Here’s to Janus, the Roman god of beginnings, whose two-headed sculpture looks to the past and future — or left and right, depending on your perspective. Since 45 B.C., calendars have started with January, marking the beginning of future goals and reviewing past ambitions. Four central Kentucky business owners share their business goals for 2013.
Barry Sanders, founder and CEO of Trail Blazers Auto & Truck Accessories:
Trail Blazers, the retail store on New Circle Road, started in 1977. We had stores in West Virginia, and in Louisville and Pikeville, but we sold the last retail store in 2006 to concentrate on our local store and our direct marketing online business, through two dozen websites. As a national direct marketer and Internet retailer, we have goals every day. We set standard levels of growth on a monthly basis.
We have lofty goals for 2013, one of which is launching a brand new Web platform that has taken two years of development, truckextras.com. It’s similar to our truckaddons.com site, with a more modernized user experience and a much better back-end solution for us, for developmental purposes. Our resolution is to complete this site and have it finished with over 100 manufacturers by February.
Also in 2013, some of our goals are to look more at our margin and not so much on our volume growth. Depending on the time of year, we have 49 to 55 employees. If the economy holds up we will probably be hiring close to 10 new Web developers, data staff and salespeople.
Robin Fleischer, owner of Robin S. Fleischer Counseling, LLC:
I am a professional career counselor and marriage educator. I like to set goals on an annual, monthly, weekly, daily — and yes — even hourly basis. I am a goal-setter. With my motivation activated, I have the following goals in mind for 2013. I don’t think that business and personal life operate in isolation.
My physical goal: I plan to actively use my membership at the Beaumont YMCA.
Spiritual goal: I will execute my Sunday morning church attendance plan.
Financial goal: Supposing I don’t find a long-lost family relationship to the two winning ticket holders of the Powerball jackpot, then I vow to establish a realistic budget and live within in it. If not within it, then only “reasonably” outside of the financial plan.
My personal goal for 2013 is to celebrate my strengths, cease apologizing for my weaknesses and continue to enjoy my personal and career life as I have crafted it.
Professional goal: Do you have the opportunity to do what you do best every day? I do, because 18 months ago I was able to shape my job and work to play to my strengths, towards the things I do really well. This design of a job is called “job crafting,” and it allows me to increase the control I have over my own professional life, giving me greater enthusiasm, energy and enjoyment from what I do at work every day — not all day long, but every day.
And my professional goal is to keep these changes in practice, boosting positive results (more clients) in my business. I don’t want to get so invested in my client’s well-being and growth that I ignore my own. I can’t give what I don’t have.
My goals for 2012 included defining and refining my work and business goals. First, as the dogs (my long-haired Chihuahua assistants) did not increase my ability to do my work from home with clients, I relocated to meeting with my face-to-face clients at the SmartOffice Solutions on Main Street. A second goal that I was able to set and achieve for 2012 was multiplying my avenues of income. I accept individual clients for career counseling and marriage education, and I work with various organizations. Now, I additionally partner with two companies that offer employee-assistance programs with career counseling as a benefit to their employees and dependents. Furthermore, with my distance credentialed counselor certification, I became employed as a University of Phoenix career coach, offering career services to students and alumni in their preparation for education to work.
Teresa Gaunt Tayloe, president and owner of Kreative Solutions:
Kreative Solutions is a marketing and promotional products company. Every quarter, I re-evaluate my business plan and set new priorities to better serve my clients. My goals for 2013 will be to continue assisting my clients in growing their businesses and promoting their image by providing quality service and products. I pride myself on building lasting relationships, both professional and personal. Increasing my professional network was a priority in 2012, and I feel very fortunate that I was successful in accomplishing this objective.
Jane Fisher, professional organizer at Jane Fisher, LLC:
I set goals annually, and I revisit them weekly, if not daily. Goals for 2013 will include that I will complete the requirements to become a CPO (certified professional organizer), sitting for the test by June, and that I will complete the course of study to become certified as an organizer coach, sitting for that exam at the start of 2014. I will continue to maintain 20 billable hours per week. Other goals, once finalized, will include creating and increasing a presence on the Web, with specific actions and timing.
As a solopreneur, my professional and personal goals are very closely tied. I understand that targeted self-care (amount of sleep, eating healthy, exercising) will impact my productivity, endurance and clear thinking at work. My personal goals will take into account my needs in these areas.
My goals for 2012 included working 20 billable hours per week, which I accomplished by taking a six-month contract with one large client. This was advantageous, as working with one client allowed me the time I needed for study for the certifications that I will attain. This 20 billable hours goal will remain in place in 2013, but it will be much more interesting to work with a variety of clients in different settings. My other 2012 goals were related to start up and training, and these were met with determination and persistence.
Goal-setting tips from organizer Jane Fisher
• Be very clear about your goals. Quantify them and set them up on a timeline.
• Go ahead and dream big. Start with a lifetime goal that would make you proud as you look back on your life. Then write down what you need to do to make that happen. Take the one task from the list that would make the most impact, and write down everything you need to do to complete that one task. Repeat until your tasks can be accomplished in a manageable time frame.
• Start doing each task, one at a time. Because you’re choosing the task that will make the most impact, not necessarily the one that will be completed in the least time, you may find the initial tasks will require a long time to complete. By going for the most impact first, you’ll find your task completion will start to snowball as you come nearer to the primary goal.
• Three primary goals should be your target, one in each of the three areas that will foster a healthy balance: personal, family and professional.
• Don’t worry. Don’t give up. Keep working. Do at least one thing each day that gets you closer to your goal. Start now!
Kathie Stamps posts grammar tips at www.facebook.com/GrammarTips and has a 2013 goal of blogging about writing and business at www.stamps communications.com.