Goals are Dreams with Deadlines

by Danielle Andrews Sunkel

As most wedding business owners wind down after the 2013 wedding season, the smart ones are starting to plan their 2014 season.   The break between wedding seasons is a time to assess this year and set goals for yourself and your business for next.

Everyone has a dream of what they want their wedding business to be, goals are just dreams with deadlines.  Setting and achieving your goals is a wonderful exercise that’s builds your confidence and helps you appreciate yourself and your efforts.  It is a very empowering task.

Assess
In order to set goals, you need to assess your needs and skill set:

• What worked for you this year, what did not?
• Did you enjoy working with all of your clients?  If not, why not?
• Did you have time for loved ones?
• Did your systems and policies work for you, or do you need to tweak them?
• Did you feel you were paid appropriately for the services you provided?
• Is there a skill you feel you are lacking?
• Do you feel you have all the business tools you need to be truly successful?
• What marketing avenues were most successful for you?
• Did you network and meet other vendors that will improve your business?
• Are you surrounding yourself with the right people?

Setting goals
Put your goals down on paper and make sure the goals you set are SMART: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Timely.

Specific
Saying, “I want to grow my business” is way too vague.  You need to narrow your goal and make it specific.  How do you want to grow your business; Do you want to work with more couples? Larger budgets? Make more of a name for yourself? Add personnel? Move into a commercial office?

Measurable
Great satisfaction comes from achieving one’s goals. Your goals need to be concrete and measurable so you know if you have achieved it, whether or not it is achievable or if you need to do more work in order to achieve said goal.

Achievable
Establish at the outset whether or not your goal is even attainable or just a pipe dream.  Is it reasonable that you can attain this goal with determination and hard work, or would this goal only be attainable with luck or a miracle?  If your goal is not something you could ever reasonably attain, it is going to hurt you and zap your momentum and confidence rather than bolster you.

Relevant
Why did you set this goal?  Is it going to help you or your company in the grand scheme of things, or is it just something that would be fun?

Timely
How are you going to be accountable for this goal?  How long are you going to give yourself to achieve it?  Will it take many steps, should it be broken down into smaller goals?  How will you know that you have achieved said goal?

Accountability
In order to truly work at your goals you need to be accountable.  Make sure you write your goals down on paper (or print it off), don’t just save it in a file on your computer or Smartphone.  Give yourself milestones and deadlines and reward yourself when you have achieved your goals.

At the end of the year, look at your goals and reassess them, are they still relevant, how did achieving those goals make your business better.  And then start all over again.