Are Your Short Term Goals Aimed At Long Term Objectives?
Not many small businesses have prepared a business plan.
How can anyone risk their savings and their dreams to open the doors of their new business without a plan?
Don’t get me started! You wouldn’t go grocery shopping without some sort of plan – the shops you need to go to, the route to them in the right order, preparing a shopping list and taking it with you, making sure you have enough fuel in the car, working out where you will park.
Yet many people start or run a business without any plan at all – and a to-do list does not constitute a plan by which you should risk your thousands of dollars!
Now if you do have a business plan, good on you! It means you are taking this seriously, as you should!
But let me ask you this – are the goals that you have listed long-term goals or short-term goals?
Each of your goals in your business plan should be related to a long term picture.
Indeed, you may break down those long term objectives into short, medium and long-term goals, so that you can chunk your activity and strategies into those that you can work on next year, which will help you work on those that you will implement in future years.
This week’s video lesson is about why you must have goals that relate to the long term picture and how you can set all your goals in the same direction, rather than chasing short term goals but moving from willy to nilly over the long term.
So, to summarise:
- Start with the ultimate objective of what you want your business to look like at the end of the day;
- Find out what the gaps are between where you want to go and where you are now;
- Set your long-term goals, where you want to be in about 10 years;
- Then, break those long-term goals into shorter term milestones and set those as your short-term goals over the next 1-2 years and the next 2-5 years.
In this way, you cascade from where you want to be in the future, to what you must do or achieve over the longer term, to what you have to do in the shorter term – all of these goals and milestones aligned directly to that future state you are trying to achieve.
Have you prepared your business plan? Have you set yourself the correct sequence of attainable goals that will set you in your one strategic direction?
If you want some help, go to teikoh.com where you can download free video lessons and resources to help you prepare your business plan, or if you prefer to follow through a timed workshop to prepare your business plan, check out this video workshop training here.
Don’t forget to register here if you want o get these free 5 minute video lessons delivered directly to your inbox every week.
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