Setting Goals

Starting a Business: Lesson 3

Director of the TSBDC, Laura Overstreet, goes over how to set goals for your business. Setting goals for yourself and your business will help build the foundation for future growth.

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Video Lesson Topics

- Why Set Business Goals?

Business planning and goal setting serves as a roadmap to success. For example, borrowing funds to cover your startup costs, but having no plan of how to pay back your investors is a good way of setting your business up for failure.

- Sales and Marketing Goals

Establish your ideal customer profile. Although it may take longer than your first year to truly identify and refine your business’ target audience, it is important that you gain an initial understanding of who would benefit from your goods or services.
Develop a marketing and prospecting plan. Pairing together your target market and marketing strategy will assist you in building the correct messaging that you are trying to convey to your customers. A prospecting plan decides how and when you will reach out to prospects. It also includes developing email, social, and ad campaigns.
Create a website and social media accounts. This is one of the main ways you will reach your target audience, build brand awareness, and educate consumers.

- Finance Goals

Create financial projections and a budget. Create realistic financial projections that will determine feasibility to get you through your first year of business and help you manage cash flow. You will need to track your current debt, credit availability, and any repayment to investors.
Create a S.M.A.R.T. revenue goal. Your goal should be Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, and Time Based.

- Development Goals

Create development goals; always learn new skills. Take the time to learn a new skill, and always work to become better.
Employee training and development is unfortunately sometimes overlooked in new businesses. Your employees are critical to the success of your business.

Topics & Lessons

Each Below Topic Contains a Video Lesson and Helpful Downloadable Information