When you decide to start your own business, you do so with a specific goal in mind. Maybe you want to be able to work independently, earn a lot of money, or dream of becoming the CEO of your own company. If you set such a goal for yourself, it's possible that those around you will think it's quite ambitious. Maybe you sometimes doubt it yourself.
Over the coming weeks, we'll be focusing on the theme of Setting and Achieving Goals. But will we be talking about your 'big' goals, like generating a million euros in revenue? Or will we be discussing smaller, more manageable goals, like making your first sale or achieving your first €1,000, €2,000, or €10,000 in profit?
Well, what about both?
Don't focus on overnight success
Of course, there are those 'success stories' of entrepreneurs who started working on an idea just for fun. From one day to the next, they could travel the world because they had found a gap in the market. They had never really thought about becoming entrepreneurs; it just happened to them!
Nice story, but we're not going to do anything with it. You are you. You create your own story. And you will make your dreams come true by combining them with hard - and especially smart - work. And when you, after navigating a bumpy road with ups and downs, can finally make your wildest dreams come true, then you'll be a true inspiration to everyone who is currently where you are now.
No small goals, no great achievements
Whether you've just started with online entrepreneurship, have been struggling for a while, or have already achieved your first successes: you should have a goal. A point on the horizon that you're working towards.
"We all climb our own mountain, but how do you ensure that you keep making progress towards the top and don't slowly slide into the abyss?"
Start with the end in mind
You might not expect it, but setting and achieving goals is a skill. Once you've mastered this skill, you'll see how easy it is to achieve your goals. In the book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey discusses the most important starting point for setting goals: first, determine your long-term goal.
Long term vs. short term
When determining your long-term goal, you can do two things. Or you can do both. 1️⃣ Do you start working on your ultimate long-term goal, like earning a million euros? Or do you choose 2️⃣ the picture on the shorter term, like the profit you want to make in the coming year?
If you understand the concept a bit, you'll realize that in both cases, you'll need to think about what revenue or profit you want to achieve in the coming year. We're going to break down the big goal into smaller ones. So, if you want to generate a million euros in revenue within a certain number of weeks, months, or years, then in the coming year, you'll want to earn your first €100,000, for example.
Start with the goal that gives you goosebumps
My advice? Don't start with the end in mind, but start with the goal that gets your heart racing. Start with your dream. And yes, I know, as long as this dream is just a 'dream', it can be frustrating at times. In those moments, the dream seems so far away... almost unattainable. That sucks.
How you'll deal with your dream in a month:
You know you won't achieve that dream with an overnight success. It might seem like others have, but you know better. Behind every overnight success are years of hard work, failure, and setbacks. Nobody sees that. You know this. So, even when you have doubts about your big dreams, you know it's all part of the process. And besides: you have a plan.
Making your dream a reality
In the following articles, we'll work on making your dream concrete, and living your dream. Although it might sound a bit vague for down-to-earth entrepreneurs, you'll be surprised at how effective it is to visualize your dream, to include it in meditations, and to imagine that you already have it all from time to time.
Setting and achieving goals. With a combination of concrete plans, obsessive dreaming, and, of course, hard work, you'll turn your dream into reality. That's the truth.
So, what's your ultimate dream? Not just in your head, but written down. Feel free to turn it into a short story while you're at it. How do you feel when you're living your dream life? Where do you live? What's your house like? What kind of clothes do you wear? Who's around you? Dream big. Next week, we'll make your dream achievable. Convenient, right?
