cartoon by @gapingvoid
This is the time of year when you should be laying out your goals for 2010. It should be a very serious part of your year-end routine. And it should be something with which you invest a lot of thought, energy, and time.
What I find is that most small business folks and entrepreneurs don’t do this. And this is a mistake. The main reason to decide upon some goals? Well, gives you something to shoot for and plan around. Without a destination, you cannot plot the course to get there.
And like me, I think it is a good idea to jot them down on your blog. Make it public. You know, we’ve all been told a thousand times to not only set goals, but to WRITE THEM DOWN. This makes them real. Better yet, publish them to your blog so that others know your plans. They will help hold you accountable. And maybe even offer to help you achieve them.
And once you do this, THEN you can generate the step-by-step plan to achieve them.
So, here are my initial FIVE main business and personal goals for 2010. I will add more as the year progresses. Let me know what you think!
2010 BUSINESS GOALS:
- Double subscriptions to this blog. I made some progress this year, but I really want to kick it into a higher gear. Problem is, I currently don’t have a plan to do this. But now that I have made it a goal, I will research and develop a strategy to get it done.
- Double the listening audience to my radio show. To be honest, we have not done a very good job tracking our current listening audience for the High Velocity Radio Show. That will change. And once I set the bar, my goal is to double the audience in 2010.
- Add five long-term clients to my roster. My plan for 2009 was to evolve from a business with LOTS of clients doing small projects, to a business with fewer clients doing more comprehensive projects. I am still on this journey. My goal is to add five of these, which should get me to capacity.
- Achieve a rolling enrollment of at least 100 members to my online school. Stone Payton and I have just launched Speed School a week or two ago. We haven’t formally made any large announcements, more or less testing and collecting feedback. And although we have more ambitious long-term goals, 100 to start would be a great first step.
- Successfully launch Top Chefs Atlanta. Having done some marketing work for a local restaurant – and then featuring them and a few other chefs and owners on the radio show, fueled this idea. The first draft of the new website is up. Will be launching officially and going to market in January!
2010 PERSONAL GOALS
- Run two half-marathons. I am already deep into my training. You can follow my progress RIGHT HERE!
- Write a book. I already have plans to write a book with my business partner Stone Payton. It will center on this idea, CircleNomics. We had ideas to get it done last year, but didn’t. That won’t happen in 2010…
- Get my passport and travel out of the country. I have no idea what the heck I want to do, or where I want to go. Maybe I will find some cool conference out of the country, and go to that…
- Launch an online fundraising effort for my non-profit. I have the pleasure of serving on the Board of the Furniture Bank of Metro Atlanta. I had good intentions to launch this effort in 2009. Didn’t happen. My plan doesn’t call for raising one million dollars. Just want to launch a creative idea that starts building a community around what we do and helps raise a little cash to serve some people.
- Improve my skills and knowledge on WordPress. I currently blog on a total of six wordpress blogs. And I know more than the average bloke. But I still have A LOT to learn. First step? Attending this…
For additional reference and guidance, I am a fan of Chris Guillebeau. On his blog, he does a superior job of laying out his year-end review process and goal-setting and planning process for the upcoming year. I’d recommend checking it out. Here is a good starting point.
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