8 Tips for Setting Goals and Timelines in Your Business

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Are you an entrepreneur who has started and grown your own online business? If so, you might be thinking about ways to scale and take your business to the next level. First off, congratulations! This step is such an exciting milestone as a business owner. One of the biggest factors in growing and scaling your business is staying on track with the projects and tasks that get you closer to your goals. Today, we’re sharing real-life, expert advice from our very own online business manager and project manager. These tips for setting goals and timelines in your business will help you (and your team) work smarter, not harder.

 

Tips From our Online Business Manager

When it comes to managing a business and setting goals and timelines, you need to have strategic systems and processes in place. These systems and processes keep everything running smoothly and ensure you’re on track to hit your business goals. By setting timelines in your business that help you work backward from your big goals, you can implement the core systems and processes in order to complete them on time and effectively. Additionally, if you want to know what is the difference between carelogic EHR vs medhost EHR, this might be helpful to your business.

If you have a team, it’s important to work together, communicate, and analyze each person’s role to ensure they’re working in their zone of genius on projects moving the business towards those big goals, while if you need to finish other businesses you can find resources at sites online, click here for more.
We have a fabulous online business manager on our team who keeps all of our ideas and dreams organized and makes sure they fit our big goals. She is the queen of operations and processes and makes sure all of our teammates receive the support and the resources they need. We picked her brain and asked her to share her top business tips for managing a business and setting goals and timelines. Here’s what she had to say:

Tip #1

Document your repeating tasks, even if you don’t have a team yet. This process will save you time and energy in the long run and help you determine if these tasks move the needle forward towards your big goals.

Tip #2

Schedule dates in your calendar to work on quarterly planning and set bi-weekly tasks to keep you up-to-date on the progress of those priorities. This process will help you set quarterly goals. By setting quarterly goals or rocks, you can narrow your focus and put all of your energy towards those few goals instead of being spread too thin trying to achieve several goals. Once you set these quarterly goals, you can set timelines in your business that align with them and build out tasks from there.

Tip #3

Celebrate your wins–don’t just move right on to the next goal without acknowledging your progress. One of the best goal-setting tips is to celebrate the successes and growth in your business. Take a moment to enjoy the feeling of accomplishment and pride. If you have a team, celebrate together via a virtual retreat, or better yet, get together in person.

Tip #4

Find a coach, a mentor, or a biz bestie to cheer you on and guide you in your journey in the online business space. Having someone to run ideas by and talk through big decisions is so valuable! Whether this is someone on your team or elsewhere in the online business community, it’s important to build those connections with people that will lift you up and encourage you to grow.

 

Tips From our Project Manager 

Running an online business is a fast-paced and fun job. As an entrepreneur, your brain is probably filled with ideas, dreams, goals, and projects that you’re excited to complete. Communication is critical when running your online business with all the moving parts, whether it be between teammates, service providers, clients, or potential clients.

Once you have your systems and processes in place and have decided on your quarterly goals and timelines, it’s time to set the tasks and get to work. One of the best business tips is to use a project management software, such as ClickUp, to organize all of your resources, documents, and create projects and tasks.

Here at Neapolitan Creative, we have a stellar project manager who builds out projects and creates tasks based on the goals and timelines in our business. She serves as our chief communicator with the team and all clients and potential clients and ensures that everyone has what they need to complete their projects and tasks on time and effectively. She keeps the train moving while bringing the fun to our business!

We asked her what her secrets were to keeping a business and team on track and prioritizing tasks to achieve big goals. Here’s what she had to say:

Tip #5

Listening is critical. Listen to your clients about what they are wanting and your teammates on what is possible—every detail matters. You may hear something in the first meeting with a client that is important in the last detail of the project. Take notes from your communication with the client so you can pass along important details to your team when creating tasks and projects.

Tip #6 

Evaluate and evaluate again. Review your client’s needs, the current team workload, and determine a timeline and plan for when you can complete the project. Build out the project by creating smaller tasks in a sequential order that are to be completed by you or the members of your team. This system will help the team see what is in progress, what is still needed, and what is ready for the next step.

Tip #7 

Communicate, communicate, communicate! Be upfront with the client on expectations and boundaries. This tip is vital for work-life balance. Communicate with your team members on what they will be working on and give weekly client updates to keep everyone in the loop. Communication is KEY to a successful project of any kind.

Tip #8 

Anticipate change. In any business or project timeline, there will be changes. If you plan for this, it won’t be such a tornado when it happens. Don’t be afraid to jump in and get your hands on projects when needed or seek out a teammate such as your manufacturers rep that can help. If there is a change to the timeline, communicate it to the client and let them know what actions you’re taking to keep the project moving forward.

We hope these eight tips for setting goals and timelines in your business have given you the confidence you need to create your own goals and timelines. By setting up systems, processes and managing your projects and tasks efficiently, you’ll start to see your business growing and working like a well-oiled machine.