Tips for Building Your Business
Written By: Jackie Friedman, President, Nexion, LLC
It Starts with a Plan
It seems like we were just ringing in the New Year, but 2017 is already in full swing! I do hope you’ve taken some time to reflect on successes and challenges you achieved last year and are now focused on what you want to achieve this year for yourself and your travel business.
As part of reflecting on 2016, did you achieve your goals? If yes, did you celebrate? If not, have you reassessed them to see if they are still relevant to your business? Can you identify any barriers that prevented you from attainment? Perhaps your business goals were not aligned with your personal goals, which may have been intentional or not.
I think Steven Covey states it best in his bestselling book, 7 Habits of Highly Successful People, by encouraging us to “begin with the end in mind.” To be successful, you must make a conscious effort to visualize who you are and what you want in life or business. As a business owner, find the discipline and make the time to work ON your business and not just IN it. Develop a roadmap to success that will help keep you motivated and focused.
First you must define what success means to you. What is your Why? Think of it as a destination, and then develop a set of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, Time-bound) business goals to help you achieve it. Goal setting allows you to focus on your path to success and provides you a benchmark for determining whether you are actually succeeding. Ensure that your goals are motivating to you. Focus on why they’re important and what the value to you is in achieving them. If you aren’t motivated, it’s likely you won’t put in the effort required to make them happen.
I love this quote from Mario Andretti: “Desire is the key to motivation, but it’s determination and commitment to an unrelenting pursuit of your goal – a commitment to excellence – that will enable you to attain the success you seek. “
Once you have established your goals, it is so important that you develop a written plan of action to achieve these goals. Write them down. Ensure that you document the results that you want to achieve from each tactic, and know you can measure your efforts. This step is often missed in the process of goal setting. Don’t get so focused on the outcome that you forget to plan all the steps needed along the way and that you review them regularly (at least quarterly at a minimum). By keeping track of individual steps and crossing them off when completed, you’ll realize you’re making progress toward your ultimate goal. Revisiting them regularly also allows you to tweak them based on the shifting travel marketplace. For long-term goals, ensure you establish milestones that enable you to celebrate small “wins” so you don’t get discouraged.
Are the goals you set for yourself still relevant? Is your action plan delivering desired results? Are they holding you accountable to complete the tasks required to succeed? Your end destination may remain quite similar during the long term, but the action plan you set for yourself along the way can change significantly. Make sure the relevance, value and necessity remain high. Put your plan in place to make 2017 your best year yet!
Here’s to your success,
Jackie