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By Michael Newman, Self-made Millionaire
You've probably heard it before, but it's always something you
want to hear again: the best way to achieve success is through
calculated steps and an organized plan. It's possible that your
attempts at running a successful business in the past may have
failed because you were unprepared and unorganized and
lacked a clear vision or path.
Without established goals and a clear idea of your priorities
and what you'd like to accomplish, it becomes very difficult to
achieve success. This is mainly because you are unclear about
what you'd like to achieve, or, you know what you'd like to
achieve but have no idea of how you're going to get there. A
successful business requires various objectives, processes and
vision. Of course, in order to stay on point you'll also need
patience and a willingness to work hard and make tough
decisions when the opportunities present themselves.
Setting goals isn't as simple as just saying, "In five years I want
to be the richest guy in town." It takes much more than that. So
let's start from the beginning. Let's say your end goal is to have
the most successful online pet store in your city. Now that we
know what you want to do, all you have to do is figure out how
you're going to get there.
The first thing you're going to want to do is come up with your
long-term goals. Generally speaking, your long-term goals are
the objectives you'd like to achieve in about five years; perhaps
slightly shorter, perhaps slightly longer. Either way, they are
goals that will take lots of work and time to realize. Long-term
goals may be things like reaching $1.0 million in sales,
developing your own 50-piece pet clothing line, expanding to
neighboring towns, or selling franchises.
Once you've come up with some of your more farsighted
goals, you can start thinking about your short-term goals.
Short-term goals are generally things that you can achieve
within a few months to a year. They will include things like
coming up with a business plan, coming up with marketing
angles, scheduling meetings, getting your business up and
running, and all the little things that will get you closer to
achieving your long-term goals. It's very important that you
don't overlook the magnitude of setting short-term goals
because they often play the most important role in your
business' development.
In my next article, I'll be back with some more tips about what
it takes to effectively set and reach goals.
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