How to Set SMART Goals to Increase Residual Income

Setting SMART goals to increase residual income can give you an earnings level to strive for and a plan of what residual income streams you need to implement to achieve the gains you want to see. SMART goals are Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time-based. SMART goals are written in a clear way using those attributes so that you know exactly what you need to do to achieve the residual income flow that you want.

Setting goals is a great way to improve yourself or your situation. However, normal goals are often too vague or poorly planned to motivate people to achieve any real progress. People set residual income goals like ‘make a million dollars’ or ‘write a thousand articles’; but the goals are too general or they have no plan for achieving them and just give up. That is why you need to set SMART goals for building your residual income streams and this article will show you how.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

1. Make the goal Specific
   
   The SMART residual income goal is specific and clearly defined so you know exactly what steps need to be taken to achieve it. It should answer the 5 ‘W’ questions – what do I have to do to earn the residual income, who will be involved in earning it, where will I go to earn it, when will it be completed and why am I doing what I am doing to earn the residual income.
   
   For example – a normal residual income goal might be ‘Make money online’, but a SMART goal would be ‘I will submit 5 articles a week to eHow for two months in order to start a residual income stream of, on average, $1/day’.

2. Make the goal Measurable
   
   A SMART goal is one that has some number or quantity that makes it measurable. Having a residual income goal that is measurable allows you to track your progress so you know how far along you are in achieving the goal and any adjustments you need to make to get there. It is fairly easy to make measurable residual income goals because they are generally based on volume of work or investments and earnings.
   
   For example – a normal residual income goal might be ‘Make more residual income’, but a SMART goal would be ‘I will consistently make an average of $5 a day in residual income by the end of the year from affiliate marketing’.

3. Make the goal Attainable
   
   SMART goals as written have to be attainable. That does not mean they have to be easy, just written so that if you work hard and stretch your abilities you can achieve the residual income earnings or result you desire. The SMART goal includes not just what you want, but also what needs to be done so that you know how the end result can be attainable. It also helps to take one big, scary goal and break it down into short term, attainable goals so that you can track your progress to the big goal and re-evaluate your situation after achieving each little goal.
   
   For example – a normal residual income goal might be ‘Quit my job and live off of residual income’, but a SMART goal would be ‘Build at least three independent streams of residual income to earn an average of $10/day in 12 months, then evaluate financial situation to see if quitting is a possibility’.

4. Make the goal Realistic
   
   Similar to the attainable aspect of a SMART goal, you want your goal to be hard, but not so overly ambitious that it is impossible or you don’t really believe that it can be done. SMART goals are realistically achievable based on your current situation. When you think about the residual income goal you want to achieve, also think about what it will take to get there given your current experience, time and resources. You still want to stretch yourself, but do so towards a realistic result.
   
   For example – a normal residual income goal might be ‘Become a millionaire off of residual income by age 30’ (when you’re 29, work full time and have no investments), but a SMART goal would be ‘Build two streams of residual income consistently earning $5/day on average and implement a savings and investing plan by the end of the year’.

5. Make the goal Time-based
   
   When you write a SMART goal regarding your residual income streams, you want it to have some kind of time limit for achieving what you want or end point so you know when your goal needs to be completed. Having a time-based goal gives you a sense of urgency and another way to measure your progress. You want your end point to give you enough time to complete the goal, but not too little or you will feel over pressured and give up.
   
   For example – a normal residual income goal might be ‘Build a blog to earn residual income’, but a SMART goal would be ‘Create a niche blog. Post daily and publicize to gain 100 subscribers and $10 a day in advertising or affiliate sales by the end of the year’.

6. Now that you know how to make your residual income goals SMART goals, here’s the hard part – write your goals down and stick to them! You should have several goals simultaneously for earning residual income from different sources. You don’t want to put all of your eggs in one basket by just focusing on one residual income stream in case that stream dries up. With these steps it should be easy to write individual SMART goals for several ways to make residual income and work on them at the same time.

Resources

• Ways to Earn Residual Income
• Building Residual Income Streams
• Creating SMART Goals

[southerngirl09]

on 11/16/2009 Great article on how to set SMART goals to increase residual income. Thanks for sharing. 5*