How to Set Home Business Goals This Year

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What do you want your home business to look like 365 days from now? Keep reading to learn how to set home business goals, plus get tips to help you actually meet your goals.

Are you ready to take your home business to the next level? If you’ve decided that this is your year, you need to set some goals.

Goals help you focus your attention. They give you a plan of attack, so that when you act, you aren’t randomly moving. Instead, you are moving towards a specific direction that you have chosen in advance.

In short, goals move you from random actions to intentional ones. They help you actually make progress in an area of your life.

If you’re ready to set some goals for your business this year, here are seven steps you need to take:

1. Reflect on the past and present
2. Think about the future
3. Decide what type of goal to set
4. Write your goals down
5. Take action
6. Reflect regularly
7. Adapt as necessary

Let’s look at each one in a bit more detail.

1. Reflect On the Past and Present

You can’t set an attainable goal without first doing some reflection. You need to know where you are now, so you can clearly see where you are going next.

Think back to why you started your home business in the first place. What did you hope to achieve? What did you want to do?

Does that original why still apply? Or do you need to update it to reflect your new reality?

Now, I want you to think back over your business since the time you first launched it. Take some time to really reflect and write down several things that you have accomplished with your business.

These can be big things or little things. They can be monetary. Or show personal growth.

Once you have your reflections written down, it’s time to add some data. Using data helps you to be accurate, so you can really see how things are going.

You can look at data since you initially launched, or just over the past year. You can look at your:

• Income
• Profit and Loss Statements
• Clients
• Work produced
• Services offered

And any other data points that make sense for your home business.

Once you have an accurate picture of where your business is currently, it’s time to move onto step two of the goal setting process.

2. Think About the Future

Where do you see yourself and your home business a year from now? What about five or ten years from now?

Get out a piece of paper and write down your dreams and visions. Dare to dream big, go ahead – you don’t have to show anyone else if you don’t want to.

Do you see your home business earning enough to completely pay off your debt?

Or earning a full-time income? (A home business can be life changing!)

Do you see yourself connecting with a certain number of new clients?

Or being able to work only 15 hours a week so you can have more time with your kids?

Your specific vision for your business will depend on many factors, so I can’t tell you what it should be. Think about you, your family, your overall life goals, and then decide what part your business can play in all of that.

Once you have your vision for the future, you can start making specific goals to help you get there.

3. Decide What Type of Goal to Set

You can set a goal for just about any aspect of your business. You can have a goal to have 100,000 page views on your blog. Or earn $10,000 a month. Your goal might be to sell 50 courses each month. You might want to get 100 five-star reviews.

You can literally pick any facet of your business and create a goal around it.

But, there is something to remember before you start randomly picking things…

You have to pick the right goal. otherwise, you’re just wasting time and paper.

Your goal should help you meet the mission of your business. It should align with your why and help further your overall goals in life.

The goals you set also need to be relevant. If you’re chasing after vanity metrics, they may not actually help you grow your business at all.

For instance, just because you have 20,000 people on your email list doesn’t mean all of those people are actually reading your emails and engaging with you.

Those followers on social media? Do they actually click through to your website and take action? Or are they just there?

Having a goal to grow your numbers doesn’t always mean your business is healthy and growing. So make sure you pick the right type of goal for your home business.

Take some time to brainstorm the different areas of your business, and jot down some potential goals. Then, read through them and make sure they make sense for your business.

If you’re having trouble, here’s a list of areas of your business that may need a goal:

• Production (number of products, types of products or services)
• Organization (time management, business structure, paperwork)
• Marketing (sales pages, landing pages, social media, etc.)
• Customer service or satisfaction
• Personal development (so you can do things better)
• Budget management (decrease costs, increase sales)
• Error reduction (quality assurance)

Do any of those sound promising for your business? If not, don’t worry. Just use them as jumping off points to continue reflecting on your business and what needs to improve to help you meet your long-term goals.

Your Goals Must Be Measurable

When you look back on your goals in a month or two, how are you going to tell that you made progress? When will your goal be achieved?

You must pick a measurable goal. Otherwise, you will just be guessing.

So pick a goal that has a metric attached to it. This could be:

• Dollars and cents
• Audience numbers (page views, number of sessions or customers or clients)
• Number of reviews (and quality of them)
• Products sold

Think about your business and what metrics you can (or could) track. Then, use those to help you decide on the type of goal to set.

Your Goal Needs to Be Something You Have Control Over

Too many people set goals that they have absolutely no control over. If you set goals like these for your business, you’ll be setting yourself up for disappointment:

• Land a book deal
• Have three influencers promote you to their audience
• Get a gig for (specific company)
• Be published on (specific websites)
• Speak in X events
• Create five pieces of viral content

While having desires to do those things are not bad or wrong, they are simply things that you do not have control over.

You see, no matter what you do, you cannot make other people share your content. You cannot make people hire you to speak or to write for them. If it’s a good fit, they might. But, you don’t get to magically make it happen just by wanting it.

And you certainly can’t control a situation like 2020, where all sorts of events got cancelled.

Instead, think about what actions you can take to help you achieve those things. How many emails do you need to send to influencers to get some to consider promoting you? What time do you need to put into building those relationships so they know who you are when you do reach out?

What type of work do you need to put into your content so people want to share it? Do you need to research specific keywords that people are actually searching for? Do you have a checklist that you’re going to follow for every piece of content you put out?

These actions? These are things YOU have control over. You can send more emails or follow a process.

You cannot determine the results of those actions.

So when you pick your goals, pick ones that you can control. Not ones that are dependent on other people acting in a particular way.

And, you need a way to measure your progress towards the goal.

4. Write Down Your Home Business Goals

Now that you have reflected on your business, know where you want to go, and know what type of goal to set, it’s time to actually write your goals for your home business.

You can write them in the S.M.A.R.T. goal format if you want – that way you know your goals are:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Attainable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

For instance, here are my top four home business goals for 2021:

• Create a course to help other moms get started as a freelance writer
• Transfer my current course from my website to Teachable
• Produce two high-quality blog posts each month, using keywords that are a good fit for my audience
• Read a business book each month

These are all specific (though I definitely have more details written down about each that I can refer to as I’m working on them.)

My business goals are also things that are attainable. I know I have the ability and capacity to do each – even though I will need to change a few priorities.

These goals are also relevant to my business. I desire to help busy moms create a life-changing side hustle, and those all will help me do just that.

Now it’s your turn. What are your goals for your home business this year? Write them down.

5. Take Action

Let me let you in on a little secret…

You will never achieve your goals if you don’t work on them.

Worded a different way…you have to take action if you want to see progress.

Writing down goals isn’t enough. Neither is dreaming about the future. You have to actually do the work to make things happen.

So now it’s time to plan your action. For each goal that you set, you need to create an action plan. How are you going to get from where you are now to where you want to be?

For instance, I want to read a business book each month. In order to make that happen, I need to:

• Make a list of books I want to read (to help eliminate decision fatigue when it’s time to select a new one) – Be watching for a post with my selection for the year, I’m definitely excited about these books!
• Decide when I’m going to read each day (we’re going to have a daily Family Reading Time, similar to our Family Writing Time but with reading instead.)
• Actually implement the plan so we have that reading time and I can acheive my goal

For my course, I have to do the same thing. I:

• Thought about the need in the space and how I could fill it
• Review FAQs my audience has about this side hustle
• Outlined the material the course
• Decided on a format
• Picked bonus features to include
• Decide on an editor to edit the content for me when it’s created
• Select pricing options for tiers

Now I get to actually create the course, following the outline I already created. I know that I want to create the lessons at the pace of one a day (five days a week.)

No matter what goal you set, you need to do the same thing. Make a plan to take action, and then actually do the work.

By making your plan, you’ll help keep your brain from having to make last minute decisions. You’ll be less likely to be overwhelmed.

So go ahead make a plan so you know what you need to do to achieve your goal and when you’re going to do it.

6. Reflect Regularly

You aren’t going to be doing your home business any favors to plan a bunch of goals once a year and then never go back to them.

Instead, make it a point to reflect regularly on your progress. I have a reminder each quarter on my planner to check in on my goals.

During this reflection time, I can review my goals and look at the progress made thus far. It’s a great opportunity to ensure my paperwork is up to date and that I’m keeping good records.

You might want to reflect once a month. Or every six months. You get to decide. Just make sure you check in on your goals at least occasionally throughout the year.

7. Adapt as Necessary

Goals sometimes need to change. Often, your reflection times can help you see that you aren’t on track to meet your original goal.

Sometimes life changes and brings things we didnt’ expect. So, we have to adapt.

If that happens, don’t feel bad. Don’t let it make you give up on your home business completely.

Instead, adapt. Adjust.

You may even need to start the goal setting process over at step one and create a whole different set of goals.

That is okay. Just don’t give up.

Make the changes you need to keep your goals attainable and relevant. Then, keep taking action.

How to Achieve Your Goals

Now that you have your goal setting process in place, it’s time to actually achieve them. I have a whole post dedicated to this topic, so if you want to read more about it, click over to this post:

How to Meet Your Goals This Year

But, here are a few tips to get you started.

1. Take baby steps – time takes change so go slowly at first and work up to more
2. Don’t create too many goals – you can’t focus on too many things at once
3. Build habits to support your goals – then you won’t have to stop to think about taking action, you can just do it
4. Don’t beat yourself up over missing a day or two – your brain wants you to believe that you have to be perfect or it doesn’t count. That’s a lie.
5. Make sure your goals are realistic for your life right now. If you have kids at home, your goals are likely going to be smaller or less ambitious than someone who doesn’t have kids to care for.
6. Ensure you’re using your mornings and evenings well to help you meet your goals.
7. Tell other people about your goals – they can help hold you accountable. And definitely get your family on board with your business goals, so they know what you’re working on.

When you use these tips, no matter what your goals are, you can achieve them.

Set Some Home Business Goals

Are you ready to create your own set of goals for your home business so you can make this your best year yet?

By following the steps above, you can do just that.

Go ahead and share some of your goals in the comments below. I can’t wait to cheer you on!

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