3 types of business goals to chase this year

When you own a small business you need to hustle. Forever. It doesn’t matter how successful you are this week or this year. You still need to hustle. There will be times or periods where your business is booming and growing organically and the work just seeks you out and it is easy and effortless and magical and … so, so dangerous, writes Time Stylers CEO, Kate Christie.

I found myself in that place last year. Over a period of a few years my business had been booming. I had more than enough work and it was good work. My clients were fantastic, the work was stimulating and varied and I didn’t need to do a thing to bring it in. It came knocking. And it was brilliant.

And I’ll admit it — I got lazy, or complacent, or both probably. I took my eye off the business development ball because the work was simply there.

Fast forward to a space in my calendar where there were a few weeks that were quite literally empty and I was filled with a creeping sense of unease. I scheduled a call with my business coach and the conversation went something (or exactly) like this:

Coach: “How are you, Kate?”

Me: “Well, I’m a bit flat actually. I don’t really have a lot of work on.”

Coach: “Okay. What have you been doing over the last six months in terms of business development and to seed the market?”

Me: “Nothing. Okay. Yep. I see.” 

The fact is, I hadn’t really done very much at all for business development and I had not sewn one little seed for new business for quite some time. The annoying thing is that this is not rocket science. My coach simply took me into a room of mirrors and reminded me to have a good hard look at myself. And it hurt.

Business goals done differently

And so I refocused and I decided to do business goal-setting a little differently this year.

Here are the three different types of business goals I am chasing after:

#1. Go Big Goals

I am going to set a number of audacious, long-term goals for my business.

This year I am launching my 5th book – The Life List: Master Every Moment and Live an Audacious Life. My primary Go Big Goal is to push the book and build a range of products and a new keynote around The Life List.

#2. Go Small Goals

These are the short-term, quick delivery monthly, weekly and daily goals that sit outside general business as usual.

I am going to target at least four Go Small Goals a month. So for example, in January my Go Small Goals included redesigning my Speaker Kit, creating a Podcast Kit, a new Media Kit and a hit list of new potential clients.

Set the goals, lock in your deadlines and get it done.

#3. Go Now Goals

These are acts of spontaneity that I want to seize when the opportunity arises. I am actively creating a mindset where I say “Yes” to invitations, experiences or conversations I would not otherwise have had. In every interaction, there is an opportunity to learn and for growth.

A recent Go Now Goal for me was jumping on an offer to co-host Kochie’s Business Builders – you can watch the episode here:

Ultimately, being in small business is still a hustle. But by mixing up my goals this way, I am thinking that business development in 2023 will be much less of a hassle.

This is an edited extract from Kate Christie’s new book, The Life List: Master Every Moment and Live an Audacious Life, published with the permission of the author and Wiley. Available now in all good book stores.

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