Planning for 2018: Setting goals for launching your own business

In the past few weeks, we’ve been looking at how to do a review of 2017 and how to plan for meaningful success in 2018. The approach I’ve taken is to seek to broaden your perspective and consider the different areas of your life – health and wellbeing, relationships and romance, development and growth, career and impact, and fun and spontaneity. I know, however, that work is a very important area and, in particular, many of you have significant ambitions around setting up, or growing, your own independent business. With that in mind, I wanted to give you a bit more support specifically to help you with goals around launching your own business in 2018.

1. Define what ‘success’ looks like for you

When you're thinking about launching your own business, it's easy to get lost in all your day-to-day tasks or get caught up in worrying about money and making the financials work. The first step, however, has to be understanding what's important to you, what your vision is for the business overall and how that fits into your personal lifestyle and priorities. You want to have a solid understanding of your overall purpose and what you’re hoping to achieve.

2. Address the fears and concerns that may be blocking you

When you set out on your own, there will inevitably be challenges that arise. Understanding potential obstacles in terms of your mindset - as well as the practical side of running your business independently - will allow you to prepare for these challenges. Fears and concerns about money and possible failure can be debilitating and you need to address these head on and as soon as possible. Developing the right mindset and building your confidence will ensure that you stay focused and do what you need to do to achieve your goals.

3. Get clear on your business proposition

Any business starts with an idea that offers a solution to a problem. This involves understanding who your target client or customer is and what their needs and desires are. It also means getting clear on the benefits that you're providing and how you're different to (and ideally better than!) your competition. And, of course, you need to understand how you're going to reach your clients with your message. You’re looking to come up with a robust business idea and a business model that will bring it to life – whether you want to be a freelancer, consultant or coach, or set up another type of small business.

4. Develop your business plan

Setting up clear goals and anchoring these in what's really important to you will ensure that you are genuinely motivated but also that success in achieving those goals will be rewarding and meaningful to you. Once you have these goals, you can work out the actions you need to take in order to achieve your goals in the next three months, six months, and one year (and beyond!). You need specific objectives for what you want to achieve – and strategies to help you achieve them.

5. Set yourself up for success

Finally, we can spend a lot of time dreaming up ambitious visions and plans for an independent business. Still, a lot of people end up failing because they lose their focus, getting distracted by 'life'. In order to realise our goals, especially the bigger, long-term ones, we need to anchor them in our daily routine and ensure we're consistently taking action. You’ll want to develop tools and techniques to effectively manage your time and balance your priorities so that you move forward towards the goals you've set and actually achieve them.

A good place to start is this assessment, which will help you review where you are today and see where you have the biggest gaps: Get the assessment here >>

One-day intensive strategy & planning session to help you with launching your own business

It's rare that you ever give yourself permission to take a step back, look at the big picture, and make real progress on your business idea. It can be tempting to rush into things without faffing about with frameworks and models. But getting the strategy and planning right from the beginning will save you time and energy, prevent unnecessary mistakes, and set you up for success from day one.

With that in mind, I’m opening up for dates in the New Year to support you in a one-day intensive session* that will help you to work through all these steps and set meaningful goals for your business in 2018. Taking a full day may sound like a luxury but it can really propel you forward with a big leap towards where you want to be. Apply for your consultation to see if the one-day intensive strategy & planning session could be right for you: Apply here >>

*Note that for obvious reasons this face-to-face session can only take place locally, so it’s only available to those of you who are based in London and the South-East of England. For those of you who are not local, we can discuss how I can support you via the individual or group programme run online and via Skype. Book your consultation here >>.* 

Join the waiting list for my upcoming book, Leaving the Corporate 9 to 5: Stories from people who’ve done it (and how you can too): onestepoutside.com/9to5list

Other recent posts you might enjoy reading:

Planning for 2018: Setting meaningful goals

Why quitting without a plan is not such a good idea after all

If 'not this', then what? Alternatives to the Corporate 9 to 5

About Anna Lundberg

Anna Lundberg is a success coach and business strategist, helping people create businesses and build a lifestyle that allows them an unimagined sense of freedom, flexibility and fulfilment across different areas of their lives.

You can read more of Anna’s posts over on her blog.

Find out more about what Anna’s coaching can do for you on her website.

"Everything you've ever wanted is one step outside your comfort zone."