2020 has created unique challenges for small businesses across the country. Many are still struggling through this complex situation as we begin the New Year. New Year’s resolutions are important now more than ever in order to achieve the most important goals for your business. Setting appropriate goals for your business is vital to its success. Taking the necessary steps to reach these goals is easier said than done. In this article I will offer some tips for setting good small business and financial goals as well as how to keep working towards these goals.

How do you set goals for a small business?

Whether you are the new owner of a start-up or a long-time business owner, it’s important that you keep a list of goals that lead your business to success. There should be plenty of goals you hope to achieve, but you need to focus on creating a narrow list of goals that will best meet your needs. Your main goals should be SMART which stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound. Setting appropriate goals is important, but even the most well thought out goals are useless without taking appropriate actions to achieve them. You will need to set your goals with relevant actions to keep you working towards accomplishing these goals. Instead of saying that you will increase your business revenue, set a goal to have a specific amount of revenue that is within your grasp and include actions that you will take to make this happen.

Four main business objectives

Business goal setting can be difficult, so it is important that you center goals around the main objectives of your business. While you may have different priorities, I will offer five of the most common main business objectives.

1. The IRS defines a business as “…generally an activity carried on for a livelihood or in good faith to make a profit.” Without profit, your business will surely fail, so earning a profit should be at the top of your objectives.
2. Producing beneficial, and possibly vital, goods and services to your customers are important to most businesses. In order to grow and maintain your customer base, you will have to demonstrate the value that your firm provides.
3. Core values are a summary of the beliefs your company holds about how you operate. Three to four brief core values will tell clients what is most important to you.
4.  Your business activities should align with the goals of the nation as a whole. By creating jobs, providing greater opportunity to citizens, or simply being profitable and paying your taxes, your business should be a benefit to the community.

What are examples of short-term business goals? 

Creating SMART goals is important. Short-term goals are a great way to accomplish these in the span of a few weeks. Once you have determined your highest priorities in your business, you should consider setting goals that are geared towards these priorities. It’s important to work on goals all year round. Here are some examples of short-term goals to improve your business.

• If you would like to improve your bottom line, create a relevant goal around boosting productivity. For example, implement improvements to your daily productivity by using productivity applications, a better CRM, or better overall scheduling.
• For entrepreneurs who are looking to expand, consider hiring an employee.
• If you don’t already update your budget regularly, make a simple budget of your income and expenses and make a goal to update it regularly.

There are some new tax incentives to assist small businesses during the coronavirus pandemic, so make sure to talk to your tax advisor to take advantage of these credits https://molentax.com/payroll-tax-deferral-employee-retention-credit-s-corps/.

What are examples of long-term business goals?

Long-term goals are essential to setting your small business up for a successful year. Take the time to create a few long-term goals with actionable steps by using some of the examples in this section.

• If you want to increase your sales revenue each year, create a revenue goal for each quarter and for the year as a whole. Pick one or two measurable metrics that you will feel successful if you reach. An example of a revenue goal is to earn $100,000 of revenue for the year by earning $25,000 each quarter.
• Social media presence is increasingly important in today’s society, so consider changing how you utilize the various social media platforms. If online visibility is one of your long-term goals, you should begin marketing on common platforms such as Facebook or Twitter.
• Send out weekly promotions of your business in the form of blog posts, email blasts, or social media announcements.
• It’s well known that the first round of PPP loans was vital to keep many small businesses afloat. Now that congress announced a second round of funding on December 21, don’t delay in working with one of our advisors on planning the forgiveness and tax implications of the PPP and setting goals on how to best use these funds it https://molentax.com/trump-signs-new-paycheck-protection-program-flexibility-act/.

Set good personal goals

Setting business goals is important, but as the owner, you should create personal goals for the new year. You should consider prioritizing a break from your business if you need to reflect upon a stressful year. One of the best skills you can improve is managing your most precious resource, time. By prioritizing each task in a list, effective time management will allow you to be more productive and efficient.

Set a goal that will allow you to work on your listening skills. Active listening is defined as truly understanding what the speaker is saying. It is also significantly more useful than just hearing someone. Not every entrepreneur is interested in growing their business, but personal growth is just as important. Set a goal that pushes you to grow a particular skill set or way of thinking, so you can improve yourself in a way that will reflect on your business. Finally, set a goal to learn new things by reading, taking online classes, or testing for designations in your industry. For some other great business leader goals you can check out this website https://www.15five.com/blog/business-new-years-resolutions/. 

If you find yourself needed some outside perspective and expertise, give us a call at Molen & Associates. We would love to work with you and help you accomplish your personal and business financial goals.

Austin Long
Tax Advisor, EA