Breaking World Records + SMART goals + Collaboration

Hello again ?? I'm back with another edition of The Growth Newsletter where I share insights, thoughts and ideas on business growth, marketing and digital with over 7K subscribers. Follow Emmie on LinkedIn here.

PS If this comes direct to your email and you want to get in touch with me you can do that here (you can't reply!)

It's February ?? - I can't believe January has flown by in a midst of home-schooling, snow, words of the year (mine is Courage) and goal setting. I've seen my first daffodil - Spring is coming.

Inspiration + Guinness World Record + Goals

Talking of goals I have to mention my sister, Kiko, who decided a couple of years ago that she was going to row The Atlantic and break the world record!! Rather a concern given that she had never been in a rowing boat before she made this announcement to her family.

And guess what - she did. And what is even more amazing is that she had life-saving surgery for a pituitary tumour just months before. She told the consultant that they had better get operating pronto as she was NOT going to let that stop her achieve her goal.

We all thought she was crazy to take on such a feat with so little practice. But her mindset was incredible and she smashed her goals, broke the world record and raised ￡100K for the hospital that saved her life just months earlier.

Achievable Smart Goals

A client of mine looks at a lot of scientific studies as part of their service, and a recent paper they reviewed suggested around 60% of those resolutions will be forgotten by the end of June.

At the time of year where ‘goal setting’ is a common topic of conversation, I want to talk to you about SMART goals.

Thing is, SMART goals aren’t a new concept. 

You may well already know what the acronym stands for:

• Specific.
• Measurable.
• Achievable.
• Realistic.
• Time-bound.

But there’s no denying that, as a way of setting goals, making sure they fit those five criteria dramatically increases your chance of succeeding.

I remember doing the Mini MBA in marketing with Mark Ritson and that was a key takeaway - you need to set SMART goals for your marketing. Mark's a great person to follow if you're serious about good marketing.

I set some goals using that framework too. One of them was to podcast every day in January.

When I look back, I feel it was achievable.

Until the news of another lockdown came crashing down like a lead balloon.

I’ve been to a few professional recording studios, and you won’t be surprised to learn that they’re NOT occupied by 4 children who are trying to navigate boredom and homeschooling - including little Axel with boundless energy and vocal chords a town crier would dream of.

But that’s my set up at home right now, and it’s meant I’ve had to tweak my goal to ensure it’s actually achievable, which it isn’t right now.

So I’m going to podcast weekly instead. I’m confident I can find an hour’s silence out of the 168 in a week.

That’s my big message today though.

Yes, set stretch goals that are exciting and a challenge, but remember to be kind to yourself and remain mindful of what’s going on around the world right now.

And if you need to tweak your goals to ensure they’re still achievable, don’t be afraid to do so.

Heights X LinkedIn Live

My first podcast interview on LinkedIn Live will be this Thursday with Dan Murray-Serter, Co-founders of Heights. I've been following Dan (aka getting his emails from the early days) and I watched with awe to see Heights absolutely smash their funding on Seedrs recently. Dan is going to be sharing his founder story with us and sharing how email marketing helped them build a loyal audience. I'm excited!

I'll be going live every Thursday at 12 noon - come and say hi!

Calling all service-based founders

Can I ask for your help/thoughts? I'm doing a quick survey to get some more insight on a new programme I am launching at the start of March.

I'm giving away free resources as a thank you plus 1 free strategy session worth ￡500 to one lucky winner. It will take 5 mins - could you help or do you know someone that can? Click here to do it

Collaboration over Competition

I've been reading a great book called Key Person of Influence (by Daniel Priestley) and it re-affirmed my own feelings for strategic partnerships + collaboration.

I have dreamt about bringing together talented women to collaborate on projects and in Dec that started to become a reality when 25 founding members joined Growth Co Lab. We met in Jan for an incredible session and have now opened up the waitlist to others. We've seen new business won, friends made, and some amazing results in just a month. The power of women coming together to support each other.

To those that made my LinkedIn masterclass and all the incredibly lovely feedback - thank you. It means a lot! And yes I will be doing another one....

Have a great week

Emmie

If you're a female service-based founder check out The Growth Co Lab - a project to bring together service-based entrepreneurs to connect + learn + grow. The waitlist is now open.

In The Growth Newsletter, I share industry insights and knowledge. I also go live on my personal LinkedIn profile every Thursday at 1 PM where I interview experts and founders who have an interesting story to share. Follow Emmie on LinkedIn here so that you can be notified of the live sessions.