This week I’m giving you a free tool to help bring your sales goals, your vision board…your hopes and dreams for your business into reality.

How are you gonna make it happen this month? What exactly will you do to market and promote your business?

It takes planning.

Don’t you hate when you set this big goal and get to the end of the year and wonder where the time went? Days turn into weeks, weeks into months, and months into a year. You never took action on all your ideas and plans. Your vision board is all dusty. You look back and realize you’re not any closer to where you planned to be. What happened to that big goal? You met some goals but got lost along with way with others? As a solo business owner, you’ve got to be your own cheerleader and in this case your own marketing and sales manager. I know what it’s like. I’ve been there and it takes work to stay on track.

To get something different, you must do something different.
Get yourself a couple of index cards and/or post-it notes and keep this monthly sales goal information where you can see it every single day. I keep mine in my planner and a post-it note in my office – eye level!

Your business goals, get broken down into sales goals, which become actionable steps that are then executed through your marketing, promotion, and sales efforts.

I work with entrepreneurs who want to use social media to grow their business, and where I start with is “What is your goal”? Need to know where you’re going. What you want to accomplish BEFORE we get started.

So let’s get started:

1) Write your goals down

Studies show that when you write down your goals you accomplish significantly more than people who don’t write down their goals.
Put your goals on an index card and put in your planner where you see it every day.  Then write it on post-it note and put it eye level on the wall or side of the computer.  Snap a photo and make your screen saver.  The point is we don’t want it getting buried on your desk or trapped in a pile of paper.

2) Review your goals each week

40% of people who write down goals don’t check whether they’ve achieved them. (I’ve been guilty of that). If you don’t think about your goals, you won’t make them happen. Instead of waiting until the last week of the month to scramble for a new client and figure out how you’re gonna make that rent or mortgage payment, break your goals down weekly, so you know what you need to do. As I mentioned before, put them on index cards and post-it notes in several places so you can see them every day.

3) Plan your action steps

Want a profitable, thriving business? Then you have to plan. All the great ideas, the passion you have and being the baddest person in your industry means nothing without a plan. This is one place where the breakdown happens. You set goals and then head right to take action and get quickly overwhelmed or forget about them all together.

This part forces you to think through how you are actually going to land that client you’ve had on your radar or sign up those five people you want in your coaching program. This is your “How To Reach My Goal” part.

• Set your timer for an hour or two. (grab the coffee, tea or wine)
• Make a list of who you will call, email, follow-up with. to reach your sales goal.
• Pull out your monthly calendar, block off vacation, holiday, appts. and determine what you will do each week and even each day.
• Make appointments with yourself to make phone calls, create graphics, schedule tweets, etc.
• Spend time writing and deciding on your activities: What, where, when, how often, etc.

Let’s say you want to create a post on your Facebook page to let people know you have one more coaching spot open or take out a Facebook ad on the 10th of the month? That means you need to create the ad and write the copy on the 2nd to give yourself time.  Write those dates in your planner.

4) Take action

It’s time to follow through on what you set out to do. What keeps us from taking action? Only you know what your reason is. Is it that you don’t want it bad enough? Or is fear the reason it all falls to the wayside?

This is the scary part. Taking action means putting yourself out there. Possible rejection. There’s a real possibility you will try and fall on your face. But there’s also a possibility that you will succeed beyond your wildest dreams. I don’t how you’ve labeled yourself – introvert, extrovert, creative, artist, intuitive, not a salesperson – change your story and remove the label if it’s keeping you stuck.

I don’t how you’ve labeled yourself – introvert, extrovert, creative, artist, intuitive, not a salesperson – change your story and remove the label if it’s keeping you stuck. Regardless, it’s time to put on your big girl/big boy pants. You are a business owner now. Yep, you! Say your mantras, repeat your affirmations, talk to God, shine your crystals or sage your office.   Dig deep and do what you’ve gotta do to make your business a success. But it’s time to go in! Be confident!

Say your mantras, repeat your affirmations, talk to God, shine your crystals or sage your office.  Dig deep and do what you’ve gotta do to make your business a success. It’s time to go in!

5) Stay motivated

Share your goals and plans with a friend. Did you know that people who send weekly progress reports to friends achieve more? Find an accountability partner, mastermind group, a friend, colleague someone who you know is a support and can help keep you head in the game.

I have three mastermind partners. One I meet with weekly on Skype, the other monthly in person and the 3rd quarterly on Zoom.  We focus on different areas but one thing we have in common. We do goal setting, share our goals and take action. I used shared Evernote folders, another one we have a secret Facebook group and the other we email each other or send FB messages.

You don’t have to wait until January. No need to limp into the new year. Go out kicking and screaming all the way to the bank!

ARE YOU WITH ME? Are you ready to bring your vision board to life? Leave me a comment below and let me know. Let’s keep each other accountable and on track.

If you want the free PDF Monthly Goal Setting worksheet for Solo Entrepreneurs, send me your email address with a message to send over “goal planner worksheet” and I’ll get it over to you. (It’s not up on my website yet, so I’ll send them out manually).