Starting a business can be very complex. The demands could be very intimidating for those who have never taken that path before. The good news is you don’t have to do it all in a day.

All you need for today is just one action that will move your forward towards your GOALS. What do I mean by this?

There are various facets of starting a business. You have to have the financials together, marketing, define your operations, have your value preposition and on and on the lists goes. Every time you buy a new book or read a new blog, there is always one more thing you could do to become successful. However, how do you know what applies to you and what does not apply.

First SET GOALS. If you do not know where you want to go anywhere will take you there.

Four simple steps for making goals are as follows

Step 1: Identify and write down your goals

Step 2: Break each goal down into several short-term (less than 1 year), medium-term (1 to 3 years) and long-term (5 years or more) goals.

Step 3: Educate yourself on how to accomplish these goals. Then take the necessary steps to create a plan to accomplish the set goals.

Step 4: Evaluate your progress. Goals are an ever evolving thing. You will find that as long as you are growing, you will have to move through the steps multiple times.

Next, Let’s discuss each of these steps.

Step 1: Identify and write down your goal

The very first thing is to know where you are going. Identify your goals and write them down. Next formulate a goal statement which will guide you through your journey of achieving your goals.

An example of a goal statement is:

•By December 31^st, 2014, I will be earning $50,000 on my online business

•By my 45^th birthday my online business will help me achieve true financial independence. By financial independence I mean I have enough assets to keep producing income and I no longer have to work to earn a living.

Once you identify your goals and formulate your goal statement, you will need to identify the issues and opportunities surrounding your goals. For instance, if you want to earn $50,000 in your online business this year but you work full time and have 10 kids, you will need to identify that as an issue that either aids or abets you from reaching your goals. Be honest yourself when addressing issues and you will need to figure out how to address these issues to make your goals realistic.

Step 2: Break your goals down into several short term and long term goals

The next step is to break your goals into short and long term goals. Short term goals are goals that can be achieved within 12 months and long term goals take more than a year to achieve.

Before I started writing my book, I did not think it was even possible to get my book finished. I had so much going on in my life that finding the time to write seemed almost impossible. But I set out with a goal of writing eighty pages. Each day I made sure I took one step towards that goal by writing at least two pages before I knew it, I had reached and exceeded the eighty pages I set out to write. I do the same thing with my running. Every time I go out to run I tell myself how many miles I am going to run. Being the over achiever I am I often exceed it but the point is if I did not start out with a goal in mind, it will be very easy to give up the process in its entirety.

Lack of clarity is one of the biggest enemies to success. You should move with intention and strategy when designing your goals.

Step 3: Educate yourself on how to accomplish these goals

Read books, go to conferences or talk to people who have been where you are trying to go. Once you have all your facts together formulate your critical success factors and milestones.

Critical success factors: You will need to identify critical success factors. By critical success factors, I mean what conditions are necessary to achieve your goals. You will need to create the necessary environment needed to achieve these goals. For instance if one of your issues is watching television, then maybe cutting your cable television is one of your critical success factors.

Milestones: Milestones are small steps you should take each day to reach your goal. I recommend typing your milestones and placing them somewhere you can see each day. For instance if my goal is to make $50,000 on my blog by the end of the year, one milestone might be to develop or acquire products that can move me towards that goal.

Step 4: Evaluate your progress

Once you have designed your dreams, you will need to convert them into dollars and cents. Nothing drives you more to meet your goals than breaking it down and seeing how achievable it really is.

Knowing your numbers will give you the insight and power to make decisions. Having clear financial goals makes it easy to evaluate weak areas and strengths. Waiting too long to change direction could cost you dearly. We have limited resources: only so many hours in the day, so much money to spend, etc. Measurements indicators will you better refine your strategies by quickly pointing out weak areas thereby allowing you make necessary adjustments.

The four steps discussed above should be documented. You do not need complex documents: a one page document will suffice. You can use the following template to get started:

In summary

So now you know what you need to succeed. Start today by saying today by writing your goal and each day says to yourself, today I am going to ____________________. (You fill in the blank)

Each and every day write your one thing someplace you can see it.

Every step you take will bring you closer to your goals and your dreams.

Your steps today become your destination tomorrow.

So what dreams do you have and what steps are you taking to achieve them?

I will love for you to share them with me in the comment box below.