Every January, entrepreneurs set ambitious goals for their businesses. And every February, most of those goals are already forgotten. I have done it myself more times than I care to admit.
The problem is not a lack of ambition. It is that we tend to focus on the wrong things.
The Weight Loss Analogy
Internet marketing resolutions have a lot in common with weight loss goals. People set targets like “lose 50 pounds by summer” or “make $3,000 a month by June.” Both goals share the same fundamental flaw: they focus on the outcome instead of the process.
If you want to lose weight, the goal should not be a number on the scale. It should be to eat better and move more consistently. The weight loss is a natural consequence of the process.
If you want to grow your online business, the goal should not be a revenue number. It should be to serve your audience better, publish more helpful content, build your email list, or improve your products. The revenue follows when you get the process right.
Beware the Quick Fix
The other trap I see constantly is the search for shortcuts. In weight loss, people want a pill that does the work for them. In internet marketing, people want software or a system that generates income on autopilot with no real effort.
Here is the truth that nobody selling courses wants to tell you: there is no shortcut. Building a real online business takes sustained effort over months and years. If something promises instant riches with minimal work, it is almost certainly too good to be true.
The entrepreneurs who succeed are the ones who show up consistently and add genuine value to their audience. That is not a sexy strategy, but it works.
Setting Better Business Goals
Instead of outcome-based resolutions, try process-based ones this year:
- “I will publish two helpful articles per week” instead of “I will get 10,000 visitors per month.”
- “I will email my list every week with something genuinely useful” instead of “I will make $5,000 from email marketing.”
- “I will reach out to one potential collaboration partner each week” instead of “I will double my traffic.”
Focus on the actions you can control. The results take care of themselves when the process is right.
For more on building a sustainable online business, listen to the Late Night Internet Marketing Podcast.
You mean this extra 50 pounds won’t magically disappear before August? Darnit, I was hopeful.
I’m actually having a hard time setting my business goals for the year, usually I’ve got a big long list, but I’m finding myself struggling with it this weekend and staring at a blank page in my new idea notebook. I thought I knew what I wanted to do and then *poof* I realized I had no idea.
Nope — I’ve got about 40 to lose my self. Just got back from the Gym. So, that’s a start at least.
Setting good goals that can stand the test of time (a year in this case) is indeed hard. Let me know if I can help.
Mark
Mark,
This is a post that is just full of good points. One thing that I thing bears mentioning though, is that goals like “help more people” or “exercise more” are lacking an important quality… they are not measurable. All goals should have a definitive and measurable end. Eating less is just relative. But keeping your calorie load below 3k everyday is measurable.
I agree that saying you want to make “$3,000/month by summer” is too broad, but at least it’s measurable. The goals should be shorter-term, I think. It would probably be better to have a monetary goal each month, and then break it down into weekly service/content goals for your business… all designed to add up to that 3k/month average by summer.
Am I way off-base here? Let me know what you think.
David — I completely agree.
Your goals should be measurable and actionable. So, “help more people” is not a very good goal, but increase RSS readers by 20% before June 1, 2011 is better.
As for long term goals — I have always thought that the best approach is to have a long term goal and then break it down into monthly or even weekly goals. That way, you know what to work on today to get where you want to be in a year or two.
Thanks for the comment!
Mark
Interesting.
Been blogging since 2008 with the hopes of making it big and I realized resolutions just don’t cut it.
Wrote about it two days ago here
Hey Mark,
Great tips for setting goals for the new year! In fact one of my “resolutions” is to have more realistic and obtainable goals for my self and new business. It has already been proven to be less overwhelming. I actually see results faster which builds confidence and encourages me to move forward.
Thanks for your tips.
~Skye