As someone who spent 15+ years growing a 7-figure bookkeeping business, I’ve been through my fair share of “why did I ever do that” moments. But thank goodness for evolution, it’s certainly helped me grow and become a much better person and business owner.
One thing I wish I could go back and tell younger Justine to do differently is to stop running from the idea of goal setting.
It sounds strange, I know, that I would have such a natural aversion to making goals as a business owner. But I did, and it definitely impacted my ability to grow effectively.
Why I Hated Goal-Setting
A big reason why I spun my wheels so much when I was first trying to grow my business was because I didn’t know how to set and achieve goals.
It seemed like something everyone should just naturally know how to do, but for me, that was definitely not the case.
🤔 I knew I wanted to make money (duh). But I didn’t know exactly how much.
🤔 I knew I wanted to build a team. But I didn’t know how many people.
Instead of trying to nail down my goals, I actually rationalized NOT setting goals altogether. I told myself I was being too restrictive by trying to set goals, and it helped me justify staying small.
In reality? Yeahhhh, this wasn’t the best move (but you probably know that already).
Why Neglecting to Set Goals Hurt My Business
Like I said, I thought goals would dull my shine, box me in, and limit my potential.
Buuuuut here’s what actually happened: By not committing to specific goals and building a plan to achieve them, I stayed in the same spot for much longer than I needed to. I didn’t move ahead as fast as I could have because, frankly, I had no idea where I wanted to go.
Learning how to effectively set goals is what got me to go from treading water to swimming like Michael Phelps at the 2008 Olympics 😎
Creating Clarity Around Your Bookkeeping Business Goals
The biggest takeaway for me was this: Clarity is key.
You can’t be wishy-washy when it comes to setting goals for your business. Use the Goldilocks rule to develop goals that are not too big, not too small—they should be juuuuust right.
And get this, goal-setting guru Michael Hyatt (linking to his Best Year Ever book because he’s THE BEST) says that just by physically writing down your goals, you are 42% more likely to achieve them. 🤯
Once you have some solid goals in place (and you wrote them down), share them with your team. You might assume that your team doesn’t care about your business objectives, but I’ve learned from personal experience that is absolutely not the case.
People naturally like working toward something, and letting them know about your plans is critical to ensuring everyone grows, and rows, in the same direction.
And once you have your goals set and communicated with your team, be sure to set reminders to review them regularly. Hold yourself accountable for working toward them, and take note of your progress along the way.
Conclusion
Setting goals gave me more power as a business owner. Like I said earlier, I thought having goals would be restrictive, but it actually gave me MORE freedom because I felt confident in where I was headed. Structure is satisfying isn’t it?
I’d love to know, have you set goals for your business? What are they? I’m always rooting for you and here to help you achieve them however I can!
To being a goal-getter,
Justine
P.S. If one of your goals is to ✨ finally ✨ get your client files organized, I’ve got you covered. My most popular document management training is designed to help you build the foundation for a digital filing system that makes sense and scales seamlessly as your firm grows. This is your toolkit for storing, saving, and retrieving client docs in a pinch. It’s a sanity-saving STEAL at $27 buckaroos!
