Small Business Goals You Could Set This Year

For your business to grow in 2021, you need to set goals that lead you to growth. Goals help you stay the course and move forward. They are the best shot to ensuring your business does not stagnate.

Goal setting for your small business does necessarily have to be set aside for the beginning of the year only. Even as the year unfolds, consider reviewing and even resetting your long-term and short-term goals regularly when need be. 

Regularly reviewing is crucial when it comes to tracking your goals and the progress you are making. This also helps you figure out whether the approaches or strategies you are using to meet your goals are working.

When you know your strategies are not working, you will be able to refine or reset them. Without awareness of whether your tactics are working or not, you might not achieve your set goals. You cannot set your goals and wait, you have to put in the work and keep tracking your progress regularly.

For 2021, there are so many goals that your business could set and work towards. All these goals have the potential to boost your business’ growth. However, you don’t have to set all these goals, one or two or three goals that fit with your business can make your business better.

Once you choose the goals you want to achieve for your business in 2021, come up with a plan that guides you towards achieving each goal. Let your plan include different tactics that will help you achieve each goal.

Reduce business costs

You might be a victim of this and your business needs a new goal, to reduce its expenses.

Many small businesses have expenses that are over the brim and affecting their business’ cash flow management.

If your business fits in this category, reducing your expenses should be your goal in 2021. Look at your ongoing expenses and see where you can have a cut. And as a business owner, you definitely want to reduce your business costs.

Come up with specific ways to help you reduce your existing costs. Whether it’s reducing your existing debt or using more technology to ease up your operations.

Improve your financial health

As a business owner, you need to handle your business finances. You need to be aware of and in control of what money comes in and what money goes out of your business.

Your finance books need to check out and balance out every day.

There are tactics you could use to keep your finances healthy. For example, consider having a budget that guides how you spend your business finances.

Create a new product or service

A great way to turn your business around and give your business a facelift is by giving your customers something new.

Creating an additional product or a new service for your business can be your goal this year. Having an existing list of products or services has helped you know your customers. You now probably know what they like and what they don’t.

Using feedback from your existing customers can help you create a new product that meets their needs. Look at the needs your existing products are and are not meeting.  Come up with a new improved product or service that meets these needs.

Review your business plan and revamp

When was the last time you went back to your business plan since your Small business started?

Many business owners never take a look at their initial business plans after they have started their businesses. Evaluate where your business is so far in comparison to where you wanted to be when you started. Are you on track or off track?

Depending on where you are, come up with a new plan to help you move forward towards success.

Increase your productivity

The level of productivity in your business affects your business output.

How productive you are or your employees are affects how effective or successful your business operations are. A goal to boost the productivity around your business would be a great boost for your business.

Look for tactics to boost your productivity as the business owner and your team’s productivity as well if you have one.

Hire your first employee(s)

Many small businesses are a one-man job: the business owner does everything by themselves.

Your business is probably growing and you now struggle to keep up with all the business operations by yourself. It might be time to bring in help and hire your first employee or two to help you with your business.

Network more

You are probably inactive when it comes to networking. Setting a goal to network more this year could be on your list.

How can you get your business in front of industry influencers in turn getting you to more customers? Is it attending more industry events? Community events that host small business owners or networking online through social media groups?

Final Thoughts…

Remember, set goals that fit with your business. This does not exhaust all the goals you could choose from and probably doesn’t have a goal or two that your business needs.

First, know where your business needs improvement and set your goals in line with what needs improvement.

Let your goals be SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-bound. For example, your goal to reduce your business costs could be: Reduce business costs by 5% before the second quarter of 2021. This goal is specific, measurable, achievable, and relevant and is time-bound.