Home Computer Business - The Dirty Dozen - Mistakes To Avoid (#5)
This article is one of a series, collectively titled "The Dirty Dozen: Mistakes That Could Ruin Your Business.
" Making these mistakes can be very costly in both time and money, but all of these possible mistakes can be easily avoided by some advance knowledge and planning ahead.
Although I think the information in this series of articles can be very valuable to home business operators, it is very important for you to know that I am writing this series of articles solely from a "lessons learned" perspective.
I am not a legal, tax, or accounting professional.
You should consult an appropriate professional for detailed advice that is specifically relevant for you and your business.
In this article, I am going to discuss the potential problem area of not properly setting goals.
Having no specific goals (or wildly unrealistic goals) can doom your business from its beginning.
Goal-setting doesn't have to be hard, but it is very important to do it.
Here are some thoughts on how to successfully set goals that will help your business succeed.
Set realistic goals.
It may seem "duh" obvious, but your goals must be things that you can reasonably expect to achieve.
If you have never been involved in making money online, it probably isn't realistic to set a goal of earning $100,000 during your first month of business.
A very likely outcome of a goal such as that one is that you just quickly become frustrated, conclude that you will "never get it," and give up.
Consider setting "learning vs.
earning" goals in the beginning.
If you are just starting an internet business, there is a lot that you will need to learn - to be honest, it can feel kind of overwhelming at times.
So give yourself a break, and set a "learning" goal.
For example, "By the end of my first month in business, I will understand the basic vocabulary that is used in internet business.
" Or, "During the first two weeks of my business, I will visit at least one forum every day and read what more experienced internet entrepreneurs have to say about making money online.
" I am not saying you should not set any financial goals in the beginning (actually, I think you should), but also remember that all of the learning you are going to do represents real accomplishments also.
Your goals should be specific.
"I am going to get rich from the internet" is not a goal that is formulated to help you succeed.
How much money is "rich?" Does getting "rich" ten years from now meet your goal? Here's a much more helpful goal to aim for: "By this time next year, I will be earning an average of $2000.
00 per month from the internet.
" That is a better goal for a couple of reasons.
One, it is measurable and easily evaluated.
You can review your income records, see how much time you have already used, and clearly see what progress you are making towards meeting your goal.
The second goal in the above paragraph is also a good one because it includes a specific timeframe, and it can be broken down into smaller sub-goals.
Let's think about it.
If you are new to running an online business, you are probably just not going to start making huge amounts of money immediately.
In fact, you will almost certainly spend some of the first year of your business working on your learning goals.
When you do start making some money, it probably won't immediately meet your $2000.
00 per month goal.
On the other hand, once you learn enough to start making some money, your earnings can start to "snowball" pretty quickly.
So, with all that in mind, let's set some specific sub-goals by working backwards from your final "big" goal.
You have set your goal in a one-year timeframe, so let's think in terms of 12 months for sub-goals.
Earning $2000.
00 in Month 12 is certainly a realistic goal if you commit time and energy to really getting there.
So - Month 12: earn $2000.
00.
What about Month 11? Think you can also earn $2000.
00 then? Quite possibly.
Month 10? Month 9? Maybe it's more realistic to expect to earn around $1500.
00 by then.
Months 7 and 8? That will be six months into your business - with a lot of learning already accomplished.
What about $1000.
00 for each of those months? Seems realistic to me.
We're getting back much closer to the beginning of your business.
It's probably realistic to think that you could be earning $500.
00 in Month 6 - maybe in Months 4 and 5 also.
Now we're getting back really close to your start-up days.
Month 3? For sure, you will still be learning a lot, but you could be earning some money then -- and maybe that should be exactly your goal.
"In Month 3, I know I will still be learning a lot, but I want to earn at least $250.
00 in that month.
" Months 1 and 2 - this is where you should realistically be focused on your learning goals.
Your time and effort should be invested in "scoping out" the big picture for your business, and the specific information you will need to start making day-by-day progress towards your final Month 12 goal.
If you set and achieved goals such as the above, you would earn about $10,000 during your first year in business.
Maybe that sounds like a great success to you, or maybe you would like to earn a lot more than that by the end of your first year in business.
You can change your goals to whatever you want them to be - but the process stays the same.
Identify where you want to be in, say, a year - and then start working backwards, setting short-term and mid-term goals that will support your long-term goal.
As time goes by, you should frequently review and evaluate your progress towards all levels of your goals.
If you find yourself in Month 8 having only earned $1000.
00 so far, maybe you should adjust your goals for your first year.
Or maybe, that suggests you need to spend more time on your business, or possibly take some different approaches than you have been using.
This evaluation can be made more powerful if you take advantage of the resources that the Service Corps of Retired Executives(SCORE) offers.
One last word about goal-setting: written.
Years of research in psychology, business, health - just about any area - repeatedly show that people who write down their goals in clear, measurable steps and regularly review their progress are consistently more successful in meeting their goals than people who have the same goals, but just have them in their heads.
One more time, please remember that what I am giving you here is only my personal understanding of these topics.
I advise you to get professional assistance.
Reprint Rights: You are free to copy this article and reprint it as long as you adhere to the following requirements.
You must reprint this entire article, exactly as it is now, with no changes.
You must include in your reprinting the full Resource box at the end of this article.
You must not change the title or the content of the article in any way.
You must reprint this article in such a way that all links are active and linkable with no syntax changes.
You must follow all requirements of EzineArticles.
com regarding spam, disallowed topics, etc.
You must include the following article source credit below the article with an active link:
" Making these mistakes can be very costly in both time and money, but all of these possible mistakes can be easily avoided by some advance knowledge and planning ahead.
Although I think the information in this series of articles can be very valuable to home business operators, it is very important for you to know that I am writing this series of articles solely from a "lessons learned" perspective.
I am not a legal, tax, or accounting professional.
You should consult an appropriate professional for detailed advice that is specifically relevant for you and your business.
In this article, I am going to discuss the potential problem area of not properly setting goals.
Having no specific goals (or wildly unrealistic goals) can doom your business from its beginning.
Goal-setting doesn't have to be hard, but it is very important to do it.
Here are some thoughts on how to successfully set goals that will help your business succeed.
Set realistic goals.
It may seem "duh" obvious, but your goals must be things that you can reasonably expect to achieve.
If you have never been involved in making money online, it probably isn't realistic to set a goal of earning $100,000 during your first month of business.
A very likely outcome of a goal such as that one is that you just quickly become frustrated, conclude that you will "never get it," and give up.
Consider setting "learning vs.
earning" goals in the beginning.
If you are just starting an internet business, there is a lot that you will need to learn - to be honest, it can feel kind of overwhelming at times.
So give yourself a break, and set a "learning" goal.
For example, "By the end of my first month in business, I will understand the basic vocabulary that is used in internet business.
" Or, "During the first two weeks of my business, I will visit at least one forum every day and read what more experienced internet entrepreneurs have to say about making money online.
" I am not saying you should not set any financial goals in the beginning (actually, I think you should), but also remember that all of the learning you are going to do represents real accomplishments also.
Your goals should be specific.
"I am going to get rich from the internet" is not a goal that is formulated to help you succeed.
How much money is "rich?" Does getting "rich" ten years from now meet your goal? Here's a much more helpful goal to aim for: "By this time next year, I will be earning an average of $2000.
00 per month from the internet.
" That is a better goal for a couple of reasons.
One, it is measurable and easily evaluated.
You can review your income records, see how much time you have already used, and clearly see what progress you are making towards meeting your goal.
The second goal in the above paragraph is also a good one because it includes a specific timeframe, and it can be broken down into smaller sub-goals.
Let's think about it.
If you are new to running an online business, you are probably just not going to start making huge amounts of money immediately.
In fact, you will almost certainly spend some of the first year of your business working on your learning goals.
When you do start making some money, it probably won't immediately meet your $2000.
00 per month goal.
On the other hand, once you learn enough to start making some money, your earnings can start to "snowball" pretty quickly.
So, with all that in mind, let's set some specific sub-goals by working backwards from your final "big" goal.
You have set your goal in a one-year timeframe, so let's think in terms of 12 months for sub-goals.
Earning $2000.
00 in Month 12 is certainly a realistic goal if you commit time and energy to really getting there.
So - Month 12: earn $2000.
00.
What about Month 11? Think you can also earn $2000.
00 then? Quite possibly.
Month 10? Month 9? Maybe it's more realistic to expect to earn around $1500.
00 by then.
Months 7 and 8? That will be six months into your business - with a lot of learning already accomplished.
What about $1000.
00 for each of those months? Seems realistic to me.
We're getting back much closer to the beginning of your business.
It's probably realistic to think that you could be earning $500.
00 in Month 6 - maybe in Months 4 and 5 also.
Now we're getting back really close to your start-up days.
Month 3? For sure, you will still be learning a lot, but you could be earning some money then -- and maybe that should be exactly your goal.
"In Month 3, I know I will still be learning a lot, but I want to earn at least $250.
00 in that month.
" Months 1 and 2 - this is where you should realistically be focused on your learning goals.
Your time and effort should be invested in "scoping out" the big picture for your business, and the specific information you will need to start making day-by-day progress towards your final Month 12 goal.
If you set and achieved goals such as the above, you would earn about $10,000 during your first year in business.
Maybe that sounds like a great success to you, or maybe you would like to earn a lot more than that by the end of your first year in business.
You can change your goals to whatever you want them to be - but the process stays the same.
Identify where you want to be in, say, a year - and then start working backwards, setting short-term and mid-term goals that will support your long-term goal.
As time goes by, you should frequently review and evaluate your progress towards all levels of your goals.
If you find yourself in Month 8 having only earned $1000.
00 so far, maybe you should adjust your goals for your first year.
Or maybe, that suggests you need to spend more time on your business, or possibly take some different approaches than you have been using.
This evaluation can be made more powerful if you take advantage of the resources that the Service Corps of Retired Executives(SCORE) offers.
One last word about goal-setting: written.
Years of research in psychology, business, health - just about any area - repeatedly show that people who write down their goals in clear, measurable steps and regularly review their progress are consistently more successful in meeting their goals than people who have the same goals, but just have them in their heads.
One more time, please remember that what I am giving you here is only my personal understanding of these topics.
I advise you to get professional assistance.
Reprint Rights: You are free to copy this article and reprint it as long as you adhere to the following requirements.
You must reprint this entire article, exactly as it is now, with no changes.
You must include in your reprinting the full Resource box at the end of this article.
You must not change the title or the content of the article in any way.
You must reprint this article in such a way that all links are active and linkable with no syntax changes.
You must follow all requirements of EzineArticles.
com regarding spam, disallowed topics, etc.
You must include the following article source credit below the article with an active link: