Set Motivating Goals in 6 Easy Steps
to Make Your Studio Stronger
On a scale of forget my New Year's resolution in February to gold-star sticker chart fanatic, where do you fall for setting and reaching your goals? Honestly, I'm more in the fanatic club, and here's why. Without clear goals and metrics, I tend to "chase shiny objects" in my businesses. Meaning, I jump from task to task without having a clear direction for how this will support my overall day/week/year. Sound familiar? Research shows that only 8 percent of people actually achieve the goals they set. So, the question is, how do you become one of the eight percent who are seeing their dreams come to fruition? Let's break it down.
Why Set Goals
I spent my MBA studying Lock and Latham, two of the undisputed pioneers in goal-setting research. They state that effective goal-setting improves behavior, performance, and energy, leading to a higher effort overall. What does this mean for your business? If you consistently set and actively work to reach your goals, you enter a positive feedback loop where more goal setting equals more energy and effort, leading to improved goal achievement. Sounds ideal, right?
Need more?
Here are some other reasons to set goals:
1. Increased Focus
This goes back to chasing shiny objects. When you outline your goal for the period, you know exactly where to focus your time and energy.
2. Better Self-Awareness
Where are my yogis at? We're all striving to be better than we were yesterday. The best way to gauge your success is to set measurable goals.
3. Improved Confidence
Remember the last time you achieved something you'd been working on? Felt pretty great, didn't it? Even small achievements boost our confidence and serotonin, which is great for your job and your mood.
You Know the Drill- Start With the Goal
If you've been reading for a while, you know that I usually tell you to start with the goal before starting a project. But, how do you start with the goal for your goals? For just one moment, I want you to close your eyes and visualize what you've achieved in 6 months, one year, three years, five years. What does your life look like? What's in your bank account? Who is in your inner circle cheering you on? How many hours a day are you working? We're going to start big and work backward to create the life you want. So, take that visualization- let's say it's that you'll have $100,000 in your business checking account (side note- that was once my goal. When I achieved it, I bought myself something gorgeous that I still carry!) We take that broad visualization and fine-tune it by running it through our SMART goal-setting analysis.
SMART Goals
S-Specific- When I'm working with clients and ask their most pressing goal, I often hear, "I need to make more money" or "I need more clients!" That may be true; I can't think of any studio owners actively trying to make less money, but "making more money" is not a goal; it's a wish. "I'm going to have $100,000 in my business checking account" is a specific goal that you (and your coach) can work with.
M- Measurable- Put a number with your wish. My clients hear me say, "You can't grow what you don't measure," nearly every call, which is based on Peter Drucker's quote. How will you know how close you are to achieving your goals if you don't have a clear metric for what it means to succeed to you? This is when analyzing your KPIs becomes even more crucial and can be a sticking point for new goal setters. If you haven't tracked metrics in the past, I just found your first goal, "I will record my monthly memberships, revenues, and expenses each month for 2022." Current Limitless Clients: This is your "Numbers to Know" spreadsheet that you should complete each month.
A-Actionable- In order to be effecting and compelling, your goal needs to be something that you can actively control. A waitlisted studio might be the dream, but building a strategic marketing strategy that will bring ten new clients per month in the door is an actionable goal that you can control.
R-Reasonable- Nothing sucks the fun out of goal setting like an unattainable goal. Who wants to fail before they've even had a chance to try? A general rule of thumb is that your target goal should be a 10 to 30 percent improvement. If your goal is revenue-based, pull your current sales report and take a peek at your P&L for last year. If it's client-based, look at your membership reports. Now, choose a figure that supports your overall goal but isn't such a stretch that you'll get disheartened and throw in the towel early. For example, if I usually see five new clients a month in my studio, my target goal may be:
Six new clients in January
Seven new clients in February
Eight new clients in March
A gradual improvement like the one above is more likely to encourage you to keep trying to get to my stretch goal of 15 new clients each month rather than running straight for 15 new clients tomorrow.
T-Timely- If all good things must come to an end, so, too, must your goals come to a deadline. When will you accomplish your goal and move to the next one? Give yourself a precise end date to build a bit of pressure, but remember to keep it reasonable.
Let's do it together.
Although not in the SMART goal curriculum, I do a specific goal-setting exercise with my clients. It goes like this:
Start with the big vision.
Make it SMART.
Break it down.
Step-By-Step to Succeed.
Tell Someone.
Analyze and Adjust
Let's stick with the $100,000 in your business checking account vision for step #1 and run that through the checklists above.
2. Make it SMART:
Specific - $100,000 in the business checking account.
Measurable-I'm currently at $60,000, and I will grow to $100,000.
Actionable: I'll reach $100,000 by increasing my client memberships by $20/month and adding 40 new 12-month members.
Reasonable: This particular goal falls outside of the 10-30% target goal range. It would be considered a stretch goal. To make it reasonable, we'll break it down to 30% improvements each month instead of as a whole or lengthen the time limit.
Timebound: I'll reach $100,000 by December 2023.
3. Break it down:
This is my favorite step because your goal becomes attainable when you break it into smaller, more achievable pieces. If your goal is to net $40,000 in 24 months, that's $1667 a month. There are a few ways to get there. If your clients pay $150 a month, that's signing (and maintaining) 11 members a month. If your new client conversion rate is 60% (60 percent of clients who try your studio become members), you need 18 intros each month. Increase your conversion rate to 80% that number dips to 14. Or, let's say you reach that $40,000 increase by selling 14 teacher trainings at $3,000. All of a sudden, $100,000 doesn't look so far away.
4. Step-by-Step to Succeed
Piggybacking on step three, we'll break your goal into steps that you can climb to reach the top of your goal. With my clients, we assign three "needle movers," or the essential gatekeepers between where they are and where they want to be. If my goal is to have 100 new clients and I'm only in week one, my needle movers could be:
A. Create a new intro offer to attract the right kind of client
B. Add the intro offer to my website and booking software
C. Market the intro offer using a strategized content calendar
These three action items are what I need to do first to start making progress on my goal. Notice how achievable the goal feels when I have three attainable steps. Once you check those three off, start again until you're at your goal.
5. Tell Someone:
Who is in your corner cheering you on? Who do you go to when it all goes South? In the fitness world, we know that working out with a buddy drastically improves a client's attendance, but a study by the Association for Training and Development demonstrated why accountability is so essential for goal-setting, as well. If you decide on your own that you'll achieve a goal, your chance of success is between 10-25%. Creating a SMART strategy increases that chance to 50%. When you share your plan with an accountability partner, your chance of success is 65%. If you set a regular progress report date, that jumps to 95%. Bet on yourself by finding an accountability partner and giving yourself the best odds of success.
6. Analyze and adjust:
How do you know if you're on the right path? Just like a fitness routine, your goals should be customized and adjusted to fit your needs. If you're used to customizing your classes based on who is in attendance, this will feel like second nature. Each month, check your progress and look at your work schedule, mental health, and other factors. Then pull your KPIs like your sales report, income statement, or bank balances. Adjust your needle movers that month to support both where you are and where you want to be.
Stretch goals
So far, we've been talking about target goals, which are those goals that are about a 30% improvement from where you are today. Returning to Locke's research from above, let's discuss stretch goals. Research shows that people tend to work harder to achieve more difficult objectives. In fact, setting more challenging goals led to higher performance 90 percent of the time. That being said, it still needs to be reasonable. With my clients, we often set a target goal that they think they can hit (e.g., 10 percent growth from the previous year) and a stretch goal that they will have to work really hard for. That way, they have the carrot to motivate them without feeling discouraged if the stretch doesn't happen.
If this sounds like what your business needs and you'd like support as you set up your own target goals, stretch goals, and needle movers, you're in luck. Catch the replay of our workshop: Set Your Goals to Crush Your Year. Get out there and reach your goals, fearless studio owner. You are limitless.
