Ep. 087: A Different Approach to Setting Goals
New Years can tend to be all about "big scary goals." And while I've done that for myself at times, one thing I've learned is that setting goals doesn't have to be tied to a result. Instead, consider tracking your results by actions, by timeframes, or by setting micro-goals that lead you to your bigger goal. If the end result is what you want to track and what inspires you to keep going, then do that! But if that doesn't feel good, try something different. In this episode, I share new ways to set goals while encouraging you to do what feels right for you.
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Welcome to season three of the sell at sister podcast. I am so thrilled. You're here. I am so excited that it's brand new year 2021. Here we go. Uh, I feel like, you know, learned a time from 2020. There were some good things, some bad, some in-between, but now it is January and time for fresh starts and new beginnings, or even just to.
Rest catch up on some rest before the, you know, before you really like get down to the bigger work of the year. I don't know about you, but typically January is when I tend to be the most tired. I don't even know if tired is the right word. Just really like impacted by the shorter days and it's after the holidays.
So there's sort of that that frenzy has died down. I don't have like the, the adrenaline and the excitement to, to carry me three through. And so I just, I don't know. I tend to just like, be more project focused and stuff in January because it feels right. And I try to lean into what feels right. And I know that obviously, We have grown up our whole lives.
I'm sure most of us conditioned that January is a time where we are supposed to set goals or we should set goals. We should set resolutions. Um, I know I did a podcast episode last year about goals versus resolutions. I have a lot of thoughts and feelings on all of that. And I wanted to talk a bit about goals, but in a different way, in a fresh way, in a way that is hopefully not stress or panic inducing.
And I will just lead off and say, you do not have to do any goal setting in January. If you don't want to, if you prefer to do it in the summer or the fall or every two years or every quarter or whatever that. Hell you want to do, you get to do because it's your life and it's your business. And I salute you in whatever way works for you.
But I know that, you know, it's hard when you grow up just thinking, Oh, January, I need to set goals. It's a new year. And all of that, it's hard to know what you should focus on. If you feel compelled to set goals, but also. Are really over the whole idea of hustle culture, and always having to set these just astronomically, terrifyingly, huge goals, and then chase after them like a maniac during the year and feel super stressed out and unfulfilled and disappointed.
So that's why I want to talk about. Uh, different, a few different ways that I have done goal setting personally, and also with clients. So I, you know, there's been different times in my life where I have set the quote unquote big, scary goals for myself. Sometimes it's money, but sometimes it's other things and sometimes it felt really good.
I felt honestly excited to do that. And other times it just hasn't felt great. I've even had some months, um, even in 2020, there was a point of time in the middle of the year where I had kind of had a busier than expected first half of the year. And I was just kind of done. Like, I, I really, I didn't want to set a monthly goal.
And I didn't feel super inspired to, you know, have, like, I think it was like July. It was like, I didn't, I didn't really feel like I wanted to push and make July be bigger than June. And I just kind of wanted to, to relax a little bit and I listened to that and I honored that and it was great because then.
I remember the next month, I actually had a really big month because I felt like recharged. I felt rejuvenated. I was excited. I was ready to go, but I really needed that time of just not having any expectation on myself. So I don't think that there's a right way or a wrong way here. It's just, whatever way is going to work for you is the, is the way that you should approach it.
So in terms of setting goals, you can set money goals, client goals, project goals, marketing, marketing goals, any are fine. You could do a combo. You know, if you want to just do one, that's fine. If you want to have them across every category of your business, that's fine too. Again, whatever is going to. Feel really good for you.
Go ahead and do that. And also if you start with one thing and you're three months in and you're like, no, I don't actually want to track this thing that I thought I wanted to track, or I, I don't, this goal is actually not a priority for me now. Like you can also ditch them too. Um, that is, that is also a okay.
Especially, you know, like looking at 2020. I'm sure that we all had goals that den just totally went out of our control. Right. So I had goals that really would have relied on in-person things happening and then they couldn't happen. So you know what I had to modify the goals and that is perfectly fine.
So when you're thinking about setting goals and you have your categories that you want to use or single category. It's good to know that you don't necessarily have to tie the success of the goal like that you have hit your goal. You don't have to necessarily tie it to a result instead, you can tie it to an action.
So for instance, if you are thinking about, you know, thinking about your goals and I'm just going to say, like revenue is obviously a really, really common one, right? So sometimes a certain dollar amount can be really inspiring, right? If you're like, I want to have my first, you know, five figure month in 2021.
And it doesn't matter to you if that's, you know, $10,001. Like if you're, if you're just like, I just want to have it. I want to know what that, that feels like. I want to prove to myself that I can do it then. That is awesome. Go for it. But if that number is like freaking you out, you can also approach it in a different way.
So if you're like, okay, well to work with me is, I dunno, $2,500. Uh, a month, like maybe you do like an intensive or something. A good friend of mine has an intensive, uh, like a content marketing intensive that is $2,500. So if she was thinking in terms of like, I want to serve four clients in a month, if picturing people versus dollar signs feels better.
Then you can go that route, but you can also tie it into the actions that you would be taking to try to get to either that client goal or that monetary goal. So here's an example. So you could see how this, uh, works, you know, in, in real life. So let's say you want to be on five podcasts this year. Maybe you've never been on podcasts before.
And you're like, that is a marketing channel that I want to utilize this year and at least see what happens. So you're like, I'm gonna that's. That is my goal. Or that's one of my goals is I want to be on five podcasts, but maybe thinking of. People saying yes or no. When you pitch them is stressing you out and it's making you feel like, well, I don't even want to send out pitches because if people say no, then I'm, it's like going to be upsetting.
Right. And so what you can do instead, because you know, you know that you're probably going to have to. Pitch to more than five podcasts in order to actually get five yeses. Right. So just, you know, statistically speaking in less, all five people you ask are really good friends and they would obviously say yes, right.
Chances are you're going to get some nos in there. So you're probably going to have to pitch to. More than five. And if you want it to be set all five air during the calendar year, you also may have to pitch a little bit more because especially if you're being interviewed in the later part of the year, it might not actually go up and be broadcast within the year.
So maybe you're thinking like, I don't know, I'm going to have to pitch to, you know, 10 15, 20, whatever number you decide on that is how many you're going to pitch to, or that is the list that you are going to create for yourself of potential pitches. So if you decide that this end result, um, or if you decide that the end result that you want to track, you know, inspires you.
So again, having. Um, all five, be broadcast within the calendar year. You can just go to town and that can be your goal. Or you could just track how many pitches you send out and kind of take it on faith that if you do enough, that it's very likely that you will also hit your goal. So let's just say you come up with 12, you decide that in the first half of the year, You are going to your goal is to pitch to 12 podcasts.
And you're going to do it in the first half of the year to ensure that hopefully, you know, if you get those yeses in there that it gets recorded and it gets put out before the end of the year. But again, you're not hanging your hat on that. You're just like my, my goal to check it off as complete to say, I feel really good about this is just the pitches.
It doesn't matter if all 12 of them get declined. You just want to practice pitching and hope that it works out right. So you decide on 12, you're going to do them all the first half of the year. Then you could break it down, even smaller and do two each month. Two a month is very, very, very doable. And chances are that after you.
Pitch all 12, or as you're pitching the 12, you will get a few yeses. You will be able to record those episodes will air live, and then you can track, you can track them separately. If that feels good to do, I will just say, as an aside, Even if you have not, uh, put that, you know, the, the airing of the podcast within the year, even if you have not tied that to a goal, it for the purposes of Marcus getting and for the purposes of saving yourself time and headache, deciding on which marketing strategies are gonna work best.
I would actually track that anyways, just so you can see just as data for. Later, even if you don't look at it until the next year when you're planning, marketing and everything like that, just put it somewhere because it will suck. If you have to try to go back through the year, which is something I'm doing now, and I will be proactive about it.
Um, For 2021, my VA and I are actually going to be collaborating on the tracking in real time together because it's just like, it's not in my wheelhouse of something to remember, to do. Like, I, I will do the podcast, the podcast will air. I will promote it on social. And then it's like, my brain forgets all about it.
And by the time I get to the end of the year, I'm like, Oh, I don't know, like what, what did I do? It doesn't seem like I did that much. And then. If I actually look back at, you know, all the, even just all the podcasts that I was on, it's like, Oh yeah. Wow. Actually, no, you, you like did do a lot. Right. We have a tendency to like really sell ourselves short in that area.
So again, even if it's not tied to your goal, you know, make sure you're tracking your marketing efforts somewhere. Okay. So now you're doing your pitches. You know, you only have to do two every month. Maybe you do two in one week. You realize it's not that bad. And then you get excited and you want to quickly pitch till, you know, the other 10.
That's awesome. You're allowed to do that as well, or just keep it to two a month. So you can also set different timeframes and different parameters. So you could have goals that are determined by the year, by the quarter, by the month. And you can even set micro micro goals for various projects too. So like, let's say you want to start a podcast or a YouTube channel.
You could take the various components that you need to do along the way to get it launched. And you could break those down into smaller micro goals. So for instance, when I started this podcast, uh, it debuted in April of 2018 and what I had done because I knew I wanted it to come out and Q2 of that year was in Q1 and you know, it's been a few years, so I don't remember the specifics now, but I do remember.
That I set up like little mile markers for myself in Q1 of things that I needed to do. So like acquiring equipment, uh, getting the intro and outro music, like recording the intro and outro, um, You know, just like making the graphics for it. There were all these little different components and I didn't want to just try and one week to do all of them, that would have been really exhausting.
So I set it up so that I had these little micro goals and then I was all ready to go and it was ready to launch in April. And like, one of those was just, I, I know I had batched, I think like a month's worth of episodes and stuff. So it would already be like working ahead right from the start. And that felt really good and really sustainable.
And I just simply had to maintain it the rest of the time. But rather than feeling like, Oh my God, I have to get this podcast up in Q1. I knew, as I said, the beginning of this episode, January for me is better for projects. So I spent a lot of that January doing a lot of the like minutia and then in, um, I think, you know, February and March was a lot of like recording and editing and just getting comfortable with everything.
So those are other examples. And also same thing. If something, if, if planning a goal for an entire year, if that feels. Not great, then make it shorter, you know, make it for a quarter, make it for the next six months, especially because with 2020 being so different and so unplanned, like being able to, you know, we, none of us could have planned for that.
It makes me a little bit more like. Mindful of how far out I future plan. So really I feel like, you know, 20, 21, I'm going to have a revenue goal and a few big key things that will probably take the course of a year, um, or, you know, large chunks of the year, like larger projects and things like that. It might take.
The duration of the year to make it happen, but I'm not going to micro plan every month because who knows. Right. So be, be gentle on yourself. If you are super inspired by what are more like traditional, typical, um, big goals rad. And if you're not. Also rad. Um, and then lastly, you can set up different, like, you know, we all know ourselves best and we all know what is going to keep us moving forward.
And at school is going to have that momentum that is going to build up over time. So we get big results and we don't have to rely so much on doing work when we feel motivated. So figure out ways to. Game-ify this or to treat yourself or whatever. Not that I believe that we don't deserve to treat ourselves just for the sheer sake of we are worthy and we are humans and we can treat ourselves anytime.
I firmly firmly believe that I do not think that we have to always. Earn rewards or earn fun or earn time off. I think that can be very, very harmful. Um, I know it's something I've had to spend a lot of time on learning over the last, uh, few years. But I will say if you like, especially things like outsourcing, right?
If there is something that you are like, I. Legit hate doing this so so much, or I, you know, I absolutely like hate my branding and I hate my website and I can't wait to get it redone or, uh, I really want a VA to take some of this off my plate. Sometimes it can be helpful to attach one goal to a different.
Outcome like a different celebratory treat or, um, something that is going to keep you motivated. So for instance, a lot of times with people hiring VAs is we get very wigged out about like, well, what if I can't afford this person? What if I'm not making enough money? What if, you know, I should just suck it up and I should just keep doing all this myself.
It doesn't take me that long and it's not that hard and blah, blah, blah. Right. We really, really, really like. Beat ourselves up when the reality is, is that sure in total, we might only outsource like to a VA five hours a month, but in that five hours, like what else could you be doing? Because you'd be doing higher level work for your business because you'd be doing like marketing that is going to bring new clients in.
Could you actually take on more clients because you even just rest so that you. Have more energy to give when you are working. Right. There's all different things you can do. And so a good thing to do would be okay, you know, how much do I want to pay a VA? How many hours do I want them for the month? So like, let's just say it's $30 an hour and you want them for 10 hours a month.
So you're like, great. I need to know that I have an extra $300 that is going to be. Here every month that I can feel really good about spending and I can still pay myself and I could still do all of that. So what is that number? What is that revenue number that you want to hit yourself? To know that like, Oh, I'm really excited to be able to hit this number because when I hit this number, it means I get to hire my VA.
So maybe that's like, okay, when I get to consistent, if like once I have three months that are over $3,000, let's say in revenue, then I am going to. Um, hire a VA. And in the meantime, I'm going to prep to hire that VA. Right? So sometimes I know for me personally, if I just have a revenue goal, I often will have to attach that revenue to something and it could be something for my business.
It could be something personal, like. Um, a couple of years ago, I wanted to pay for a family vacation, like entirely from my business. So I looked and I estimated like how much did I think we would spend, you know, on tickets, on our Airbnb, on, you know, food and entertainment, all of that. And then it actually like, because, cause I was super, super, super excited to take that vacation.
It actually, um, was a really big motivator for me to do some stuff when, you know, maybe otherwise I was like, Ugh, you know, kind of feel tired. And I don't, I don't really necessarily want to do that right now. And I don't mean like exhausted, tired. I mean, like, you know, when you're just kind of like not feeling it and you know that if you just sit down and start working, like you'll get the momentum going and.
And then you'll be fine. You just need that like little kick in that little kick in your butt to get things going. And so I could think about like, you know, what. Just sit down, do this one thing, get it done. You know, it'll be good. And this is going to directly impact your business in a positive way. And it is going to boost your bottom line, which is going to mean you have more money for this family trip that you want to take.
Right? So for me, that felt very fun and inspiring for somebody else. That might not be the case that might feel like it's way too much pressure, or you might not care too, you know? Do Flynn family vacations or travel, or do anything like that, maybe you want to, um, you know, give a thousand dollars or $5,000 or $10,000 to different charitable organizations this year.
So then, you know, if you are taking a certain percentage of all of your revenue and giving it, if you're like, you know, like let's just say 10% or something, And you're like, okay, well I want to have a six-figure year or multiple six-figure a year because I want to write a check of 10 grand to my favorite charity.
Like come December. I want to be able to have that right. If that feels inspiring, if that feels exciting. If that feels motivating, then you can sort of tie that to your goal, especially if your goal feels very like squishy and nebulous, otherwise, because you can't visualize like, well, what the hell would I do if I was making six figures?
Right? So those are just some alternate ways to look. At goal setting. So to recap, you can set goals for a single category. You can set goals for multiple categories. You can set a goal for one category. Like let's say, I want to serve X amount of clients, but then also know that in serving X amount of clients, you'll also bring in.
A minimum amount of revenue. That is a pretty nice amount of revenue, right? So you're not directly looking at the numbers all the time. You're looking at people, but because you're bringing in people, you're also achieving your revenue goals or you're getting to the revenue, uh, goals more easily by focusing on that you can shift mid year.
If you want to, you can start new goals, you can drop goals that aren't serving you. You can tie your goal to the actual outcome result thing. Or if you're like, I don't want to be reliant on the actions or the inactions of other people in order to know that I hit my goal, you can just tie it to your actions.
So instead of again, being on five podcasts that actually get broadcast in the year, It's I'm going to pitch to 12 podcasts at minimum and hope that out of that five ended up getting picked up and, uh, going out in the year. And again, you can do it by any metric of time that you want. Week, month, quarter, half a year, whole year, five years.
Whatever you want. It is your life. It is your business. Um, and then if you can like match it up with something that is going to help keep you motivated on the days that you are feeling less than motivated, then do that as well. Again, I feel like the thing that I really just want to stress. More than anything is to make this your own.
There is so much rhetoric, especially in January about it has to be this way and you have to set these really big goals because if you don't, then you're not going to hit them and blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And like all this stuff. And. The reality is, is we are all different people. We all have different lives, uh, different ambitions, different motivators, different, um, reasons for why we do what we do and whatever your reasons are, whatever your goals are.
That is fine. It is 100%. Valid, uh, and that gets to be yours and don't let anyone make you feel bad for a goal, just because maybe it wouldn't be somebody else's goal or it seems small to somebody else. It doesn't matter if it's significant to you. That is all that matters. If you need help with this, or you're like, Erica, I know my goals.
I know exactly what I want my goals to be like. I want to have my first six-figure year or I'm already having six figure years and I want to really scale, but you're like, I don't know the best way for me to be able to do this. That is what I do. That is my secret sauce. That is my zone of genius. So I would love to see if we would be a good fit.
So. Go ahead. And you can find me either at Eric dot com or whether or not you want to, you know, have me help you strategize your growth plan. I love to hang out at, uh, over on Instagram at Erica consulting. So come over, say hi, tell me you listen to the episode. I also love it when people give a little signal boosts, like when they.
Take a screenshot. If you take a screenshot of your podcast app and then post in your stories and tag me, I really truly love hearing from my listeners. I love getting to know them. And yeah, if you're thinking, I know I do have these goals and. I'm really excited about them and I really want to hit them, but I'm not sure how then either messaged me on Instagram or through my website.
And we can have a chat a quick, no pressure chat, just to see, because I'd love to be able to support you in 2021. Or, you know, if you're listening to this in the future and you're bingeing old episodes, I would love to support you then as well and has always happy selling.
