Business Plan - Define Your Business and Personal Goals

This is the first in a series of 10 articles I have developed to help you define what you need to consider at each stage of the business planning process.

Following on from my article "A Business Plan is Key for Small Business", this  article will concentrate on defining your business and personal goals. Even at the  early planning stages, it is important to consider what you want to achieve for  you and your business. Not just the financials but things like work/life balance.

The most important person in your business right now is you, the owner/operator. We will look at your needs as well as those of your business, what you want from the business and what you want the business to become over time.

Before we go any further I'd like you to consider my definition of success.

Success......

Success is "achieving your goals and being happy with where your are in the knowledge that you can work to be somewhere better". For me it's about enjoying the journey towards your goals.

Whether you are a sole trader, owner of a small limited company or any other business owner, you must have goals or objectives in place. It is important to articulate these goals in terms of the business and what you want from that business.

Like any other goal or objective, they must be tangilble measure of time, quantity and quality. That way you will know how you are doing on the journey.

For example, if my goal was to "go on holiday in Cornwall", this statement alone has no measurables. Really, this is no more than a wish. To have real meaning, something you can work towards it would need to consider dates, accomodation, location and transport arrangements.

So how do we set these goals?

There are some simple "rules" that you should consider:

• Be very specific about what you want so you can clearly express it to another person and they will fully inderstand

• Put measures on it, so you know when you have got there

• Make sure that the goal is something you believe you can achieve

• Ensure that the goal is realistic (no point in setting a holiday for next week if you have to give 4 weeks notice)

• Put a and date or time by which the goal is to be achieved (you can also include interim dates, milestones)

In other words use SMART Objectives (download your ree SMART Objectives article to learn more)

I strongly recommend that you have two sets of complimentary goals. Business and personal. What you want for your business and what you want for you.

Have you ever said something like "one day I'll ...............". A plan without a date on it is just a dream". If you are to be successful in business you need a detailed plan of how you are going to ahcieve your goals, and then go on and do it. There is only one person stopping you from achieving success, and that is you.

When you have time, have a look at our facebook page www.facebook.com/NowTakeControl and see some inspirational case studies of people who have started small businesses and are already off the starting block after only a few weeks. They are passionate about their business idea, just like you.

What do you want your business to become?

Consider what you want your for your business by the end of year 1, year 3 and year 5.

• To have a turnover of £45,000 by ..............

• To have a minumum of 50 regular customers by ..............

• To employ 1 additional member of staff by .........

These are just some examples to start the thought process.

What do you want from your business?

What are your personal goals, what do you want as a result of running your own business?

• Pay off my mortgage by .......

• Be able to pay my personal bills comfortably

• Have a family holiday every year from .............

• Able to spend time with my family at weekends

What ever you want for you.

Remeber, in both cases express your goals as SMART objectives (Specific - Measureable - Ahievable - Realistic - Time Bound)