Woo hoo! You’ve opened your own business—just like you’ve always wanted. Things might be going great at first, but then they might start to get crazy. You might feel like you’re running around like a chicken with its head cut off as you’re trying to run every part of the business. Owning and operating your own business can often make you feel like you have to wear many hats. This includes being your own accountant, customer service rep, and salesman.
However, many business owners tend to forget the most important hat—that of a leader. Too often, businesses don't close their doors due to poor services or products but rather because they failed to establish clear goals for their future. So how can you avoid that? Let’s examine the importance of goals and how you can achieve them so you can launch your business to its highest success.
Setting Goals
When people go into business, it is often apparent that the end goal is just to become a huge success. This broad and unspecific goal could be rather confusing to both you and your future employees. A properly crafted goal is one that is foreseeable, feasible and most importantly is a reasonable one. These reasonable goals allow your staff to understand their role in the company. Employees, as well as yourself, thrive when there is something attainable down the road. It is proven that employees who do not have a concrete goal at their place of work will often lead to low morale and eventually high turnover, which can spell bad news for any company.
Achieve Your Goals Through Process Mapping
As stated above the ideal manner in setting a goal is to decide on one that is reasonable and attainable. Now, let's take that idea and upgrade it through the implantation of process mapping. A process map looks at an objective and helps measure it against the company's overall objectives to ensure that all work being done helps achieve the business goals. In addition, staff, as well as yourself, can visually see where everyone stands if confusion or miscommunication arises about your business roles.
Evaluate
Setting your goal through process mapping is a great way to begin working towards them, but there comes a time when the process needs to be evaluated. Evaluating the effectiveness of your process map as well as the work being done by your employees is a must. This can be easily done by a series of surveys. Employees can be asked what areas they are having difficulty in or if they have any suggestions on improving the current process. In addition, customers may also need to be surveyed to see how your new procedures are affecting them, whether it be negatively or positively.
Build Content That Supports Your Goals
You've set reasonable and achievable goals for your business. You've process mapped a clear route to accomplishing those goals. And you've evaluated to make sure everyone is on the same page. Now it's time to build content that supports those goals. Use a tool like the Launch Plan to inspire ideas and plan out content that keeps your company top-of-mind with your customers.
For about the same price as a fancy cup of coffee, you get all the tools you need to set goals and plan content. The Launch Plan contains a collection of resources that have helped me move the needle in my own business. These resources are invaluable in today's content-centric marketing environment.