Create Goals for a Plan
A new year brings to mind New Year’s Resolutions. These resolutions are set and then usually lost by some time in March. For business setting and reviewing goals is more important. Setting realistic, workable goals leads naturally to creating a business plan.
As time goes by goals can be adjusted and so can the plan.
Many goal setting exercises focus on external desires: earning 10K a month, a yacht, a vehicle, a villa. But these are not realistic goals. That is the reason that most goals are not achieved.
My business turned around when I focused on my personal with internal strengths. I clearly identified two that have been true through my life:
- Help people learn to learn
- Connect individuals with each other (networking)
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Your Target Market
Next identify your target market. Be specific. Think about the people who resonate to your message. What do they have in common? You can’t please everyone so be clear about who you want as your customers.
Identify your customer’s major pain points. How can your strengths address the pain points and solve their problems. Think about the media you use. Is writing a strength? Write articles. Love the immediacy of video? Create a series of videos addressing those pain points and how your business can help them go away.
You know who you are and how you talk to people. Don’t imitate others, be yourself. Your voice, how you tell your story, is key to getting people to listen and buy.
With your goals identified you are ready to make a plan for your business.
Create your Plan
Create your brand story. Your brand story is not how you got into business or how many children you have. Your brand story is how you help customers with their pain points. Your story is about how you provide solutions to the pain points.
Create case studies. Get testimonials.
Get the basic product and website fully-formed and fit for purpose—to tell your brand story.
Create content so your market knows you answer their questions. The foundation of your marketing is to get potential customers to like and trust you so they look deeper into what you share, what is on your site. What they look, see, and examine is the strengths that solve problems. Keep telling the story in as many ways as possible.
Get social. The big thing about using social media is to create brand awareness. You get your image and message out to people. As you engage you create reach
The strong ties that follow you for a reason. Concentrate on the strong ties.
Don’t forget the weak ties—the ones who are not directly involved but have connections into other networks with circles of people that you don’t yet have contact with.
Implement your plan
- Your strengths
- Your client’s pain points
- Your story - how you will stop the pain
- Your voice - how you tell the story
- Emotionally reward your client by resolving the pain
As the year progresses your business will grow by using a plan based on realistic goals based on your internal strengths. Implementing your plan will reward you far more than resolutions based on things you think you should do.
Zara Altair
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