A few weeks ago, I started to write this blog post with both my personal and business goals for 2018 all wrapped up into one. I quickly realized it was too much for one post and decided to split them up. Luckily, without realizing it, I had created exactly 5 business goals, and 5 personal goals, you can read about my personal goals for 2018 here. And, today, in mid-February, I am finally getting my business goals out.

Sometimes it can be challenging to remember, but I love this reminder:

There’s nothing magical about January 1st
– Lara Casey

As I get ready to share these goals with you, I want to provide a little bit of background. Because the internal struggle with some of these items has been really challenging.

Last year, when I decided to go full time in a side hustle that didn’t exist (you can read about it here), I had to focus on one thing – building my business. This meant I was really good at removing items that I couldn’t add to my plate.

This allowed me to prioritize and spend time on items that were going to directly impact the growth of my business. That meant working with clients, blogging, social media, and networking. Everything else had to wait.

And, just because I said no to something in 2017 didn’t mean it was a no forever, it just meant “not right now”.

Once I started to revisit some of these “not right now” items from 2017, I started to add them to my list of dreams and goals for 2018.

But, I started to question myself.

I became paralyzed by the idea of doing what so many others were already doing. The noise, the competition, the feeling of not being enough started to surface as I wrote out these dreams for the new year.

Luckily, I have some pretty amazing industry friends (even some I became friends with just through Instagram) who have encouraged me, are cheering me on and helped me silence the little voice in my head.

They told me the same encouraging words I normally tell my clients

no one is you, and no one can offer what you offer because only you can provide your unique perspective.

So, I am sharing my business goals for 2018 with you, right here, as a declaration of the items I want to set out to do this year. To help me overcome those fears, to silence the little voice in my head and to grow this little dream of mine. Without further ado.

My Business Goals for 2018

1 | Open a Digital Template Shop

Why: To help creative business owners have access to beautiful templates at a more affordable rate than hiring me to custom design a piece for them. This idea came about when my first two clients needed collateral items for their business, it somehow turned into an idea of having a shop where they could pick and choose a customizable template. I’m so excited to finally have this as a priority item for my business – it’s been on my whiteboard for almost a year!

I’m currently working on creating a list of items that will be available in the shop – if there’s something you think would be a great addition, that you’re looking for, let me know by sending a note here!

2 | Start a Podcast or VLOG

Why: First and foremost, my mission is to help creative entrepreneurs grow their business with marketing and branding tips, inspiration, and real talk. Leveraging these channels to distribute the tools, resources, and inspiration to get after their dreams is a great way to help both of us grow. I get to produce content that aligns with my mission and purpose, and I get to grow and flex my creative muscles as I learn and do new things!

But, just because I am excited about learning and growing as I play with audio and video, doesn’t mean that I don’t have a lot of fear about actually executing this! My fears run the gamut when it comes to producing this type of content, but I know the outcome will far outweigh the fears, so I created an action plan to help me start making progress on this goal.

3 | Build my Email List

Why: In order to grow my business and launch the next two goals, I realize my email list has to be more sizeable than it is now to be successful with those launches. I also realize I don’t need to have thousands of people on my email list to make that happen, but I do need to put a plan together to serve my community with helpful, valuable content. And, this ultimately goes back to my mission and purpose for Simply Sianne – to help other creative entrepreneurs with marketing and branding, inspiration, and real talk.

4 | Launch Online Courses

Why: Are you noticing a pattern here? This goes back to my mission and purpose of helping creative entrepreneurs. Creating online courses to help entrepreneurs market and brand their business with helpful, tactical information is an offering that ties back to my company’s goal. My vision is to create course content that can be easily implemented into their business, not because someone like me told them to, but because it fits into their overall business strategy.

I believe online courses can be very beneficial, and if done right they can help other entrepreneurs grow their business. Afterall, online courses have helped me in my entrepreneurial journey ????

5 | Speak at 3 Events + Get Featured in 3 Publications

Why: Once again, this comes back to my mission and purpose. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how I want to grow Simply Sianne in the coming years, and while I’m not entirely sure what my business will look like a year or 5 years from now, I know I want to build a brand that encourages and inspires other entrepreneurs. One of the ways to continue to encourage and inspire others is by speaking at events and writing content for other publications. This goal is probably the scariest of them all but is something I want to push myself towards in 2018.

My Goal Setting Resource

These are my 5 business goals for 2018, and although I’m sharing them here with you, I haven’t shared the tactical steps that I’ve put in place to help me achieve these goals. Recently, I’ve been getting inquiries on how I set and obtain my goals. And, while I thought about putting together a free goal setting worksheet for you, I know Lara Casey from Cultivate What Matters already has great tools in place, specifically for this!

I’m currently using the Cultivate What Matters PowerSheets to help me identify and create an action plan for each of my goals. The steps she uses throughout the PowerSheets planner are very similar to the steps I’ve used in the past. However, she does it with a lot of encouragement and is constantly reminding us that it is okay to grow slow. So, if you’re looking for something to help you create goals that you can actually obtain, go check out her PowerSheets goal planner or download her free goal setting guide (once you click the link, scroll down to get the guide).

As always, cheering you on!

xo,

Sianne

[convertkit form=853511]