Small Business Tips
Set the Tone for 2018 | Goal Setting Tips & Resources for Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners
With all of the hullabaloo surrounding the end of one year and beginning of the next, it can start feeling overwhelming pretty quickly for anyone, much less small business owners who have additional tasks to do to keep the ship sailing smoothly.
We all have our own tried and true methods of planning the day to day (Hello, Day Designer!), but we’re talking about the process of, well, processes. Putting a well thought process into place for your business systems keeps the train on the tracks, even in the most hectic times, and ensures that you’re not missing opportunities to grow your business or holding onto aspects that no longer drive your long-term goals. And when it comes to believing in the power of creating a winning process for your business, there are no bigger believers than Team Fuze…
So we’ve compiled a list of our favorite goal setting tips & resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners to help you set the tone for 2018.
Introducing New Skills Into Your Small Business Entrepreneur Toolbox
It’s really easy to get bogged down in the day to day of business management with all the tracking and counting and selling and brainstorming, but the best entrepreneurs are always looking for opportunities to sharpen their skills and add to their business toolbox. Being an entrepreneur often feels like being a lifelong student. Minus all the high school drama. Don’t forget to schedule time in your goal planning to seek out opportunities to learn. Whether you want a refresher in the most current SEO Best Practices, doing outreach, or to learn a new skill altogether, investing in yourself and your continued education as a business owner is vital to your success and adaptability.
Try to make a point to engage in at least one brief training or learning opportunity per quarter and one longer-format online class or conference a year. And don’t forget the wealth of new business books that come out every year! (You can start here for Forbes’ Top Ten Business Books from 2017.)
Here are some of our favorite resources for learning new skills:
Coursera – Take courses from prestigious participating universities such as Stanford, Johns Hopkins, Duke, and more.
Udemy – Lifetime access, so you can learn on your schedule.
Khan Academy – “You can learn anything. For free. For everyone. Forever.”
Udacity – Learn about new technology in partnership with industry leaders like Google, IBM, and Mercedes Benz.
Alison – Study anything from effective sales techniques to the basics of human resources.
Goal Setting Tips & Progress Tracking for Entrepreneurs
The key to maximizing results in goal setting is learning to craft S.M.A.R.T. goals: Simple, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-Bound. You might be tempted to write a list that looks like this:
- Be the best.
- Make $1m in one year
- Travel more
- Sign 45 new clients
However, if a goal is too broad or unfocused, it’s not going to be actionable, and actionable is the key to creating results.
Learn more about actionable goal setting and performance tracking here:
Goal Setting Worksheets by Develop Good Habits
The Most Effective Goal Setting Plan You’ll Ever Find by Technori
11 Free Business, Marketing, & Sales Goal Setting Templates and Worksheets by Steinar Knutsen
Goal Setting for a High Output Life by Nat Eliason
How to Measure the Success of Your Small Business by Sure Payroll
Measure Performance & Set Targets by Info Entrepreneurs
Review your Business Performance by Info Entrepreneurs
Creating Key Performance Indicators for Your Small Business
Key Performance Indicators, or KPIs, are where the actual meat and potatoes of performance tracking comes in. They are the data that actually determines your progress in achieving your business goals and assist you in making strategic decisions for your business. They can also be created for all levels of your business. This is how Klipfolio defines KPIs:
A Key Performance Indicator is a measurable value that demonstrates how effectively a company is achieving key business objectives. Organizations use KPIs at multiple levels to evaluate their success at reaching targets. High-level KPIs may focus on the overall performance of the enterprise, while low-level KPIs may focus on processes in departments such as sales, marketing or a call center.
There are millions of example KPIs floating around out there on the internet, and every business likely has their own core indicators that they evaluate, but it’s important to remember that KPIs don’t mean anything unless they mean something to you and your business goals. Again, it goes back to the SMART criteria for goal setting. Specific. Measurable. Attainable. Relevant. Time-frame for completion.
[Tweet “KPIs don’t mean anything unless they mean something to you and your business.”]
Here are some awesome KPI resources examples that you can implement in your business planning:
Understanding Key Performance Indicators by The Balance
Key Performance Indicators Defined by Clearpoint Strategy
The Complete List of 136 Key Performance Indicator Examples by Scoro
The 10 Marketing KPIs You Should be Tracking by Impact
Easy Business Calculators for Goal Setting & Motivation
When it comes to business, numbers have the power to be incredibly motivating. Whether it’s determining exactly how many clients you need to work with this year to meet your goal or how many products you need to sell to upgrade your business systems, the math can really make goals more attainable.
There are several easy calculators for small business owners out there.
Here’s just a handful of the ones we found useful:
The Gross Profit Margin Calculator by Bank Rate
The Sales Pipeline Calculator by PipeDrive
The NO Calculator by PipeDrive (This funny calculator breaks down the fear of getting a dreaded NO from a potential client.)
Return on Sales Ratio & Calculator by Wealthy Education
Sales Volume Breakeven Analysis Calculator by Key Bank
Developing a Supply Chain Process for Small Business
There are a million organizational mishaps that can befall a small business owner throughout the year, but few can be as costly as one that involves inventory. Whether it’s vital equipment going down, running out of inventory, or even just carrying too much inventory in the first place, supply chain is one of the most complex aspects of managing a business that involves physical products.
The beginning of the year is a great place to take stock of your supply chain procedures and introduce some new tricks for making flow of resources coming in and products going out as smooth as possible. After all, a solid supply chain process mean a less painful year-end inventory audit, and that sounds good to everyone.
Check out these resources for shaping up your supply chain:
How to do Effective Inventory Management for Small Business by Square
How to Make Year-End Inventory Counts Less Painful by Shopify
Procedures for Year-End Inventory Count by Chron
Inventory Count Procedure by Accounting Tools
Year-End Physical Inventory Count Instructions by Henry + Horne
Wrapping It All Up with Year-End Checklists for Your Small Business
Don’t forget to do one final once-over to to take stock of both your progress and the nitty gritty details like tax paperwork, etc.
We found some handy EOY Checklists for Small Business that will ensure you don’t forget anything before checking out for 2018:
Year-End Legal Checklist from Barnes Law
End of the Year Checklist for Small Business by Intuit, the maker of QuickBooks (We love them!)
Checklist for the End of Your Small Business’ Fiscal Year also by Intuit
The End of Year Checklist for Small Businesses by Small Biz Survival
The Master End of Year Checklist for Small Business by Credibly
And of course, the end of the year is also a great time to do a self-audit as a business owner, so don’t forget to check out the Infuzed Yearly Reflection & Goal Planning Workbook for Small Business Owners that we created to help you take honest stock of what worked, what didn’t, and what you need to do to create your best year yet.
Have you got awesome goal setting tips & resources for entrepreneurs and small business owners? Share the secret sauce and leave us a coment below!