Goal Setting Game Plan: 3 Steps to Triumph at Being Your Own Boss
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One of the things to love about self-employment is that you don't have a boss. It's a freedom I never thought about until I was self-employed, and now I can't imagine living without it! Those considering self-employment often face conflicting emotions. Both excited to not have a boss, and anxiety about how to motivate themselves to get things done without one. This is where your business's management plan comes in.
The management section of a traditional business plan assumes there are many people involved. It's necessary to create an organizational structure and position descriptions for key positions. A funder would also want to know the experience of the person managing the day-to-day of the business. As a solo business owner who's not seeking funding, all these parts are pretty pointless. I don't think it's helpful to draw an org chart that is just one square! (But if you do, go on with your bad self!)
While the management plan for a self-employed business is not complicated, it is tricky! Why? Because it's difficult to figure out how to motivate yourself! Your "personal management plan" cannot rely on extrinsic factors you may have relied on in employed work. Where you used to have a boss checking in on you, you don't now. You need a set of strategies to motivate and organize yourself. This plan is underpinned by your mindset, positive self-talk and realistic expectations. I’ve written a lot about these topics so I've conveniently collected them all into this list of personal management plan articles. Today, I’m going to stick to the plan-making process.
A Straightforward Plan
I plan reflexively, so this isn’t something I’ve painstakingly learned how to do. This makes me a good planner, but a less good teacher of planning. I’m going to share some highlights of how I craft a plan. If this doesn’t work for you, that doesn’t mean there’s anything wrong with you! From my clients, I see how a one-size-fits-all approach to planning just doesn’t work. My strategy might not be the right one for you. Find (or develop) what works for you! (And then lemme know so I can spread the word!)
Step 1: What’s Your Goal?
Ok, it’s probably something like: “I want to have a thriving business.” That’s a very valid goal. But it’s not really gonna work for our purposes. It’s not measurable - “thriving” is not concrete enough to know when you’ve achieved it. It’s also not time-bound. Do you want this thriving business before you’re 80 years old? No, maybe sooner? It’s also unclear if this goal is achievable. The achievability of any business idea is far from concrete. But it’s really obfuscated without some foundational work. So let's try again.
You might refine your goal to be: “I want my business to be bringing in $4,000 per month by December.” We’re hitting all the keys of a “SMART” goal, e.g. Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. That’s it, right? All the boxes are ticked, now go do it! …and this is my issue with it. That goal is not within your control. There’s not even a guess at what actions will bring that goal into existence.
Here’s an example of a goal I’d recommend in place of “have a thriving business.”
I need my business to gross $8,000 per month in sales for it to be sustainable. I will reach this goal if I have 10 monthly clients. I think I can get clients by (a) posting monthly blog articles (b) connecting with professionals who also serve my ideal client.
This goal does not stand alone. It would be preceded by goals to work on all the factors that contribute to this goal. E.g. finding out what revenue goal is sustainable for the business, and other business planning aspects. It’s also open to revision. You think you can get clients through those methods, but only time will tell. The key part of this is it gets down to only one to two projects that are fully in your control to achieve.
Step 2: The Projects That Support Your Goal
Continuing with my example goal above, I’d have two projects identified by (a) and (b). The next step is to break down each project into actionable steps. Here’s how I’d break these two projects down:
(a) posting monthly blog articles
Come up with a topic
Draft an article
Edit the article
Zhuzh for clarity and/or SEO
Give it a good title
Find an image to go with it
Publish it & share to… where?
Repeat the subsequent month
Assess annually what's working and what could be improved.
(b) connecting with professionals who also serve my ideal client
Pick a focus professional (e.g. physical therapists OR members of my chamber of commerce, etc.)
Locate contact information for those professionals
Draft an introductory email invitation to coffee
SEND, one by one, customizing each email as needed.
Conclude: after a period of time, assess the impact of this effort. Repeat as needed, each time focused on a different profession.
Step 3: A Game Plan for Success
Knowing what the steps are is different than achieving them. When or how are you planning to complete these steps? How do you usually get stuck when taking action? It's inevitable that things will not go to plan. Let's have our resources top of mind when that happens. Those resources depend on knowing your habits and where they usually break down. Here's myself as an example:
My game plan is to work on my business on Wednesdays between 10am and 2pm. I could also when I don’t have a client booked during business hours M/T/Th/F. I’m specific about when I expect this work to get done, and that allows me to better diagnose problems. This means when I hit the end of a full day of clients and realize I made no progress on my blog article… well, that’s to be expected!
The barriers to me achieving my tasks are usually:
The writing muse has not graced me with her presence
Nice weather/garden/other interests
Non-ideal work environment
Need to reset or decompress (i.e. phone games, lol)
Time-sensitive client needs
Bio-needs (i.e. bathrooming, food, water)
By knowing my typical barriers, I can better honor the reality of the situation. Without thinking of this in advance, I notice people identify certain areas first. The go-to explanations are being distracted by other interests, sucked into technology, or not having the right setup. These are the barriers that can be changed, so it's a reasonable place to start. They're also the barriers that we often have a history with, and often some amount of shame. They're also not the only barriers!
When I'm talking things through with a client, it's not uncommon that I make a discovery. They will have jumped to their choice habitual barrier. I ask some questions and discover there's a client or bio need that they've neglected to take into account. For example, if you've been struggling with an impinged nerve, you're not gonna get your website done. You're just not! Focusing on what you can change is good, but it runs the risk that you'll berate yourself unnecessarily. These things that we can't change need to be accepted. And this is an acceptance can be difficult to come by. This is where mindset practices and supportive habits can be helpful.
For those barriers I do have control over, there's an element of showing up for the work and for ourselves. When that muse isn’t showing up, that doesn’t mean I get the day off. Instead, I get to sit and try, regardless of if she ever shows up! Part of this work might be wrestling with feelings of self-doubt or inadequacy. But this is the work that I actually have control over. For more guidance on navigating this, check out these other things I've written.
YOUR Personal Management Plan
Like I said earlier: this might not be a good framework for you. Start by assuming you're NOT wrong. If the framework isn’t working, how can you better set yourself up for success? Be curious. You're not a machine. How does your perfectly flawed human self work? What could help you work better? Remember to check your mindset and give yourself credit for ANY progress. You even get credit for learning that a certain strategy doesn’t work! With time, introspection, and self-care, you'll find the personal management plan that works for you.
