Lessons

Lesson Info

Deciding Your Goals

So in lesson to the focus is to decide on your goals all right? And I want to talk a little bit more about what kinds of things you need to decide because it is your goals and some other things and I just want to do a little call out actually because the illustrations in my presentation were done by a client of mine who I think is an amazing illustrator, so I have his his twitter handle there in keith murray you can check out his work um so what you need to decide actually let's go first to signs of not deciding yet right? Because you may think you've decided certain things about your work and about your life and about your business, but maybe you haven't gone all in I like that phrase all in are you all in your business? And I I have people who come to me and here are the signs that I see when they haven't quite decided yet. One is that they say I can do anything for anyone clearly if you say that you have not decided what you're going to do and for whom right it's not necessarily as ...

black and white is all that, but anyone who says I could do anything for anyone has probably not made all the right decisions are not made all the decisions also you get all your work through word of mouth if you get what your work through word of mouth you haven't decided who you want to work with you're just taking whatever comes along essentially okay and now we have some on we can talk about that we can debate about that and I do have a whole theory about word of mouth and I would say actually that some of the work that comes along is the work that we want but then we have to take that and clone those clients later on I think in session to we're going to talk about how to clone your favorite clients you don't follow up with really good prospects there people literally out there who have people who have expressed interest and they just don't follow up with them and sometimes I find when I questioned my clients about why they haven't they based their some ambivalence I'm not sure I want that one I'm not sure I can do it there's some angst inside that gets in the way and this to me is a sign that you haven't decided that you're all into your business all right and also you don't have a website a lot of people out there still don't have a website or it's too old and you're embarrassed to send people to it I'd like to know in the chat room j ko how many people fit that description don't have a website or are embarrassed to send people to it so we'll come back to that but these air signs essentially you may think you've decided but you haven't quite decided if some of these apply to you all right so what do you have to decide in your business there are lots of things that's part of the problem you are the sole decision maker in your business no one else is going to make these decisions for you although you can get help right so you have to decide what you need and what you value do you value time do you value time more than money do you value a certain way of life and that's what is important to you and then you build your business on that you have to decide what your business goals are you have to decide what your policies are right we have nor corporation behind us saying this is how we do things so you have to come up with your own policies you have to decide what your unique gift is that which sets you apart from other people essentially offering the same services as you do everyone's needs tto have the thing that sets them apart and sometimes you can't tell yourself what it is other people may tell you what that is it could be a mentor it could be a client it could be a client who rejects you can tell you you were this way you were not that way all right you have to decide who you are best qualified to serve right again that's who you're going to go after and the most important decision to be all in you have to decide I am going to do this I can do this and I'm gonna do whatever it takes to make it happen and that is really again a mind shift everybody's totally resonated with you artie sandra says yes I have a website but it's always been a work in progress other said I'm only just working on my website I finally decided I want one that was from m but costa is saying I am proud of my website but I just don't think I'm using it to my own in the best advantage but lots of other books saying yes I'm embarrassed by it I'm embarrassed like horrible blogging you know people seemed seems to be a hangout place definitely good okay well we're gonna work on that and actually later on in session one we are going to be talking about what constitutes what I call a marketing smart website and how you can use it to your best advantage I'll be showing some examples also okay so now we're going to move on to a specific focus on goals all right and now actually I would liketo have the easel as I keep going with four types of goals alright so and then I'm gonna ask you so be ready and also be ready in the chat room I mean, we're going to make a list of goals up here because I have found actually that it's one thing to talk about yes, I need goals but to be specific about what those goals are and to make them measurable and quantifiable so that you can actually try to achieve them that's the tricky part so my goal is to be able to create a pier for all of us and everyone um a comprehensive list of goals all right, so four types of goals financial goals, those air kind of the most obvious but you'd be surprised how many people don't have financial goals and when I say that I mean, uh, how much do you need to earn per month it's a simple as that to cover your expenses and then some it could be anything from twenty five hundred dollars a month or five hundred dollars a month to twenty thousand dollars a month I don't care what it is, but you need to know what it is for you and then you multiply by twelve and you've got your annual goal it is that simple okay, so those air financial goals but those aren't the only types of goals there are also achievement goals, so build an e commerce business that generates x x x thousands of dollars per year that's one of my goals x x x I added an ex because that's my goal here's another example of an achievement goal build a business that doesn't require clients. A lot of designers I work with their solution actually to the annoying clients is too evolved their business into something that doesn't require clients. So and that is definitely an option, but you have to know that that's your goal to move in that direction, all right? And then, uh, this is kind of similar to what justin was saying make x number of dollars working x number of hours per week, you can put those parameters down. I want to make this much money in this much time. In fact, when we talked to jill anderson at the end of today, you'll see, and I'll tell you actually shortly, that that was one of her goals. I'm working too much and not making enough, right? So that is something you can focus on all right third type of goal growth goals. So these air relative goals compared to last year or the year before. So you, khun very simply say, I'm going to increase my income by ten percent, that is a very realistic goal from one year to the next, a lot of people come up with a totally unrealistic goals. That doesn't help do twenty five free this is another one of my goals do twenty five free mentoring sessions per month because I know that if I do twenty five free mentoring sessions per month twenty percent of those convert into actual klein and over the years I have been able to assess that that's how it works so all I have to do is mohr for a mentoring sessions so if you'd like to sign up for a free mentoring session please do you'll find that on marketing dash mentor dot com uh another growth goal is to get retainer clients as opposed to one ofthe project clients x number per month or a minimum of a thousand dollars per month whatever you need again this is based on what you need right but this is the type of goal that you can aim for and finally the fourth type of goal which I considered be process goals this is about how you do your business so I'm going to market myself every day is a process goal because most people don't market themselves every day or I'm going to get help whatever kind of help you need mentoring help subcontracting help virtual assistants help it doesn't matter but that could be a goal I'm going to get a deposit from every new client this should be a goal if you're not getting a deposit from every new client this should be your goal for this year all right, some really interesting girls coming in and saying it's to make a thousand euros per month think emma's in romania christmas saying they simply looking for a ten percent increase in their net from twenty fourteen, ten percent, ten percent. Okay, now, jay largest saying, I made my goals a few days ago, but I don't know that means they achieved their goals or they simply made them so che large clarify that on didn't let us know what your goals are, the ones that you've made, um, and he says, I need to make fifteen thousand dollars per month, and artie, sandra says, I need to make a minimum of two thousand dollars per month. Now one thing, um, which I think we can do in the chat room, which I think would be very interesting, and you started this actually justin, sharing actual numbers with what we're trying to achieve or what we charge or anything like that, but your prices what you charge, I mean, people don't share that type of information, and ideally, this is a very safe place where we can so that we can really get a sense of where we are in the market, so feel free if you feel comfortable sharing as much detail as you want, I think it would be helpful for everyone. It has just done that they say for twenty fifteen they need to make five thousand dollars a month, but for twenty sixteen they need to know included to increase it to eight thousand um and drew is saying twenty five thousand a month um and j large to clarify they've written their financial goes for the year but they haven't actually made them yet that makes more sense definitely. All right, so I'm gonna ask the studio audience when we get to the end of this lesson what your goals are and we'll still keep adding them to the list here. But let me just make a few more points about goals because it's not enough just to come up with them, right? As I said, they have to be realistic and here's an example of a goal that is not realistic, I'm going to double my sales this year, right? I mean, unless you are very low right now to double them is usually not realistic, they also have to be quantifiable so that you can measure them so here's an example of growth growth goal that is not quantifiable, I'm going to do much better this year a kind of mine actually said that to me last week and so I said, what do you mean right? What does that mean? And they also have to be focused so here is an example of unfocused achievement goal I'm going to pursue bigger clients this year again bigger than what what does big represent to you? They have to be focused and then also they khun b improvements over last year as I was talking about so I'm going to be more professional this year, but what does that mean? How are you going to be more professional? Are you going to get a deposit from every client? Yes or be more consistent with your follow up or do an email newsletter which is marketing yourself every day all right anymore goals in the chat room? Yes, susie is saying she's offers b to be writing on basing and she wants to base her projects on one hundred dollars an hour that's her golf here and tory says they need to be making three to four thousand dollars a month for twenty fifteen okay, so we've got a lot of financial goals way haven't got anything else you have so let's tell us what are your business calls, what your personal goals we want to hear them for the year? Absolutely we need achievement goals, we need growth goals, we need improvement goals now before we get to the lesson, I just want to lay the foundation for our case study with jill anderson in relation to goals because we'll be talking to her later on we do a skype chat with her but here where her goals when she won't know it first let me tell you a little bit about jill uh her um her elevator pitch which will be talking about later is I make websites for creative businesses so she's at jill in design dot com she's based in atlanta georgia she started freelancing in two thousand two and she went full time freelance in two thousand seven and then in two thousand twelve she started working with me and we've been working together for now three years and here where her goals when we started working together this is what she wrote on the questionnaire that I ask my new clients to fill out she wrote my cup runneth over I need to work less and make more all right number two she said my website needs a major revamp ing to speak better to my target so she had the idea of the target at that point and she said I need a good understanding of my numbers goals and have some sort of plan yes we all need to have a good understanding of our numbers and our goals and some sort of plan now what she is achieved in the first year which she will tell us a little bit about when we talk to her later she actually achieved a seventeen percent increase from two hundred twelve to twenty thirteen and she cut down her work two normal business hours hello monday to friday nine thirty to five thirty right so clearly she was working nights and weekends and making less so she achieved seventeen percent increase in that first year she fired the person and the company that she considered the bad client I coached her through that it took a couple months and she revamped her website which we will be looking at together and she had a better understanding of her monthly expenses and her income goal okay so now we are going to go to the lesson I'm sorry the exercise again it's in the workbook on what you'll find in the workbook is an outline with the examples of those four types of goals but the exercise here and let's try to do this with the audience as well as the chat room is um can you give me one realistic quantifiable focused financial goal anyone then um I'm generating twelve thousand dollars per month in passive income streams through by june first to those that your goal I need you to speak up saying because you're one of these people mumbling um so let's say it again so the goal is I'm generating twelve thousand dollars per month in passive income stream uh by june two thousand fifteen and are you at zero right now no okay good because that would be a lot yeah alright so twelve thousand dollars in passive income in essentially six months, okay all right I'm personally not the judge of whether that's a realistic you are but that's the question okay good next we need a realistic kanda viable and focused achievement goal rainha do you have one oh achievement goal um you tell me what you've got I got I got a financial goal that's the easiest one for people yeah interesting let's just play some numbers around I had also twelve thousand dollars a month with thirty billable hours per week okay good all right justin I have the achievement goal basically my goal is tio work ten months out of the year and be making one hundred fifty thousand a year and then also somehow in that like taking two months off like create a passive in come stream so money is continuing to flow okay? And one of the things that makes the goals focused is toe have a timeframe associated with it because it's easy to say one hundred fifty thousand dollars two months off by when what's realistic is bai wen that sounds like a lot for a year but I don't know I don't know you I don't know your business but just keep in mind you need a by this date all right what's happening there in the tap room particularly interesting I'm sure a lot of people resonate with this leak ips in the same michael is to stop doing freebies all the time because you feel sorry for my clients isn't it? I love that being in that situation freebies and then after sanders says, I I really just honed in on my ideal clients, but I don't know exactly how to reach them. Yes, so for this year that something that she really wants to focus on on also build her social media presence. Excellent. Excellent. All right. Does anybody have a focused, quantifiable, realistic process goal? I haven't really heard too many process goals, right? This was like, I'm going to market myself every day. I'm going to get a deposit from someone. Every new client sane I will be I'm going to generate, I'm gonna create a nap every week. An apple week. Well, how long does it take you to create an app? No, but like forty hours. Yeah, and then you're not going to do anything else. I'm gonna market it. Alright. So again, be realistic about what's possible, right? Creative people seem to have all these big ideas about what is possible, and then when it really comes down to it, it's really important to say this takes this much time. All right, good. Any other process goals e I've made a goal of going to three conferences that are really like geared towards my plans so that I can connect with folks and I guess, like in this first twelve months, go to those conference and see if they're a right fit and just make that part of my business plan. I love that, yeah, I think that's a very important type of goal is what you're going to do. Tow learn, right? A process cool could involve what you're going to learn, which could be, by the way, command the fees you deserve, right? What are you going to learn? How much time are you going to devote to your own business and your own growth? Excellent, saying she wants she needs to define her ideal client and then make a list of five businesses she aspires to have us clients perfect on dh had read the artist's, saying, I'm going to schedule creative time and social media for this month and next month I ever only intent. I've only tended to do it when it's gone vini in getting that process of down, I think self discipline is a very important aspect of this process and structure creative people again in this compartmentalized way like I'm creative, ana like structure. Right. But structure is very important, especially if you bring the structure yourself. It's, another one of these parental things that aren't there when you're grown up and when you're out on your own. So you have to bring that to your own business. That includes the policies. You might have some competition now, because now everyone's realised, it only takes a week to developing at theo. Reckon they're all going to be doing it. Yeah, I built it in a week, one nap last weekend, actually.