Planning Decision 1

Set Your Business Goals

Monetary Goal

We have found that the quickest way for our clients to get a sense of the scale of the needed time and dollar investment in their new business is to have them complete a simple math exercise, which reveals an approximation of how much marketing and selling effort the new business owner will need to make in his first year of business in order to achieve specific personal financial goals.

Non-Monetary Goals

But, we know all too well that money is not the only, and sometimes not the primary, motivation for starting a business.

So, in this decision we also help you explore non-financial goals worthy of achieving during your first year in business.

Some examples include:

1. Land an interview with a major magazine such as Forbes or a major business television program, such as MSNBC.
2. Get an article published in a business publication or on a major website.
3. Enter into a marketing partnership with a larger partner.

How To Do It

1. Open your Marketing Plan Summary. Go to the first section – Goal Setting

2. Enter dollar amounts in each space as requested.

3. Total all dollar amounts and enter the number in step 4.
This is the estimated amount of annual sales you will need your first year to do the following:
• Pay yourself.
• Pay state and federal taxes.
• Pay business expenses.

4. Determine approximately how many units of product or service you need to sell in order to achieve this amount of sales.

5. Type into your Marketing Plan Summary any non-revenue objectives you want to set for your first year in business.

$499