, measurable and achievable goals.

Start with a general idea of what you want. For instance, you might want to increase your profit margin. Next, break that down into a potential goal. For example, you might want to improve my profit margin by 15% over the next year.

Finally, break that goal down into a list of potential objectives. For instance, you might want to take on more clients, improve your sales pitch, and make changes to your revenue tracking software.

Step 3: Compare Your Goals with These Five Key Criteria

Goals can be challenging. To ensure that your goals are achievable, you should make sure that they meet five critical criteria:

Strategic – Your goal must have one clear strategy.
Narrow – You must focus your goals on a single objective.
Fact-Based – Your goal must consider what you have, considering the end goal of 12 months.
With Available Resources – You must have money, talent, and time to complete your goal.
Measurable – Your goals must have specific numbers and dates for accomplishing them.

Step 4: Design an Action Plan

If you want to achieve a goal, you must create a plan for how you will do it.

The plan doesn’t have to be complicated, but it should be easy to follow. Write down each step you’re going to take to achieve your goal.

Next, create a timeline. You should have a deadline to work towards. This will keep you motivated and focused.

Finally, evaluate your plan. Make sure that you have a realistic outlook of what you can achieve and what you need to achieve it.

Final Thoughts

At the end of the day, goals are an integral part of your business strategy. Your business goals give you a clear idea of where you want to end up and how to get there. Setting business goals is a step in the right direction, but if you’re going to achieve them, you need to develop a plan of action.

If you want to learn more about business development, Black Business Global is here for you. We support Black-owned businesses across Canada through education, leadership development, and mentorship. Sign up to be a part of our Black-owned business portal today.