In 2015 I had discovered the NiceOps Planathon and the Creativity Planner both of which helped me set down business goals. In the past year I have found multiple ways to expand on that. One thing that is often said is you must have S.M.A.R.T. goals. My issue with that has always been how do you put a time limit on something you've never done before and don't know how long it will all take? I'll be real, I'm still not 100% sure about the answer to that question. But in the very beginning, which is where I am now, you just do your best with the info that you have and go for it. Try your best.
With that in mind I'll be sharing my progress throughout the year. But first what am I working towards? Let's take a look at my goals.
2017 Annual Objectives
Financial: Become financially solvent; have multiple streams of income; pay off con end and tax debt; get savings for emergency fund; eliminate worry about bills and expenses coverage; buy a new computer; earn $20,000 from businesses.
Spiritual: Have a regular at home altar and ritual practice; monthly self reiki; offer readings and reiki services online; create rituals and spells to share.
Mental: Read more entrepreneur self help books; take more event planning courses; visit with guides to de-stress; play mentally challenging games
Physical: Lose 50lbs; remove lumps from abdominal;dance more; workout frustrations and stress physically; declutter. (there is one objective here that is too personal to not have hidden but I wanted to include it so I know its there.)
Relational: One vacation each with friends and family; practice driving in zipcar; visit friends upstate more.
These annual objectives are broken into five areas as suggested by Lisa Jacobs of Market Your Creativity. I've taken these objectives and written down the action steps (that I know of) I need to take to make each one happen. I used Kara Benz' example of Project Lists from the Getting Things Done method by David Allen. Except I don't keep a whole separate book for this. I'd never look at it if I did. With this I can create a timeline for each task or project in the action plans. It looks sort of like a Gantt chart. Then I break things down by what I need to do each quarter, month and week to make things happen.
For example, one of my financial objectives is to earn $20,000 from my businesses this year. A big goal. One I have never achieved. But this is the "What would I do if I could not fail?" response. So I created an action plan which consists of an annual strategy, a growth strategy and a profit strategy for each business. Each strategy works together to achieve the objective.
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| 2017 Annual Strategy |
Then I break things down even further with Growth and Profit Strategies for each business.
Growth Strategy
Point of Sale: Etsy Updates 7x per week
New product launch 3x per year
Blog 2x per month
Newsletter 2x per month
Social Media: Facebook: 4x per day (using postcron)
Instagram: 1x per day (using later)
Pinterest: 2x per week (using postcron)
Profit Strategy
Body Butters: # sold 10
Gift sets: # sold: 10
Readings: # sold 24
Body Powders: # sold 15
Old products: # sold 90
Goal: $3,300
50 email subscribers
3600 Instagram followers
1000 Pinterest followers
10,000 Facebook followers
Growth Strategy
Point of Sale: Website blog 2x per month
Email 2x per month
Social Media: Facebook: 2x per day (using postcron)
Pinterest: 4x per week (using postcron)
Profit Strategy
Officiant Services: # sold 35
Wedding Planning: # sold 5
Wedding Checklist: # sold 30
Wedding Timeline: # sold 27
Goal: $17,700
150 Facebook followers
150 Pinterest followers
100 email subscribers
As you can see I have a Shop Update planned Scarlet Moon Creations this month. That's going to take a lot. I've been doing it here and there the past few months but I just need to buckle down and do it all at once. I know I need to update and make my shop more appealing to customers because people come but they don't buy very often from my etsy shop. So I looked over my shop and wrote out exactly what needed to get done. Some of these action steps are projects on their own. The big one is updating product photos. I needed another 2 pages to detail what photos need updating. Hence the exclamation point.
This all goes back to what I learned from Lisa Jacobs Your Best Year 2017. Things might not go exactly according to this detailed plan, cause you know life happens, but I won't feel so lost and overwhelmed. Each month and quarter I will review where I am at and how things went and adjust the next time periods plans accordingly. And I will share that with you all. That's right you will be getting monthly reports from me this year for income, traffic and goal updates.
Now we are already mid-way through February and I am behind. Through no fault but my own. I just did not do what I wanted to out of fear. Of what? Mostly just failure but I had a little defeatist attitude going on as well. However, I am aware of my issues and determined to work on them with a little help from you guys as well as family and friends. I've been sitting on this post for 2 weeks. I wrote most of this and the next post in a couple of hours. So, the January Reports will come out tomorrow since this one is so late.
Now we are already mid-way through February and I am behind. Through no fault but my own. I just did not do what I wanted to out of fear. Of what? Mostly just failure but I had a little defeatist attitude going on as well. However, I am aware of my issues and determined to work on them with a little help from you guys as well as family and friends. I've been sitting on this post for 2 weeks. I wrote most of this and the next post in a couple of hours. So, the January Reports will come out tomorrow since this one is so late.
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