Every year you hear business gurus shout from the rooftops “create goals for your business!” They recommend creating clear 5-year goals working backwards all the way down to even weekly goals. This is invaluable advice for business growth (and even personal), but sometimes it can be hard to put this into practice. Strategic and specific goal setting can seem daunting, scary, or unachievable. Most business owners struggle to reach their goal(s) of success due to these top reasons:
1. Lack of funds
2. Fear
3. Not enough time
Here are some quick solutions to these struggles:
1. Lack of funds - Two quick ways to help here are: to first (here’s a big one), keep personal and business finances separate; meaning in completely different accounts. Second, create a proactive budget that you can manage easily. This includes cutting out expenses that are not essential to business operation and not producing a return.
2. Fear – Fear in itself is not a bad thing and can be used for good (like running from a lion). Fear popping up at a time that you don’t want it to can, if you allow it, prevent you from moving forward. To battle undesired fear and fearful thoughts: write your biggest fear down on a piece of paper, think about the emotions associated with the fear, then purposefully practice changing your emotional response. This way, when fear driven thoughts or anxious sensations arise, you can evaluate, take control, and redirect it. Use purposeful forethought and planning to talk yourself down into what you really are: a confident and determined business owner.
3. Not enough time – Who doesn’t feel that there is not enough time in the day? There are a few ways to help with time management. First, try writing out your goal(s) and the baby steps needed to complete the end goal. As you complete each step, visually check it off; repeat this until you check off your end goal. Checking off your steps and goal(s) gives a change in the mental state that drives production and a sense of accomplishment.
Another tip is to set purposeful time aside for deep work in your week so you can accomplish fuller tasks. Deep work is a fixed time to dive deeper in your content, research, or project. During this time all distractions should be put away. If needed write this time in your calendar as if it’s an appointment, set a designated amount of time and then stop.
Lastly, outsource some of your tasks to a trusted advisor. A trusted advisor can help you focus better on your business by freeing you up from doing tasks you didn’t start your business to do. Time consuming tasks such as bookkeeping are great places to start. A good bookkeeper doesn’t just do the data entry, they provide a financial advisory role to help you, the business owner, make informed decisions that drive business growth and profitability.
Put these tips into practice and see the benefits to your daily productivity, confidence, and business growth. Let me know if you have any questions, I’m always here to help.
megan@bastionbookkeeping.com