5 SMART Rules for Setting Business Goals

If you want to learn how to set business goals, you’ve come to the right place. In this article, I’ll show you the 5 SMART rules for setting business goals.

The SMART method provides criteria for setting solid goals. SMART is an acronym for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Time-bound.

Now, let’s explore the 5 SMART rules for setting business goals to see how they can help you set solid business goals.

Table of Contents

1. Be specific about your business goals
2. Make your business goals measurable
3. Make your business goals attainable
4. Set relevant business goals
5. Make your business goals time-bound
6. Closing remarks

Be specific about your business goals

The point of making your business goals specific is to make them well-defined. Having well-defined goals will make you more committed to them. They also allow you to measure your progress.

A business goal like “making a lot of money” is vague because it is very general. How much money is a lot to you? Is it $80K per year or $100K per month?

A vague goal like the one above will make it difficult to measure your progress. Say, if you are making $5K per month from your online business, have you reached your goal of making a lot of money?

If not, how far away are you from your goal? It’s impossible to know whether you’re still far or already close to it because you don’t have a specific goal.

So, instead of making a vague goal like “making a lot of money,” make your business goals specific such as “I want to make $6K per month.”

Your business goal doesn’t have to be just about money. It can also be about certain assets in your business, such as your email subscribers or the amount of content on your blog.

Make your business goals measurable

This is related to the previous point. When you make your business goals specific, you also make them measurable. If you have measurable goals, you can measure your progress.

Suppose one of your business goals is to make $6K per month. After many months, you reach $5K in a month. You know you’re already close to your goal.

Imagine if your goal is just to make a lot of money. You won’t know whether you’re close to it if you earn $5K in a month.

Measuring your progress is essential because you want to know if you’re getting closer to your goal or need to change course.

So, make your business goals measurable by making them specific. Don’t set vague and unmeasurable business goals.

Make your business goals attainable

Your business goals shouldn’t only be specific and measurable but also attainable. If you set unrealistic goals, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Big goals tend to be harder to achieve than smaller ones. Don’t let this dissuade you from setting big goals. Just remember, they might take longer to attain than smaller goals.

Sometimes, what makes a goal unattainable is not the goal itself but the time frame you set to achieve it. If it’s set with the correct time frame, it becomes attainable.

For example, the goal of earning $10K from a new online business is unrealistic to achieve in a week. But it’s realistic to attain in a year.

If you set unattainable business goals, you’ll eventually get frustrated and lose motivation. It’s better to set business goals that you know are attainable.

To set a realistic business goal, consider the time required to achieve it, as well as your prevailing conditions and resources.

Set relevant business goals

A goal is relevant if it contributes to your main goal. A goal is irrelevant if it is disconnected from your main goal.

For example, the main goal of building an online business is to earn a certain amount of money. You may need to accumulate some assets to achieve that main goal, such as your email subscribers or blog content.

So, the goal of having 10K subscribers or 100 SEO-optimized articles on your blog might be relevant goals, because they contribute to your main goal of earning a certain amount of money from your online business.

However, winning the best blog design award is not a relevant goal if your blog is about cats and your bigger goal is to sell a certain amount of cat-related products, as it doesn’t help you sell them.

But winning that award becomes a relevant goal if you run a web design business because it shows your audience that you are very good at web design.

One way to evaluate whether a goal is relevant is to ask yourself if the goal contributes to your main goal.

Make your business goals time-bound

Having a deadline for your goal can motivate you. It will help you focus on your goal because you only have a limited time to achieve it.

So, add deadlines to your goals. Instead of setting a goal like “I want to earn $5K,” make it like “I want to earn $5K in 6 months.”

When setting deadlines for your goals, make sure you set realistic deadlines. As I said earlier, an unrealistic deadline can make a goal unattainable.

For example, aiming to have 500 email subscribers in a month when you’re just starting and don’t have enough budget for paid advertising is unrealistic.

If you’re just starting and don’t have enough budget for paid advertising, the most you can realistically achieve in a month is probably 100 email subscribers.

Of course, what is realistic or not depends on various factors. If you’re just starting but have enough budget for paid advertising, aiming for 500 email subscribers in a month might be realistic.

Closing remarks

There you go, the 5 SMART rules for setting business goals. This method is effective for both long-term and short-term goals.

You can set your business goals by creating a long-term goal and breaking it into smaller, short-term goals. Or you can start with a short-term goal and then set other, higher goals as you progress.

Either way, use the SMART method when you set your business goals so that you’ll have clear and solid business goals.

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