It’s time to focus on you. You’ve been working in your business and now is the time to work on your business. Are you on track to achieve your business goals? Are you realising your potential?
The pandemic brought a boom of entrepreneurship, with over 726,000 new start-ups opening in the UK during 2020, which followed furlough and people being driven out of employment.
The last two years have been a whirlwind for entrepreneurs. With an economic recession on the horizon, it’s now more important than ever for them to take a step back and reflect on their entrepreneurial journey if they want to keep pace.
Cultivating a self-reflective environment can provide the inspiration and motivation a business leader needs to navigate through choppy waters. The more people understand each other and themselves, the more successful their business will be.
Achieving your business goals
In my experience, I found setting measurable business goals from the offset is essential for staying focused, measuring progress, being inspired, beating procrastination, achieving more and determining what you want in life.
Keeping track of progress is a must. There’s no point setting milestones if you only review them once a year. To ensure you are tracking your business development, I recommend a live document that breaks down your objectives into manageable and attainable chunks. This enables you to not only implement changes quickly but also gives you the data and visibility to look at what’s working well. I also find that regularly keeping an eye on the market and what your rivals are doing allows you to evaluate your objectives and react accordingly.
Running your own business can be a lonely place. It’s easy to procrastinate or go off on a tangent when a shiny new idea piques your interest. However, this can be detrimental to achieving your goals.
In my experience, working with an ‘accountability partner’ can really help keep you on track. As someone completely independent from your business, they are committed to listening and checking you are making it happen. They will also be your cheerleaders as you achieve milestones and will recognise your commitment to the process.
In many cases the accountability works both ways, so it’s worth making sure you choose a partner who shares your ambitions, challenges your thinking and is honest with you.
Realising your full business potential
Learning to shoot for the stars is essential if you want to win big and build a name for yourself in your industry.
Regularly reflecting on your business goals and amending them with stretch targets, as well as creating a sales projection plan that outlines where you can go in the next three to five years, is a key step towards realising your full business potential.
Instead of beating yourself up if you don’t succeed, ask yourself, is this target achievable and realistic? Then make the necessary adjustments. In order to scale your business, you need to step out of your comfort zone. If you’re not struggling, it could mean that you’re not ambitious enough. As Richard Branson said, “the best entrepreneurs usually have a few battle scars and war stories to tell. Remember to take the positives from your experience and apply them to your next business.”
As your company grows, you’ll need to bring in professionals and specialists to help you achieve each of your business goals. The sooner you discipline yourself and establish a culture of reflection, the easier it will be to stop thinking in silos and look at everything more holistically.
We all want to reach the pinnacle as entrepreneurs, but we often forget to look back and see how far we’ve come. Take a moment to celebrate what you’ve accomplished so far, no matter what you’re striving for or how far you still have to go. It doesn’t matter if you’re moving quickly or slowly; what matters is that you keep moving! And the greatest way to ensure that you continue to do so is to treasure each stage of the journey.
