How To Develop Business Goals For 2016

Developing Your 2016 Goals There are almost 28 million small businesses in the U.S. Having generated over 65% of the new jobs since 1995,' small businesses continue to succeed through innovative ideas, motivated employees and well- developed business goals. Follow along with these steps to start developing your small business goals for 2016. Step One – Set (SMART) Goals S-pecific: The more specific a goal, the more likely it will be achieved. Goals need to be more concrete and less abstract, with as many details as possible! M-easurable: Attach a figure or value to your objectives. Aiming to increase social? On what platforms? Want to increase sales? Hiring new employees? How many? By how much? A-ttainable: Make sure your goals are achievable and manageable. Assign certain tasks to certain people and break the larger goals down into smaller parts to make steady progress and build momentum. R-ealistic: Overshooting on a goal won't get anything done. Ask yourself: • What are you capable of? • What were you able to complete in the past? • How big of a team do you have to get it done? T-imely: Without a clear timeline, goals take much longer to get done. With no end date in sight, there is no urgency or pressure to encourage progress. A timeline with small targets throughout will allow you to track your success at each milestone. Step Two – Focus Setting too many goals in too many areas is counterproductive. Social Revenue New hires Prospecting Events New product Instead of tackling everything at once, focus on one area at a time to achieve your goals and to move business forward in the most productive way. Step Three – Keep Track 300 small business owners Dont't keep track of their business goals 80% Yet to achieve their vision for their company 77% 0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% 100% In a survey of 300 small business owners, more than 80% said they don't keep track of their business goals, and 77% had yet to achieve their vision for their company.? Tracking your progress on business goals is important to make sure you're moving in the right direction and to help keep yourself motivated. Give yourself a schedule and monthly milestones that will let you know if you're hitting the goals you want to accomplish. HEADWAY CAPITAL. CREDIT FOR SMALL BUSINESSES References 'Nazar, Jason. (September 9, 2013). 16 surprising statistics about small businesses. Retrieved October 9, 2015 from http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonnazar/2013/09/09/16-surprising-statistics-about-small-businesses/ Vanden Bos, Peter. (June 29, 2010). How to set business goals. Retrieved October 8,2015 from http://www.inc.com/guides/2010/06/setting-business-goals.html Kearns, Suzanne. (June 12, 2015). How to create a plan to reach your small business growth goals. Retrieved October 8, 2015 from http://quickbooks.intuit.com/r/psychology-of-sucess/how-to-create-a-plan-to-reach-your-small-business-growth-goals Gregory, Alyssa. (n.d). SMART goal setting 101. Retrieved October 9, 2015 from http://sbinformation.about.com/od/startingabusiness/a/smart-goal-setting.htm