Don’t Jump Without a Chute

Another New Year’s Day is past and by now you have probably completely forgotten about your resolutions. The end of the year and beginning of the next always puts me in the mood to plan ahead. I reflect on what I did the previous year—what worked and what went up in flames. And most importantly, I start planning for the upcoming year. I have never really been one to choose New Year’s resolutions, they are too frail and easily put aside, but I believe in the importance of setting goals.

As a teenager, I had a plan: go to college, get a degree, and land a great job. It took me six long years but I did exactly that. Without that clear sense of purpose, I probably would have ended up like a lot of the girls with whom I went to school—unhappily married, divorced, or without a clear sense of myself. I am not trying to put those girls down, but the difference between those who are happy and successful and those who are not is GOALS.

I know a really successful real estate investor who once said that he didn’t trust a business owner without written goals. While that may be a bit extreme, there is a lot of truth in his statement. If you believe in your vision, then you should be able to clearly state (on paper) what that vision is.

From my perspective, as a head of a marketing agency, that goes double for marketing. If you cannot clearly state (in writing with actual numbers), what you want from a marketing activity (an ad, flyer, coupon, website update) then you should re-think it. Marketing without a goal is like skydiving without a parachute—not very smart and certain to hurt.

Besides marketing, business owners should set overall goals for their business like the sales or revenue and their personal life. Too many business owners, succeed at the expense of their families. So to help inspire you, here are a few of my goals for 2010:

1. Tweet about a local business or favorite online company or product five days per week.
2. Grow my blog following and get the community to participate with comments and guest posts.
3. Get at least 30% of my business from existing clients or their referrals.
4. Complete two website projects per month.
5. Grow our hosting service to 100 clients by December.
6. Take a two-week Alaskan vacation with my husband.