How to Ensure You Achieve Your Goals for 2015

It’s that time again… Time to make your NEW YEAR’S RESOLUTIONS!
You’ve got until the end of January to craft your New Year’s resolutions. So if you haven’t done it yet, don’t assume you’re off the hook!
If you’re like most business owners, you’re not just making personal resolutions. You’re making business resolutions, too. Specifically to improve your marketing – more clients, sustained growth and increased income top the list of most common resolutions among business owners.

Resolutions = Goals

But what are resolutions, really? In essence, they’re goals.
Goals intend to improve your life. Or in the case of professional resolutions, improve your business.
Unfortunately, however, most fail to make good on resolutions…
DID YOU KNOW?
According to a recent university study, only 8% of New Year’s Resolutions are actually achieved? That means only 8 people out of every 100 actually does what they intend in their New Year’s Resolutions. I’m no statistician, but that’s a pretty poopy average.

The Problem with Goals

So what’s going on here? Well, goals, especially big goals, can be intimidating. Writing a book or launching a new business can both be daunting endeavors. And when something intimidates you, you to shy away, make excuses and keep “putting it off until later.”
And even when you’re not intimidated, it can just be a matter of knowing how to get started. You don’t just start writing a book. You research, make notes, create an outline and lay necessary groundwork. The same goes for launching a new business. There are more than a few steps in the process before you fling open your doors and proclaim: “Open For Business!”

Failing to Achieve My Goals

I know all too well how these pitfalls work. I’ve fallen victim myself.
Last year, my two primary professional New Year’s Resolutions were: (1) acquire at least two new clients each month, and (2) increase my monthly income by $1,000.
I gave myself a six month deadline, but June rolled around… BANG! BOOM! NOTHING! I’d only managed to snare a couple of new clients in six months, and my monthly income had increased by a mere fraction of my $1,000 monthly goal.

The Secret to Achieving Your Goals

Of course I was SERIOUSLY BUMMED. But then late this summer wallowing in my failure, as I scarfed Cheetos by the ton and swilled vats Mellow Yellow, I had a revelation…

Focus on Habits, Not Goals

I realized that my goals were both intimidating me and I didn’t have a clear process in mind. I was simply juggling an arm load of strategies and failing to settle on an approach.
So I started to make contact with five new prospects every day. I blocked out time in my schedule and made it a daily appointment. And guess what? New assignments began to roll in. Both my client base and income level INCREASED.
I didn’t reach the (arbitrary) numbers I set for myself in my resolution. But the practice resulted in a HABIT that’s helping me build my business and work toward my primary goals – more clients and more cash.

Develop the Marketing Habit

Now let’s apply the same approach to your Business Marketing Resolutions.
What’s on your resolution list this year? Launch a new… website … social media marketing campaign … email marketing campaign … direct mail marketing campaign …
OK, great. But what now?

Make a Daily Marketing Appointment

Here’s the secret: Don’t make it about the projects. Instead, set aside a certain amount of time each day to work on marketing. Setup a Marketing Appointment in your daily schedule.

Parse Projects Out Over the Calendar Year

Once you’ve got your daily appointment, take your slate of projects and divide them up over the calendar year. First quarter: website. Second quarter: social media campaign. Third quarter: Email marketing. And so on…

Build a Habit

Then just spend that time each say chipping away. Eventually all those chips will pile up to a completed project.
This way you don’t have to face a monolithic project. You just have to keep your daily appointment. And this allows you to chip away at your projects and complete them over time.
Plus, as you complete the marketing projects you identified in your New Year’s Resolutions, you can add new projects to your slate. Now thanks to your daily marketing appointment, you’ve got the time and structure to get more done.
You’ve developed the MARKETING HABIT.