4 Tips to Achieve Your Small Business Goals In 2023

As a small business owner, setting goals can play an important role in the growth of your business. Goals, big or small, help give you and your employees a target to reach, and  can help direct your business toward even greater success. And while setting goals is not difficult for most business owners, the hard part often comes afterwards – actually achieving them.

Here are four tips to help your small business achieve its goals in 2023. Of course, every goal is different, just like every business is unique and may require a personalized plan that aligns with its structure and industry. However, there are some general ideas to keep in mind to help you inch closer to achieving what you have set out for the new year.

1. Set actionable goals

You may have heard of the acronym SMART to describe goal making – specific, measurable, attainable, relevant, and time-bound. While this can be a great way to structure your goals to help you achieve them, it is more important to consider the process rather than only thinking of the results. The common saying “it’s about the journey, not the destination” can apply in this case.

As you set your 2023 goals, think about making them actionable. This means structuring your goals to include an action you or your team can partake in that leads to the desired result. For instance, rather than saying, “I want to gain 1,000 followers on my business’s Instagram page,” you could instead phrase the goal as “I am going to post four times a week on my business’s Instagram page using engaging images, content, and hashtags.” Then, as a result of performing this action (i.e., posting four times a week on Instagram), you are creating a path toward 1,000 more followers.

When a goal is actionable, you can keep better track of it. In our example, you could ask yourself – am I maintaining my weekly posting goal? By making your goal actionable, you can keep yourself (or your team) accountable.

2. Stay flexible

You can’t expect the unexpected, and as a small business owner, you know first-hand the unexpected can undoubtedly change the way you run operations – think about the alterations you have likely made during the pandemic and how your goals might’ve shifted throughout.

If you want to achieve your business goals, you should stay flexible. Of course, there’s nothing wrong with creating a specific goal you want your business to achieve. However, if certain instances change or new opportunities arise, you should stay responsive to them and adapt accordingly. While you may want to achieve a particular goal in a specific number of weeks or months, don’t put too much pressure on yourself to that deadline if something unexpected arises.

3. Monitor closely

Monitoring your goals is key; how will you know you have achieved something if you can’t track it? As you take steps to achieve your business goals, find a way you and your team can monitor your progress. Doing so not only adds some motivation to the mix, but you can also determine if you need to change your strategy. For example, if you find the steps you are taking are not making a dent, you can go back to the drawing board and determine a new plan before too much time is wasted. By doing this, you may find an even better way to achieve a goal.

4. Set small deadlines within your goal

While it is important to remain flexible when setting business goals, it is also key that you set targets that you and your team can hit. That way, you know you are moving closer to achieving your goal(s).

Once you have set a goal, go within it to determine the different targets and mini deadlines you can achieve. Consider this method as setting goals within a goal. Holding yourself accountable can be valuable in achieving business goals, and by placing these small deadlines throughout, you and your team are demonstrating that attaining your main goal is possible.

To set these smaller targets, it is necessary to employ time management skills. In fact, setting small, internal deadlines is, in itself, a time management technique because it helps you achieve the primary outcome (aka your goal). By enforcing smaller deadlines (or multiple reachable targets), prioritizing work, planning, and ensuring enough time for necessary breaks, meeting your goals can be much more achievable.

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