A couple of weeks ago, I met with my new coach for the first time.

I haven’t had a proper, real coach before, and I was ready for them to blow me away with secret tips and revolutionary tactics that were going to transform my life.

And I do genuinely believe that what we went through will absolutely transform my business and my life for the better.

But it wasn’t anything secret.

Far from it.

Instead, I was reminded of the foundational principles of success.

In fact, the main thing we did was to set goals.

Mind blowing! 🤯

Needless to say, this wasn't the kind of ninja success hack I had been hoping for... After all, we all know that we need to have SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time-Bound) goals, right?

But let me ask you – honestly – do you have them? Written down?

If not, don’t beat yourself up – you’re not alone.

In fact, about 75% of business owners don’t have clear goals or a defined strategy for achieving them.

Which, in itself, hopefully demonstrates to you that you have an amazing opportunity here – this is such a simple thing that you can do right now that will put you light years ahead of most of your competitors!

And NOW really is the best time to be setting your goals for next year.

I know - thinking about 2024 when it's not even November sounds about as much a priority as alphabetising your sock drawer – but if you wait until January to do this, your chances of achieving your goals will be vastly reduced.

So, if you fancy making 2024 your best year yet by a country mile, here is a simple, 3-step process for setting impactful goals:

Step 1: Define Your Big Goal

Decide on the one big accomplishment you want to achieve in 2024. This will be your North Star for the year.

For business owners, this is usually a revenue or profit goal. But it could also be hitting a milestone like launching a new product, opening a second location, hiring your 10th employee, or doubling your email list.

The key is choosing a single, measurable, and meaningful goal to focus on.

Step 2: Identify Your Key Numbers

Figure out the 3-4 key metrics that will get you to your big goal.

For a revenue goal, this might be:

• Number of new customers
• Average sale amount
• Number of sales per customer
• Attrition Rate

Let's look at an example:

Say your goal is £100,000 in revenue for 2024.

Looking at your numbers, you see your average sale is £100.

So you need 1,000 sales to hit £100k.

But what if you could increase your average sale to £150? Now you only need 667 sales to hit your goal. Much more achievable!

Step 3: Break it Down

Take your key numbers and break them into monthly, weekly, or even daily targets.

Continuing our example: 667 sales per year = 56 sales per month = 14 sales per week = 2 sales per day.

Suddenly your big annual goal doesn’t seem so tricky!

And you know if you are on track to hit your goals each and every day… you don’t need to wait until the end of the month or the quarter to find out. The stress is lifted.

And that's it - 3 simple steps to get clear on your 2024 goals now so you can hit the ground running in January.

Of course, we still have to figure out the "how" - the strategies, tools, and plans to actually make it happen.

Though I bet your brain is already working on that, isn’t it? It’s amazing what happens when you get real clarity on what you want.

Next week, I’m going to share more tips to help with the ‘How’ – but for now, please do this exercise.

Write out your goal, pin it up where you can see it every day, and let your subconscious brain work on it for you.

Let me know how it goes or if you have any questions!

Tim

About The Author

Tim Freed is the Co-Founder of both Toddle About and Book That In.

Having built and managed a 50-strong team of door-to-door sales people in his early 20s, before joining the corporate world and building a multi-million pound recruitment team, Tim turned to entrepreneurship - founding Toddle About in 2010, which is now a thriving franchise business. He went on to launch Book That In in 2017 with his business partner, Alec Wadey, which is now one of the fastest growing online booking systems in the UK.

Tim is always learning and striving to improve and loves nothing more than sharing his hard-won knowledge and experience in sales, marketing, leadership and entrepreneurship with other business owners to help them on their own journeys.