Do you find yourself dedicating more time and energy than rewards received while you pursue your dream as an entrepreneur?
Maybe you’re limited in resources or find yourself jumping from task to task without a clear picture of what success looks like to you.
Perhaps you just need to be reminded throughout the repetition and chaos of the day-to-day about why you started your venture in the first place.
EYES ON THE PRIZE
KPIs, or key performance indicators, help you keep track of your progress as you make headway towards your goals. Without them, it’s easy to lose sight, especially as a small business, of your “why.” In a survey by Staples, it was found that in a sample of 300 small businesses, 80% failed to track their business goals while 77% failed to reach their vision.
There are many reasons why a business owner may decide to implement or add new KPIs to their strategic plan: to monitor company health, to measure progress, to analyze patterns, to solve problems, to make adjustments, and to tackle new opportunities.
Most importantly, they help provide a framework for your day-to-day tasks so that you can remain focused on your efforts, energy, and efficiency. After all, there is no point in clocking in each day if not to perform better than the last in order to really experience the fruits of your labor.
So, what makes a good, well-defined goal? All KPIs should be SMART:
While you work towards developing (or restructuring) your KPIs, here are a few questions to ask yourself to make sure you’re hitting all five characteristics of a strong, clear goal.
SPECIFIC
- What do I want to achieve?
- Who on my team needs to be involved in this goal?
- Which clients will help me hit this goal?
MEASURABLE
- How will I track this goal?
- How will I know I am making progress towards this goal?
- What quantifiable changes need to happen for progress?
ATTAINABLE
- Do I have the resources I need to achieve this goal?
- What steps do I have to take to achieve this goal?
- What skills do I need for progress?
RELEVANT
- Does this goal align with my “why” for my business?
- Will accomplishing this move me closer to my “why”?
- Does this goal make sense to the interests of my clientele?
TIME
- When will this KPI be completed?
- How much time do I need to achieve each step towards progress in this goal?
- Is this a goal I need to start now or can I set it for a later quarter?
How did this framework work for you? Leave a comment for a bit more guidance or check out this sample KPI template from Bernard, Marr & Co.
Good luck on making your visions so clear that your fears become irrelevant!
