Why do you need to set budgets goals and plans for the year?

• Having a plan can help you guide your business growth. If you have no plan for where you’re going in the next year, how can you get there?
• You’ll know what to plan for your resources. How many employees will you need? What will your cash flow look like?
• Yearly plans will help you work toward your long term business goals.

Now is a great time to sit down and look at how your goals and budgets have gone for this year. Are you on budget for the year, will you meet your business goals for 2009? Take a look at how you are doing this year to help you plan your goals and budgets for next year.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Time To Start Planning For The New Year

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As a business owner, what dreams do you have that you want to come true? Where do you want to take your business for the rest of 2009? If you made goals for 2009 at the beginning of the year, how are you tracking at reaching those goals? One of my dreams/goals was to at least double my 2008 income in 2009. As of the writing of this blog post during the fourth month of 2009, I have almost reached what I earned in 2008 so I feel that I will not only reach my goal but also exceed it.

I have been successful because of the strategic alliances and connections that I have made with other business owners. The majority of my efforts with other business owners have been through cross-marketing as we shared about each other’s business offerings to our connections. Cross-marketing is a great thing to add to your business because it helps you grow your business why helping others grow theirs.

In the video below, more details will be given to you that will help you identify how you can “share” or “cross-market” with other business owners so that you too can have your dreams come true.

Post from: EveryJoe

Dreams Come True – Orlando Hudson

As I discussed in my post about commitment , active commitment is much more effective than passive. Research has shown that a commitment that is written and publicly stated is more likely to be taken seriously and worked on.

Making Goals a Reality. Some suggestions for making your business goals a reality:

• Use the SMART principle to create your goals; make your goals Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely.
• Get input in writing your goals. If you have a board of directors, they should be involved.  Some of your shareholders might be good resources to help you figure out the details.
• Put your goals in writing. Make the written goal statements into a poster or brochure.
• Make your goals public. Put them on the company bulletin board. Call an employee meeting and let all your employees know your goals. Tell your CPA, your attorney, your banker about your goals.
• Keep goals front-and-center.  Reconfirmation helps us recommit, which is why certain prayers or mantras are effective.  A reminder about your goals at the start of every board meeting helps keep you, and your board, committed to the outcome.
• Put your goals in your business plan. A business plan is a fluid document; next time you review it, add your goals.
• Keep track of progress. Make one of those thermometers, if you want.  Or just stop every month or so to check progress.
• Celebrate the small victories along the way. If your employees are working along with you toward your goals, stop every few months and recognize individual and group efforts toward progress. All of this publicity helps keep you committed and less likely to ignore your goals.

We are all human, and we naturally tend to start out strong on a commitment then backslide as we go along.  Using these techniques to keep re-committing to your business goals will help you make them happen.

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Post from: EveryJoe

Making Your Business Goals Happen