How to Create Business Goals
Without goals your business may never come into existence or may plod along for years without growing or achieving substantial success. Goals define what your business is and perhaps more importantly, what your business is not. Creating goals sets boundaries on the tasks you may spend time on and sets priorities for spending. Setting goals is more of an art than a science. You must balance your personal career goals as an executive or entrepreneur or with the market opportunity that is available and the wisest strategies for achieving business success.
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Instructions
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Articulate your main idea. This is the big idea that started the business in the first place or makes you passionate about starting your business. Don't be afraid to dream big, or to get specific. You may want to introduce Brazilian art to the U.S. market or to bring in $300,000 per year with a movie store franchise.
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Research and describe the market potential for your idea. Are there 50 million people who need your service? Are there a dozen Fortune 500 companies that could benefit from your product? It is more important that your market be growing, and that you be in a position to capture that growth, than that it be particularly large.
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Set boundaries. Describe those things that you will not do, opportunities you will not take, and strategies that do not meet your needs. For instance, if your goal is to remain a privately held company and never to issue an IPO, this will have a significant long-term impact on how you fund and operate your business. If your business is in artisan chocolate, you may choose to never penetrate the packaged snack foods market.
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Describe your passion and personal goals. The reason that you are in your business, as opposed to getting a job or running any other business, will impact the growth of the company. Your personality and your strengths will be reflected in the goals of the company. If you started out in marketing, you may choose to create a business with marketing as a primary core competency.
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Be SMART. Your goals must be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time-bound. For example, you may decide to capture 1 percent market share within three years by investing in advertisements and acquiring smaller competitors.
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Tips & Warnings
Revisit your goals from time to time as your business develops. This can help you to measure what you have achieved, evaluate what may still need to be done, and add new goals.
