Starting a business is a process, not an endpoint.

The Australian Bureau of Statistics state that more than 60 percent of small businesses stop their operations within the first three years. What should you be doing to ensure you are not a part of that statistic?

Setting goals

Goal setting is the process of deciding what you want to accomplish and devising a plan to achieve those desired results. For many people, it’s the second part of the goal-setting definition that’s problematic. They know what they want to do and they’re perfectly willing to work on it, but they have trouble creating a plan to get there.

To help you better understand how you can set goals and objectives, you first need a good foundation or what the two are.

  • Goals describes where you want to be in the future

They will help improve your overall effectiveness as a business— whether you want to increase your share of the market, for example, or improve your customer service. The more carefully you define your goals, the more likely you are to do the right things and achieve what you wanted to accomplish in the first place.

  • Objectives are the specific steps you and your business need to take in order to reach each of your goals. They specify what you must do — and when.

Your business goals need to be SMART. They need to be:

  • Specific
  • Measurable
  • Attainable
  • Relevant
  • Timely

So, what do you want to achieve? Are your business goals smart? If you need help in setting your business goals, please contact one of our advisers.