Tips for Goal Setting for Your Creative Business
As a creative, we are often prone to following where our creative inspiration takes us. This can be a great thing for the development of our art, but we often forget or push aside the tasks we need to do in order to promote ourselves, sell our work or grow the business.
As an artist or designer, we often don't think of ourselves as an entrepreneur or business owner, but that is exactly what you are! You need to think about what you do as a business. Even if it is something you are doing on the side, it is still a business and needs to be run as one.
It is important to work out what you want to get out of running your creative business so that you can work towards achieving what you want.
If you fail to plan, you plan to fail!
I love this quote from Lewis Carrol's Alice in Wonderland -
“Alice: Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?
The Cheshire Cat: That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.
Alice: I don't much care where.
The Cheshire Cat: Then it doesn't much matter which way you go.
Alice: ...So long as I get somewhere.
The Cheshire Cat: Oh, you're sure to do that, if only you walk long enough.”
It highlights the principle that you need to know where you are aiming to go in order to know which direction is best to take to get there. This is especially true in business.
In order to achieve success in your creative business, you have to focus on working towards a specific goal, otherwise it is too easy to be busy doing lots and lots of tasks that don't actually get you anywhere. You need to focus your energy and actions on what will take you in the direction you are aiming to go!
Working out what you want to achieve isn't only about financial success, it is also about what you want your lifestyle to be like, the achievements you want to make, experiences you'd like to have, the impact you'd like to make and the type of work you want to be doing.
It is important to set a vision for what you want your creative business to be like and how your life will be when you have successfully built your business so that you know what you are working towards.
You can then work backwards to work out where to focus your time and energy in the early stages of growing your creative business.
The most important word in business is clarity — you must decide exactly what you want in each area of your business life.
- Brian Tracy
Develop Your Core Purpose
To start you on your goal setting journey you need to sit down and think about your creative businesses core purpose.
A core purpose is the vision for what you hope to achieve through your business and defines what you are striving for. It is the "why" behind what you do. Your core purpose can be used to guide your decision making process in your business and inspire growth and change. So a core purpose is the foundation for your goal setting.
What is it that you desire to achieve through your
creative business?
Without a core purpose it is near impossible to develop your short term and long term goals because you don't have a clear vision.
Big, Hairy, Audacious Goals (BHAG)
Once you know your core purpose, the next step is to set a Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal! A goal so big, it almost seems unachievable.
Setting a BHAG gives you a big daunting challenge to motivate and inspire you to move forward and keep focused on the core direction towards achieving that goal. A BHAG is usually a big 10 year (or longer) goal that can be clearly articulated in a simple sentence to summarize what you want to achieve. It should be something that you don’t feel totally confident that you are able to achieve, but inspires you to work towards it.
Defining your BHAG can be a daunting, scary yet compelling activity but in order to achieve that massive goal you need to break your BHAG into smaller, more manageable goals. It is not a goal that will happen overnight but with determination and effort anything is possible.
Knowing your Core Purpose and BHAG will allow you much more clarity when goal setting, planning and making decisions in your business. Whenever you are making a decision, you should consider "will this action get me closer or further away from my BHAG and/or my Core Purpose".
If an opportunity is presented to you that doesn't align with your core purpose and won't get you closer to achieving your BHAG, then it is not worth your time and energy. Your time and energy are limited resources and should be spent carefully!
Tips for Effective Goal Setting in Your Creative Business
Follow my tips to help you set your business goals and get on track to achieving that Big, Hairy, Audacious Goal.
#1 Develop Short & Long Term goals
Having a BHAG is great, but you need to break your BHAG down into smaller stepping stones and milestones to bridge the gap between where you are now and where you envision yourself when you achieve your BHAG.
If your BHAG is a 10 year goal, then develop 5-7 goals for the short term (up to 1 year) and long term (3 years, 5 years, 7 years) which lead you towards achieving your BHAG. This gives you several things to work on over a period of time to achieve your creative goals.
#2 Break into Smaller 90 Day Goals
Studies have shown that one year goals are too far out to be effective in motivating us to take consistent action. Working on goals with a shorter time frame is more effective in getting you to take action.
In fact 90 day goals have been shown to be the perfect time frame for motivation and planning. 90 Days, or 3 months (1 quarter) is enough time to achieve something meaningful and and short enough to inspire immediate action.
#3 Document & Display your Goals
Document your goals and display in a prominent place where you will see them daily. By displaying your goals it will not only help keep you on track but you have a visual reminder every time you walk into the room. Also, share your goals with people who care if you reach them. This makes you accountable.
Vision boards are also very effective to help motivate you towards your goal. Create a vision board with images that express the feeling of having achieved your goals and put it somewhere you see it regularly (like your bathroom mirror, your desktop or phone wallpaper).
#4 Not a Wish List
This is not a wish list. State goals as declarations of intentions. For example instead of saying “I want my designs in 10 stores” which lacks intention and direction say “I will have my designs stocked in 10 stores within 12 months.”
#5 Set Priorities
Organize your goals by setting priorities and action your priorities immediately. Actioning your proprieties straight away will help you to stay on track of your creative dream and not fall behind.
A helpful method for determining your priorities is to think "if I could only do one thing that would make a difference in whether I could achieve my BHAG or not, which task would make the biggest impact" - that is your number one priority.
#6 Review & Revise
Review and revise the progress of your goals regularly to make sure that you are on course to achieving your BHAG.
At the end of each quarter, review your achievement of your 90 day goals and plan for the next 90 days. The brilliant thing about the 90 day goals is that you can adjust your plans as new opportunities or challenges present themselves.
Don't put too much pressure on yourself if you are trailing a bit behind on your timeline as long as you are moving forward you are one step closer to your big goal.
#7 Avoid Negativity
Avoid negative language or double negatives (i.e. “I don’t want to …”or “I will not…” — instead focus on
what you do want). If you find yourself making negative statements, stop and rephrase them as a positive statement instead.
Wherever possible try to write your goals as if you have already achieved them (i.e. "I have.." rather than "I will".)
#8 Create an Action Plan
Turn your 90 day goals into a 90 day action plan. Create an action plan for what needs to be done to achieve each goal – breaking it down into smaller achievable actions - or tasks.
Writing a to-do-list is a great way to help reduce overwhelm. I like to keep a to-do-list notepad and every time I think of a task that needs to be done I write it in the notepad. This helps to clear the clutter of thoughts in my head.
As I complete each task, I tick it off, or, I use a little start sticker to mark it as complete. This gives you a sense of achievement for making progress and helps spur you on to taking the next action and getting the next tick or star in your book. Just remember to prioritize the tasks that will make the biggest impact towards achieving your overall goals.
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Ready, Set, Go!
My daughter Sonya and I were invited to contribute a chapter for the book Ready, Set, Go! featuring world renowned personal and business development author and public speaker Brian Tracy.
Our Chapter "10 Business Success Secrets for Creatives" was written specifically with creatives such as yourself in mind - especially those that have the idea (misconception!) that creative people are not good at business!
We believe that in fact creative people are more adapt to creating successful businesses than those with less creativity.
Now all that is left to do is to grab a cup of tea, a notepad and find a quite spot and get to work on your creative goals. Just knowing what your core purpose is and setting manageable steps to achieve your long term goals is such a great foundation for any creative business no matter what stage you are at.
Tracy xx
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