February 6, 2025 • 16 mins
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Do you have a plan for the year? If not, you're not alone. A lot of planning-your-year advice out there is geared toward service businesses that often suggest December as the time to plan, right when retailers are focused on the holiday rush.
That’s why I believe January and February are actually the perfect months to take a step back and plan ahead for the year. If you're ready to get organized and take charge of your business in 2025, you're in the right place.
If you’ve felt like you’ve been reacting to problems instead of planning for success, this episode is for you. We’ll explore why setting goals is so important, how it can help guide your business, and I’ll share some practical tips for setting goals that are achievable and meaningful for the year ahead.
[00:00] Q1 is the best time to plan in retail
[02:15] Why we need goals
[04:39] Four mistakes we often make when setting goals
[10:16] How to create goals that lead to success
[12:39] Goal-setting without the overwhelm
[15:03] Action steps for planning your 2025 goals
Resources:
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:00):
Do you have a plan for the year?
If you don't, then you're not alone.
So much of the plan-your-year informationthat goes out there is really aimed
at service business providers.
They talk a lot about planningyour year in December, when most
retail businesses are in thethroes of their Christmas season.
So I find that January and Februaryis a much better time to think
(00:21):
about planning out your year.
And if that's you, thenyou're in the right place.
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm your host today.
And I'm also the founder of the ResilientRetail Club, which is my membership group
and mastermind for product businesses.
If you want to plan your year and youfeeling a little bit behind, not to worry.
From the 10th to the 14th ofFebruary, we are running our sixth
(00:44):
annual plan your year challenge.
It's five days, fun high energychallenge inside the Resilient
Retail Club membership.
And at the end of it, you willhave a clear plan for the year
and steps to get you there.
If you are a member, then notto worry, you will get that
as part of your membership.
If you're not a member, headover to resilientretailclub.com.
You can see more information, or check theshow notes for your link on how to sign up
(01:08):
for just 50 percent off your first month,and you'll also beat the price rise.
The price of the Resilient RetailClub has not gone up for new
members for two years now, but itis going up at the end of February.
So if you want to jump in beforethe price rise and take part in
our planning challenge, then don'tforget to head over to the show notes
and find the sign up link there.
(01:29):
But onto today's show.
So let's talk aboutplanning out your year.
So I am a huge believer in planningand I love it because I think
it's a very creative process.
I love the phrase that, "plans areuseless, but planning is priceless."
And that is really my mantra.
So if you are ever felt like youwere just running in circles, or if
(01:53):
you feel like you're just reactingto problems instead of planning for
success, then this episode is for you.
We're going to be talking about whysetting goals is critical, how they can
transform your approach to business andsome practical tips to get started with
goals that are meaningful and achievable.
(02:16):
So why does it matterwhether or not you set goals?
I like to think about it as if you weretrying to hit an actual physical target.
Imagine that you had a bow andarrow and you were going to
use it to try and hit a target.
If you couldn't see that target, if youwere blindfolded, it would be so much
harder or impossible for most peopleto actually hit that target because you
(02:38):
don't know where you're trying to go.
And it's exactly the samething with your business.
Unless you set yourself a goal anda target and you aim towards it, it
can feel like you're stuck in theday to day grind and that you're
focusing on tasks rather than progress.
Goals can be like a GPS.
They guide your decisions and theykeep you focused on your destination.
(03:02):
When you have a really clear vision ofwhere you're going, it's easier to stay
motivated even when challenges arise.
You're not just working hard,you're working with purpose.
And I remember this back from the veryfirst time that I started my business,
which was nearly seven years ago now.
And one of the tips that I was givenwas to get a photograph that represents
(03:23):
either the people that you're doingthis for, or what you're trying to
build and have it somewhere visible.
So if you're having a tough day, youcan look at that and it can remind you.
Especially at the beginning whenyou're figuring so much stuff out,
it can feel really hard and it canfeel like you're wading through mud.
So having that goal, having thatvision is absolutely critical.
I'm also a big believer in settinggoals because if you don't know, if
(03:46):
you don't have a goal, how do youknow when to pop the champagne cork?
So goals, they really help you trackhow far you've come, whether it's
increasing sales, launching newproducts, or growing your customer base.
Clear targets help you measure success,and more than that, they help you measure
success in such a way that you know whenyou've achieved what you meant to set out.
(04:08):
Many people will say to me, "Well, Idon't really like having goals because
my goal is just to sell as much aspossible." And I totally get that
and I totally resonate with that.
But how do you know when you'vesold as much as possible?
I mean that is a reallydifficult thing to quantify.
And I also believe that settinggoals helps get you feeling
accountable so you can hold yourself.
(04:28):
And if you've got a team, it canhelp hold your team accountable and
it creates a sense of responsibilityand really helps you focus on
what it is that you want to do.
So if setting goals is so important, isit something that most people find easy?
Well, actually a lot of the time, no.
People have some real mentalblocks around setting goals.
(04:49):
One of the things that people will sayto me is things like, "I don't want
to set goals because it feels likeI could be tempting fate. So I set
myself this goal and if I don't hitit, then I'll feel very demotivated
or it'll be really difficult for me."
And again, I do understand that, butI think that's part of the process.
That's part of learningwhat to set as a goal.
(05:10):
And so one of the things that peopledo, one of the mistakes that people
make is they set unrealistic goals.
So if you've got a really overlyambitious goal, it can lead to
that burnout and frustration.
So what I talk about with goal settingis that I want it to feel exciting.
I want it to feel like alittle bit of excitement that
(05:31):
in the pit of your stomach.
That it's not so overwhelming that youthink: I'm never going to do this and I
just don't know where I'm going to start.
And you think oh, if I could hit thisnumber that would be really exciting,
but equally so it's not something thatjust feels completely unrealistic.
So by doing that you have somethingthat feels motivating but you
(05:53):
also feel excited, motivated,not completely overwhelmed.
The other thing that's reallyimportant that we go into in the
five day challenge is that it's allabout understanding when to push and
when to hang back in your business.
So some months you can really go for it,but setting yourself a really ambitious
target in the quietest month of theyear is only going to lead to burnout.
(06:17):
The other thing that I see in terms ofgoal setting that leads to frustration
or leads to a negative impact ornegative thought process around
setting goals is a lack of clarity.
If you set yourself a vague goal, so forexample, "I want to grow my business,"
but you don't have a clear path forward,then it's much, much harder for you to
(06:41):
really break that down and achieve it.
What you want is some reallyspecific goals, which we
cover this in the challenge.
But ultimately you want to be ableto say something like, "I want to
grow my sales by 20 percent in thefirst quarter," or even you want to
have a monthly plan of sales goals sothat you can look to achieve those.
And it really makes it much more concretein a way that saying, "I want to grow
(07:05):
my business," just doesn't allow.
The other thing that I would say,the other mistake that I see people
make with goals is that they maybealmost spend too much time making
a very, very elaborate plan.
So they map it all out and theycreate like multiple steps.
Maybe they create big spreadsheetswith all this detail in it, but
then they don't actually do it orthey don't check back in on it.
(07:28):
I'm a bigger believer in a simpleplan that is really easy for you to
access than something that is overcomplicated and will never be used.
So I would much rather that you writeone number, maybe it's 20 on the year
or your annual goal for the year.
And have that number on a postit note, stuck on your computer
(07:48):
screen, that you can see every day.
As opposed to sitting down and create,spending three or four days creating
this very, very elaborate plan andthen just never, ever referring to it.
So regular check-ins, theyhelp you stay on track and make
adjustments if needed, but youdon't want to overcomplicate things.
Create something that's reallyincredibly difficult to update.
(08:09):
You want to be talking and thinkingabout information for action,
what information do you need?
You can actually react to as opposedto creating something overly complex.
And then the other mistake that Isee people make with their business
is they set themselves goals thatare not aligned to their business
values and their long term vision.
(08:30):
And what I mean by that is weget an awful lot of external
noise around our businesses.
You will have people telling you,everyone from business experts like me
to other business owners to friends,family members, to courses that you
might take or people that you mightlisten to, other podcasts, who knows?
(08:50):
And you will hear a lot of noise anda lot of ideas about what it means
to create a successful business.
So for example, you mighthear someone say right?
Well, having a big teamas a sign of success.
And so you might set yourself agoal that you want to grow your
team, but actually what you reallywant if you're true to yourself, if
(09:11):
you're true to your own vision, isthat you want to grow your business.
But you want to do it by workingwith outsourced partners instead
of direct employees, for example.
Because that to you feelslike a better way of working.
So the key thing here is that you canset yourself goals, but you do have
to ask yourself is do they align withreally how I want to run my business?
(09:31):
How I want to run mylife, more specifically.
I think it's really importantto think about what kind of
life do you want to lead?
And therefore what business fits into thatalmost rather than the other way around.
So, when you're setting your goals,you do have to be really careful and
really clear that they are aligned withwhat you want, that it's not something
that somebody else told you is a goodidea, or you feel like you should do.
(09:54):
It's something that yougenuinely want to do.
And that if you work towards that goal,it's going to take you closer towards
your ideal life, ideal business, orideal whatever else that might be.
And what that looks like for you is goingto be completely different to what that
looks like for me, for anybody else.
So it's really important thatyou stay true to yourself when
you're setting your goals.
(10:16):
How do you set goals that are effective?
Well, inside the challenge, we go intoa lot of detail as to setting goals and
how to actually put numbers against them.
But effectively, even more generallyspeaking with a goal, what you
want to do is you want to makeit what is known as a SMART goal.
Now you may well haveheard of SMART goals.
(10:37):
If you've not heard of SMART goals,then this is what it stands for.
So the S is for specific, M isfor measurable, A achievable,
R relevant, T time bound.
So specific, measurable,achievable, relevant, time bound.
In other words, that's what thedifference between saying, "I want
to grow my business" and "I want toincrease my sales specific by 20%,"
(11:03):
which is measurable, Achievable meansthe challenging but attainable bit.
Relevant, do they tie into youroverall business objectives?
Well yes, growing your salesties into your overall business
objective of growing your business.
And then time bound, sothat's in the first quarter.
So give each goal a deadlineto help maintain that urgency.
So you can see that you go from avague goal like grow my business,
(11:25):
to a smart goal like 20 percentin the first quarter, for example.
Okay.
So again, saying I want more customers,you'd say acquire 50 new customers
through email marketing by the endof the second quarter, for example.
So this is the difference betweena vague goal and a smart goal.
(11:45):
And it's definitely something tofocus in on when you're thinking
about your plans for 2025.
The other thing that we do, so we havethe five day challenge and then the
week after the five day challenge,we have another workshop which is
called Your Year in Detail and it'swhere we actually break it down.
So we break down the main goals for theyear and then we break it into quarters
(12:07):
because large goals can feel overwhelming.
And it's much better to break themdown into smaller milestones or action
steps to help them feel manageable.
So for example, if you have got a goal ofintroducing new products then introduce
new products is a very big goal but Ifyou break it down into smaller tasks,
like do some market research, talk tofive different suppliers, select the
(12:33):
final product, create a marketing plan.
All of those things, they startto feel much more achievable.
The other thing that I have to say aswell, another mistake that people make
is when they set their goals for theyear, they tend to say, right, okay,
I've got these five goals for the year.
The first quarter, I need to do themall because it's very tempting to
(12:54):
think that as soon as we've identifiedsomething we want to do, if you're an
action taker and most entrepreneursare action takers, then you will want
to just dive in and get on with it.
But actually what happens thenis you just end up overwhelmed.
You've got your day to day workthat you're doing, as well as
your business development work.
And if you suddenly decide thatall of that has to happen in the
(13:16):
first quarter, then you're veryquickly going to feel overwhelmed.
So one of the things that we do inthe workshop, particularly after the
challenge, is we look at how do you spaceit out so that you're not overwhelmed?
That you don't feel like you justwant to go back to bed, pull the
duvet over your head and forget allabout these goals that you have set.
So you can't tackle everything at once.
(13:38):
And you have to remember that these arefive yearly goals, not five goals that you
have to do in the next couple of weeks.
So once you've set your goals, thenhow do you actually stick to them?
So first off, write them down.
As I said, doesn't have to be complicated,but having them written down somewhere.
The studies show that people whowrite their goals down are much
more likely to achieve them.
(13:59):
And if you can keep them visibleand remind yourself of what
you're working towards, thenthat's really helpful as well.
Make sure that you have regular check ins.
Inside the Resilient Retail Club,we have our weekly wins where on a
Friday we share what we are gratefulfor, what we were celebrating.
And then on a Monday, what it is thatwe're focusing on for the week that
helps with accountability, but it alsohelps with that sharing and the keeping
(14:24):
an eye and checking in on progress.
So you do have to be flexibleas well, that does help.
As I said, plans are useless,planning is priceless.
So you will set yourself thesepriorities at the beginning of
the year and it's really usefulto be able to work towards them.
Things will happen, life willhappen, so you do need to have
some kind of flexibility andsome grace for yourself as well.
(14:44):
So don't be afraid to reprioritize.
I would suggest that you don'ttry and reprioritize more
than about once per quarter.
You could risk creating lots of thingsthat you start but don't finish.
So definitely do take the time,maybe once a quarter to sit down, and
review your goals as to constantlydoing them and then revising them.
And there you have it.
So, you know, setting goals for yourbusiness, it helps give you direction.
(15:07):
It helps boost your motivation,helps you measure your success.
And the key really is all aboutsetting clear, realistic, and
actionable goals that are alignedwith your vision and help you create
the kind of business that you want.
What are your business goals?
If you already know, then give it a gowriting them down in a SMART format that.
Remember that specific, measurable,achievable, relevant, and time bound.
(15:31):
And then, you know, committo taking your first step.
If you are not sure, you don't reallyknow where to start, or if you want
more help setting really specificgoals and being able to put really
specific numbers against them.
Break it down into a monthly plan, andthen break it down into an action plan
that you can follow to make sure thatyou do actually achieve them, as well
as a whole heap of accountability andsupport to actually achieve those goals.
(15:54):
Then do check out theResilient Retail Club.
It's an amazing membershipand we would love to have you.
If you look in the link in the show notes,
you will see the sign up pagefor the five day challenge, which
you can join for just 19 pounds.
That's 50 percent off your first month andthen it's 38 pounds a month after that.
And also if you sign up now,you'll beat the price increase
(16:16):
coming at the end of February.
Thanks so much and see you there.
Bye.
Do you have a plan for the year?
If you don't, then you're not alone.
So much of the plan-your-year informationthat goes out there is really aimed
at service business providers.
They talk a lot about planningyour year in December, when most
retail businesses are in thethroes of their Christmas season.
So I find that January and Februaryis a much better time to think
(00:21):
about planning out your year.
And if that's you, thenyou're in the right place.
Hi, I'm Catherine Erdly.
I'm your host today.
And I'm also the founder of the ResilientRetail Club, which is my membership group
and mastermind for product businesses.
If you want to plan your year and youfeeling a little bit behind, not to worry.
From the 10th to the 14th ofFebruary, we are running our sixth
(00:44):
annual plan your year challenge.
It's five days, fun high energychallenge inside the Resilient
Retail Club membership.
And at the end of it, you willhave a clear plan for the year
and steps to get you there.
If you are a member, then notto worry, you will get that
as part of your membership.
If you're not a member, headover to resilientretailclub.com.
You can see more information, or check theshow notes for your link on how to sign up
(01:08):
for just 50 percent off your first month,and you'll also beat the price rise.
The price of the Resilient RetailClub has not gone up for new
members for two years now, but itis going up at the end of February.
So if you want to jump in beforethe price rise and take part in
our planning challenge, then don'tforget to head over to the show notes
and find the sign up link there.
(01:29):
But onto today's show.
So let's talk aboutplanning out your year.
So I am a huge believer in planningand I love it because I think
it's a very creative process.
I love the phrase that, "plans areuseless, but planning is priceless."
And that is really my mantra.
So if you are ever felt like youwere just running in circles, or if
(01:53):
you feel like you're just reactingto problems instead of planning for
success, then this episode is for you.
We're going to be talking about whysetting goals is critical, how they can
transform your approach to business andsome practical tips to get started with
goals that are meaningful and achievable.
(02:16):
So why does it matterwhether or not you set goals?
I like to think about it as if you weretrying to hit an actual physical target.
Imagine that you had a bow andarrow and you were going to
use it to try and hit a target.
If you couldn't see that target, if youwere blindfolded, it would be so much
harder or impossible for most peopleto actually hit that target because you
(02:38):
don't know where you're trying to go.
And it's exactly the samething with your business.
Unless you set yourself a goal anda target and you aim towards it, it
can feel like you're stuck in theday to day grind and that you're
focusing on tasks rather than progress.
Goals can be like a GPS.
They guide your decisions and theykeep you focused on your destination.
(03:02):
When you have a really clear vision ofwhere you're going, it's easier to stay
motivated even when challenges arise.
You're not just working hard,you're working with purpose.
And I remember this back from the veryfirst time that I started my business,
which was nearly seven years ago now.
And one of the tips that I was givenwas to get a photograph that represents
(03:23):
either the people that you're doingthis for, or what you're trying to
build and have it somewhere visible.
So if you're having a tough day, youcan look at that and it can remind you.
Especially at the beginning whenyou're figuring so much stuff out,
it can feel really hard and it canfeel like you're wading through mud.
So having that goal, having thatvision is absolutely critical.
I'm also a big believer in settinggoals because if you don't know, if
(03:46):
you don't have a goal, how do youknow when to pop the champagne cork?
So goals, they really help you trackhow far you've come, whether it's
increasing sales, launching newproducts, or growing your customer base.
Clear targets help you measure success,and more than that, they help you measure
success in such a way that you know whenyou've achieved what you meant to set out.
(04:08):
Many people will say to me, "Well, Idon't really like having goals because
my goal is just to sell as much aspossible." And I totally get that
and I totally resonate with that.
But how do you know when you'vesold as much as possible?
I mean that is a reallydifficult thing to quantify.
And I also believe that settinggoals helps get you feeling
accountable so you can hold yourself.
(04:28):
And if you've got a team, it canhelp hold your team accountable and
it creates a sense of responsibilityand really helps you focus on
what it is that you want to do.
So if setting goals is so important, isit something that most people find easy?
Well, actually a lot of the time, no.
People have some real mentalblocks around setting goals.
(04:49):
One of the things that people will sayto me is things like, "I don't want
to set goals because it feels likeI could be tempting fate. So I set
myself this goal and if I don't hitit, then I'll feel very demotivated
or it'll be really difficult for me."
And again, I do understand that, butI think that's part of the process.
That's part of learningwhat to set as a goal.
(05:10):
And so one of the things that peopledo, one of the mistakes that people
make is they set unrealistic goals.
So if you've got a really overlyambitious goal, it can lead to
that burnout and frustration.
So what I talk about with goal settingis that I want it to feel exciting.
I want it to feel like alittle bit of excitement that
(05:31):
in the pit of your stomach.
That it's not so overwhelming that youthink: I'm never going to do this and I
just don't know where I'm going to start.
And you think oh, if I could hit thisnumber that would be really exciting,
but equally so it's not something thatjust feels completely unrealistic.
So by doing that you have somethingthat feels motivating but you
(05:53):
also feel excited, motivated,not completely overwhelmed.
The other thing that's reallyimportant that we go into in the
five day challenge is that it's allabout understanding when to push and
when to hang back in your business.
So some months you can really go for it,but setting yourself a really ambitious
target in the quietest month of theyear is only going to lead to burnout.
(06:17):
The other thing that I see in terms ofgoal setting that leads to frustration
or leads to a negative impact ornegative thought process around
setting goals is a lack of clarity.
If you set yourself a vague goal, so forexample, "I want to grow my business,"
but you don't have a clear path forward,then it's much, much harder for you to
(06:41):
really break that down and achieve it.
What you want is some reallyspecific goals, which we
cover this in the challenge.
But ultimately you want to be ableto say something like, "I want to
grow my sales by 20 percent in thefirst quarter," or even you want to
have a monthly plan of sales goals sothat you can look to achieve those.
And it really makes it much more concretein a way that saying, "I want to grow
(07:05):
my business," just doesn't allow.
The other thing that I would say,the other mistake that I see people
make with goals is that they maybealmost spend too much time making
a very, very elaborate plan.
So they map it all out and theycreate like multiple steps.
Maybe they create big spreadsheetswith all this detail in it, but
then they don't actually do it orthey don't check back in on it.
(07:28):
I'm a bigger believer in a simpleplan that is really easy for you to
access than something that is overcomplicated and will never be used.
So I would much rather that you writeone number, maybe it's 20 on the year
or your annual goal for the year.
And have that number on a postit note, stuck on your computer
(07:48):
screen, that you can see every day.
As opposed to sitting down and create,spending three or four days creating
this very, very elaborate plan andthen just never, ever referring to it.
So regular check-ins, theyhelp you stay on track and make
adjustments if needed, but youdon't want to overcomplicate things.
Create something that's reallyincredibly difficult to update.
(08:09):
You want to be talking and thinkingabout information for action,
what information do you need?
You can actually react to as opposedto creating something overly complex.
And then the other mistake that Isee people make with their business
is they set themselves goals thatare not aligned to their business
values and their long term vision.
(08:30):
And what I mean by that is weget an awful lot of external
noise around our businesses.
You will have people telling you,everyone from business experts like me
to other business owners to friends,family members, to courses that you
might take or people that you mightlisten to, other podcasts, who knows?
(08:50):
And you will hear a lot of noise anda lot of ideas about what it means
to create a successful business.
So for example, you mighthear someone say right?
Well, having a big teamas a sign of success.
And so you might set yourself agoal that you want to grow your
team, but actually what you reallywant if you're true to yourself, if
(09:11):
you're true to your own vision, isthat you want to grow your business.
But you want to do it by workingwith outsourced partners instead
of direct employees, for example.
Because that to you feelslike a better way of working.
So the key thing here is that you canset yourself goals, but you do have
to ask yourself is do they align withreally how I want to run my business?
(09:31):
How I want to run mylife, more specifically.
I think it's really importantto think about what kind of
life do you want to lead?
And therefore what business fits into thatalmost rather than the other way around.
So, when you're setting your goals,you do have to be really careful and
really clear that they are aligned withwhat you want, that it's not something
that somebody else told you is a goodidea, or you feel like you should do.
(09:54):
It's something that yougenuinely want to do.
And that if you work towards that goal,it's going to take you closer towards
your ideal life, ideal business, orideal whatever else that might be.
And what that looks like for you is goingto be completely different to what that
looks like for me, for anybody else.
So it's really important thatyou stay true to yourself when
you're setting your goals.
(10:16):
How do you set goals that are effective?
Well, inside the challenge, we go intoa lot of detail as to setting goals and
how to actually put numbers against them.
But effectively, even more generallyspeaking with a goal, what you
want to do is you want to makeit what is known as a SMART goal.
Now you may well haveheard of SMART goals.
(10:37):
If you've not heard of SMART goals,then this is what it stands for.
So the S is for specific, M isfor measurable, A achievable,
R relevant, T time bound.
So specific, measurable,achievable, relevant, time bound.
In other words, that's what thedifference between saying, "I want
to grow my business" and "I want toincrease my sales specific by 20%,"
(11:03):
which is measurable, Achievable meansthe challenging but attainable bit.
Relevant, do they tie into youroverall business objectives?
Well yes, growing your salesties into your overall business
objective of growing your business.
And then time bound, sothat's in the first quarter.
So give each goal a deadlineto help maintain that urgency.
So you can see that you go from avague goal like grow my business,
(11:25):
to a smart goal like 20 percentin the first quarter, for example.
Okay.
So again, saying I want more customers,you'd say acquire 50 new customers
through email marketing by the endof the second quarter, for example.
So this is the difference betweena vague goal and a smart goal.
(11:45):
And it's definitely something tofocus in on when you're thinking
about your plans for 2025.
The other thing that we do, so we havethe five day challenge and then the
week after the five day challenge,we have another workshop which is
called Your Year in Detail and it'swhere we actually break it down.
So we break down the main goals for theyear and then we break it into quarters
(12:07):
because large goals can feel overwhelming.
And it's much better to break themdown into smaller milestones or action
steps to help them feel manageable.
So for example, if you have got a goal ofintroducing new products then introduce
new products is a very big goal but Ifyou break it down into smaller tasks,
like do some market research, talk tofive different suppliers, select the
(12:33):
final product, create a marketing plan.
All of those things, they startto feel much more achievable.
The other thing that I have to say aswell, another mistake that people make
is when they set their goals for theyear, they tend to say, right, okay,
I've got these five goals for the year.
The first quarter, I need to do themall because it's very tempting to
(12:54):
think that as soon as we've identifiedsomething we want to do, if you're an
action taker and most entrepreneursare action takers, then you will want
to just dive in and get on with it.
But actually what happens thenis you just end up overwhelmed.
You've got your day to day workthat you're doing, as well as
your business development work.
And if you suddenly decide thatall of that has to happen in the
(13:16):
first quarter, then you're veryquickly going to feel overwhelmed.
So one of the things that we do inthe workshop, particularly after the
challenge, is we look at how do you spaceit out so that you're not overwhelmed?
That you don't feel like you justwant to go back to bed, pull the
duvet over your head and forget allabout these goals that you have set.
So you can't tackle everything at once.
(13:38):
And you have to remember that these arefive yearly goals, not five goals that you
have to do in the next couple of weeks.
So once you've set your goals, thenhow do you actually stick to them?
So first off, write them down.
As I said, doesn't have to be complicated,but having them written down somewhere.
The studies show that people whowrite their goals down are much
more likely to achieve them.
(13:59):
And if you can keep them visibleand remind yourself of what
you're working towards, thenthat's really helpful as well.
Make sure that you have regular check ins.
Inside the Resilient Retail Club,we have our weekly wins where on a
Friday we share what we are gratefulfor, what we were celebrating.
And then on a Monday, what it is thatwe're focusing on for the week that
helps with accountability, but it alsohelps with that sharing and the keeping
(14:24):
an eye and checking in on progress.
So you do have to be flexibleas well, that does help.
As I said, plans are useless,planning is priceless.
So you will set yourself thesepriorities at the beginning of
the year and it's really usefulto be able to work towards them.
Things will happen, life willhappen, so you do need to have
some kind of flexibility andsome grace for yourself as well.
(14:44):
So don't be afraid to reprioritize.
I would suggest that you don'ttry and reprioritize more
than about once per quarter.
You could risk creating lots of thingsthat you start but don't finish.
So definitely do take the time,maybe once a quarter to sit down, and
review your goals as to constantlydoing them and then revising them.
And there you have it.
So, you know, setting goals for yourbusiness, it helps give you direction.
(15:07):
It helps boost your motivation,helps you measure your success.
And the key really is all aboutsetting clear, realistic, and
actionable goals that are alignedwith your vision and help you create
the kind of business that you want.
What are your business goals?
If you already know, then give it a gowriting them down in a SMART format that.
Remember that specific, measurable,achievable, relevant, and time bound.
(15:31):
And then, you know, committo taking your first step.
If you are not sure, you don't reallyknow where to start, or if you want
more help setting really specificgoals and being able to put really
specific numbers against them.
Break it down into a monthly plan, andthen break it down into an action plan
that you can follow to make sure thatyou do actually achieve them, as well
as a whole heap of accountability andsupport to actually achieve those goals.
(15:54):
Then do check out theResilient Retail Club.
It's an amazing membershipand we would love to have you.
If you look in the link in the show notes,
you will see the sign up pagefor the five day challenge, which
you can join for just 19 pounds.
That's 50 percent off your first month andthen it's 38 pounds a month after that.
And also if you sign up now,you'll beat the price increase
(16:16):
coming at the end of February.
Thanks so much and see you there.
Bye.
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