Around this time of year, people begin to think about goals and plans for the coming year. If you have a home – based business, it is a good idea to set aside some time to think about what you would like to accomplish with your business next year. Of course, if you have been reading this blog regularly, you will remember that both myself and my co – blogger Stephanie Romero recommend planning ahead only after taking that all important look back in time at what the past year has been like for your home – based business.
I can say that I have completed that important exercise, and it is time to begin looking ahead. The next year will be a challenging one, so it is important that as I set my goals for the year I make sure that they are reasonable. You may want to take care to do the same, as setting oneself up for potentially unreachable goals can bring a sense of failure and can hurt your motivation. After all, there’s no rule that says that you can not exceed any of your goals once you have met them. In fact, meeting a goal is a powerful motivator that can inspire you to reach even higher as you set new, but still reasonable goals.
Every home – based professional will have a different set of goals, as each home – based business (and each home – based professional) is unique. Goal setting for home – based professionals certainly involves business benchmarks, but there are normally other things like family goals and commitments as well as household duties that must be considered. For example, in April we will be welcoming a new addition to our family. A major part of my planning and goal setting for the coming year is taking what I have learned about working with a small child at home and adjusting it to accommodate caring for a newborn and a toddler while working from home. It would be foolish to think that I could do exactly the same amount of work that I did last year during the month that the baby arrives and probably for a couple of months thereafter as we get to know each other and “negotiate” our family’s new schedule.
Whatever the coming year has in store for you and your home – based business, it is both motivating and good business practice to think a little bit about what you would like to accomplish. I sincerely hope that 2012 is a wonderful year for you and your home – based business.
Photo by kakisky on morguefile.com.