Allow Your Business to Thrive with SMART Goal Setting
Welcome to the Spa Business Building Podcast, your go-to destination for turning your passion as a beauty or wellness professional into a successful and profitable business. I'm Tiffany, your host. I'm a mom, wife, licensed esthetician and massage therapist, and enthusiast of all things business building.
Not too long ago, I took a bold step into entrepreneurship, embracing the roles as a wife and mother of two while venturing into the spa industry as a solo practitioner. Armed with nearly two decades of expertise as a licensed esthetician and massage therapist, my passion for the spa industry fueled my determination to succeed despite having zero business experience and no client base. I created Spa Business Building because I've been in your shoes.
I faced the challenges, celebrated the victories, and learned invaluable lessons along the way. Now I'm here to share my insights, strategies, and the insider knowledge that transformed my own business. In the Spa Business Building Podcast, we'll deep dive into all things Spa Business related, from effective marketing strategies and client retention secrets to building solid business systems.
I'll bring in industry experts, successful entrepreneurs, and share real life stories to inspire and guide you on your journey. So whether you're a solo esthetician, spa owner, or someone dreaming of entering the world of wellness, this podcast is for you. So subscribe now so you don't miss out on the valuable insights that will take your spa business to new heights.
Get ready to unlock the secrets of spa business building and embark on this exciting journey together. Your thriving business awaits. Hello, Spa Business Building besties.
Welcome to the Spa Business Building Podcast. I'm Tiffany, your host. And in today's episode, we're going to talk about setting goals for your business.
And it's never too late to start setting goals for your business. So if you feel like, you know, it's now February and you haven't set any goals yet, it feels like too much. That's okay.
I think we all can feel that way sometimes, but I think it's never too late to start setting goals in your business. So that's what we're going to talk about today. And I'm going to give you my tips and strategies that I use when setting goals for my business.
So let's get started. So first, we're going to talk about the importance of setting goals. And I think that it is super important to set goals for your business so that you can be clear.
You know exactly where you're going. You're essentially creating a road map for success for your business. And you know where you started, how far you've come, and how much further you need to go to reach your goal.
So I think that setting goals is super important, especially for the success of your business, and depending on where you want to be. If you want growth and you want a sustainable, thriving, and profitable business, you have to set goals for your business. So when I start to do the goal setting project, I like to sit down and I take a look at the acronym SMART.
That's S-M-A-R-T, and this is a goal setting strategy. It's not one that I have created, but it's one that I like to use. And the acronym stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time Bound.
So how can you use this SMART goal setting in your business? Let's break it down. So we're going to start with the S, and S stands for Specific.
So when you are setting goals, it's always a good idea to set specific goals instead of just very vague kind of overall, like, yeah, I want to increase my revenue. I want to make more money this year. It's better to set a specific goal because it provides clarity and focus for your tasks in reaching this goal.
So setting that specific goal of I want to increase my revenue by 15% this year, or I want to make $10,000 more this year than I did last year, those are specific goals. It's providing you clarity. You know exactly what numbers you need to hit, and it helps you stay focused in your efforts of reaching that goal.
The next step in the acronym SMART is M for measurable. So when you're setting your goals, you've created the specific goal. Now you need to create a way to measure that progress.
It's always good to know how far you've come and how much further you need to go to reach those goals. So creating a process that you're actually tracking and measuring that goal of your revenue. If your point of sale system or your scheduling system has reports and you can look at that information for your income for the week, I would definitely do this weekly so that you can see and then run the reports monthly and quarterly, however you want to take that step.
But I like to do it weekly, so I am staying on task. But create a reminder in your calendar to tell you that you need to run your reports every week and take a look at the data and measure how far you've come and how much further you need to go for that month. The next step in the SMART goals is A, for achievable.
It's always a good idea to set goals that are achievable, that you can reach, that are realistic targets for your business. So you don't want to set goals that are just so far out of reach and just way too ambitious for you because I think that it leads to frustration and it can lead to burnout. If you set this goal of reaching just outrageous goals for yourself and you feel like you're just not making any way, you just can't get there, you're going to start feeling burnt out, you're going to feel down on yourself, you're going to feel so much frustration.
So set goals that you know that you can achieve and are just not too far out of reach for you. Now the next step in this goal setting acronym is relevant. You want to set goals that are relevant to your overall business.
So you want to choose goals that align with your mission and they contribute to the growth and success of your business. If you're choosing goals that are just so out of line, I think it's going to be hard for you to achieve those goals. If you're setting goals that align with your business, then those goals are going to be achievable, and you're going to have better success rate.
Now, the last step for smart goals is time bound. When you're setting goals, it's always a good idea to use a sense of urgency or set a deadline for that goal, and it helps with time management, and it helps to ensure that you are completing tasks within a reasonable time frame. So let's just say that you've set a goal for increased revenue, and you know exactly how much you want to make for the year.
My suggestion is to break it down quarterly, taking into account the slower seasons and the busier seasons. But you're going to break it into quarters, but you're going to track it weekly.
And you are going to set your deadline each month to earn a specific amount of revenue for that quarter. And this is how you set the deadlines. You've set the time bound deadline that you are reaching your revenue goal for the quarter.
I also want to mention that when you are setting goals for your business, that you should be adaptable and flexible, because sometimes circumstances and change happen, or new opportunities arise. And it's okay if you need to adjust your goals according to the changes in your business. And that's going to keep you on track.
But it really is, I think, that it keeps your business adaptive. And having adaptability and flexibility in your business and knowing when to pivot and change those goals is crucial. I mean, for me, when COVID happened, I was ready to grow my business and hire on employees.
I had a six-treatment room spa, and then we got shut down. And I had to adapt. So I went from having employees to we were shut down, and my employees were no longer with my company, and I had to be flexible and adaptable.
And I had a goal, I had an income goal for myself, and my goal was growth, growth of income, growth of employees, scaling my business. And that all changed in an instant without warning. And thankfully, I had business structure and systems in place that I had savings for when we were shut down and throughout the year to be able to sustain this 1,700 square foot facility on my own.
But I adapted, and I pivoted my business, and instead of hiring, I ended up renting out the rooms, and that is what I have today. I have a full spa of renters, massage therapists, and it's been absolutely amazing. I'm glad that I pivoted to renting.
I absolutely adore all of my renters. It is a fabulous situation, and because I was adaptive and flexible, my goals changed. I had to look at my numbers and think, okay, what am I going to do now?
And I did it. And if you keep that open mindset in your business, being able to adapt when things happen, because we're coming into times of the economy where people are making changes, and keeping your business adaptive and knowing when to pivot is so crucial for your business. So that being said, in summary, SMART goals bring clarity, measurability, achievability, relevance, and time-bound structure to your spa business objectives.
So I think that this approach to setting goals can enhance your planning. It can keep you motivated if you know where you're going in the roadmap for your business success. So that is it for this episode, my friend.
Thank you so much for joining me on the Spa Business Building Podcast. If you enjoyed it, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, and share it with your fellow beauty and wellness warriors. Until next time, stay inspired, stay fabulous, and keep building those spa business dreams.
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