If you’re here, reading this article, I know that you have a big vision for your business. You know that you’re meant to live a life that’s big, bold, exciting, and inspiring. But this journey isn’t linear, and it isn’t always easy. Here are my top tips for setting goals that will help you start turning your biggest dreams into a reality.

First, visualize it. Because yes, it really IS possible for you.

First, you need to see yourself having already achieved the big vision. Get really clear and specific on that vision. What outcome did you achieve? How are you celebrating it? What are you wearing? Who are you with? What do you see, smell, taste, and hear? Dream big and don’t limit yourself. Our conscious thoughts like to keep us small to keep us safe, so we need to put an effort into overcoming that block and picturing the “impossible” for us. That’s the only way it will ever be possible for you.

Got your vision? Good. Now let’s start taking action.

What are SMART goals?

These are the steps you’re going to take along the way towards achieving your big vision. You need to break down your big goals into smaller, attainable steps so that you keep moving in the right direction. If we only focus on the big picture, it’s easy to get overwhelmed, confused, lost, and discouraged. SMART goals help give us a structure to proceed with clarity and confidence.

S = Specific

This first step of getting as specific as possible is crucial to setting up the rest. “I want to be a better event planner” is not a specific goal to set. What task within your business do you want to get better at? Do you want to have more consults? Book more jobs? Improve your marketing? A specific goal you could set might be: “I’m going to consistently promote my business on social media to book more clients.” 

M = Measurable

You want to make sure we can keep track of the progress you’re making on your goal in a quantifiable way. That’s why step one, specificity, is so important. Using the example above, we can make it measurable by saying “I’m going to promote my business on Instagram 3X per week to book 2 clients per month.” Adding in some kind of metric is going to help you track your progress which then keeps you motivated to keep going!

A = Attainable

We want to think big, of course, but set up these goals in a way that’s attainable in reality, too. If you haven’t set up an Instagram account yet and are generally overwhelmed by social media marketing, this “post 3X per week to book 2 clients” goal might be unattainable. Don’t worry about all the “shoulds” you hear around growing your business. Be honest with where you are now, and set goals that you can attain as long as you assert yourself. It’s okay if your goal is to “set up an Instagram account.” That’s still amazing progress.

R = Relevant

Make sure that your SMART goal is set with that bigger picture we came up with in mind. It needs to be relevant to the growth of your business, your niche, clients, etc. In the social media example, you might ask yourself – am I getting engagement and booking clients via Instagram now, or is there a better place I can grow on social media? Maybe you adjust it to posting 2X per week and spend an hour per week interacting with your audience in comments and DMs. Now your goal is more aligned with your bigger vision.

T = Time-bound

Simply stated – give yourself a deadline. A little urgency is a good way to keep yourself accountable. Be reasonable with your timeline – remember, projects usually take longer than we think they will – but I want you to push yourself a little, too. Always keep that bigger vision in mind. You want to there quickly, right? Set deadlines that are going to take you outside of your comfort zone because that’s where true change and transformation happens.

What SMART goals can you set for your event planning business? Leave a comment here or find me on Instagram and let me know!