#90 – Planning and Executing Your 2017 Goals

SUMMARY: How to effectively plan for a successful 2017.

[00:00:14] Stephen:  Hey guys, Stephen Esketzis here from Marketing on the Move.  And I’m coming to you now on a beautiful, sunny Melbourne day.  We’re in the middle of December now hitting towards the end of 2016, and I wanted to share this episode with you and talk a little bit about your 2017 goals and where you’re at and what they mean and how to execute them.  Because it’s one thing — I think I’ve talked about in other episodes before, but it’s one thing I think people kind of lack and something people need to kind of keep in mind.  There’s one key thing I actually want to share and that is the way you go about actually using your goals.

[00:00:47] I think people think, you know, they do goal setting, they get super detailed, they say, “What do I want to do?  What do I want to do?  What do I want to do?” They planned it out to the finest detail.  But then what happens is, they’re going to execute and things don’t go according to plan, you know, they never do.  They always change.  Things always change throughout the year.  But the key to goal setting isn’t that you’re going to, you know, secure exactly what you’ve run down to the latter.  The part of goal setting I think most people misunderstand is that you’ve made a commitment that you’re going to get there one way or the other and I think that’s the most important part about goal setting.  Whether you get there, you know, on the day you planned it or two days later or a month later, you made a commitment to that goal.

[00:01:34] So look, I think it’s important to be detailed, you definitely — you can’t just say, you know what?  I want to make money this year.  Have a goal in mind.  How much money are you going to make?  Is it going to be profit?  Is it going to be revenue?  When are you going to make it and then which business are you going to make it?  What’s your plan to make it?  But at the same time, you know, you’re not going to say, “I want to have X amount of conversions or I want to have a X amount of people on my Facebook, re-targeting audience, which is going to lead to this, which is going to lead to that.” Like that’s getting too specific.  And then you’re wasting your time if you get into that level as well.

[00:02:04] So, what you’d want to do is you want to actually set goals that are measurable and you want to set them with a date in mind, but at the same time don’t get overly specific.  Something I noticed, you know, every single year, year in-year out, and especially this year I’ve got to say, looking back on the goals that I wrote is, I accomplished probably 80% and it seems to be a trend.  I capture about the 70 to 80 percent of my goals every year that I set and usually surpass them.  But it’s never a 100 percent, it’s usually 70 or 80 because things do change, but those 70 or 80 percent, you know, they get crushed.  They crushed a fair bit.  So, you know, every year I try to set the bar a little bit higher, a little bit higher, and keep pushing and keep 10X-ing it.

[00:02:48] But, what I’ve noticed is, the goals actually get met.  You know, I’m not just doing this and wasting my time.  Like you’ve got that focus at the start of the year and where you set your focus is where you’re going to see results.  And once you’ve focused and you know what you want, you can work back and reverse engineer.  One of my friends share a quote with me, start with the end in mind.  Start with where you want to go, and then work back from it, you know?  What are the steps you need to take to get there?  And things will change, you know, that’s part of the process.  The speed bumps, those hurdles some years, you know, something big might happen with the family or relationship or whatever, you know, it might affect your business goals and that’s completely cool as well, but at least you’ve got a direction.  So it’s more about sort of priming yourself and setting that direction now for 2017.

[00:03:35] So, that’s kind of what I want to share with you guys today.  I know it’s super short, you know, one piece of advice there.  But, think big.  And that’s the other thing.  I think 10X-ing your goals is very, very important.  One thing I did this year, this time last year, and I’m very proud of it, is I 10X-ed exactly what I wanted.  I was in a point where I was like, you know, I got few different directions, I could feel it, I could keep doing what I want.  And, you know, the direction that I’m heading in now is a direction where there’s a lot of scale involved, there’s a lot of work to be done.  And I’m happy I chose that direction because it’s a long term play.  It’s not a short term get-rich-quick; it’s something which is going to be accomplished over a long period of time.

[00:04:16] So that’s another thing to think about.  And if you’re in my email sequence, you probably get a few of my emails along the slide it’s — you know, think about — most people underestimate what they can do in 10 years, but overestimate what they can do in one year.  So, this is like a long term play we’re talking about.  When you’re in — like I’m in my early to mid-20’s.  So, I’ve got to think about, when I’m 40 or 50 years old, the instance is going to be completely different.  Marketing is going to be completely different.  Everything is going to be changing.

[00:04:46] It’s completely fine if I’ll be working in the same industry but having said that, is this something that’s going to be fluctuating up and down?  Like, is this something that can be disrupted?  I want, you know, my income and I want the assets that I build to last the ages.  And that’s something you’ve got to keep in mind when you’re building a portfolio.  A portfolio of investments, a portfolio of income, you know, you diversify all of the above.  You need to think about that.  So, is this a long term play?  What’s your strategy?  Do you have an exit strategy?  Is this something that you’re just looking for cash flow?  You’re taking and making money online and investing it offline, you know?

[00:05:24] These are all the things that you need to consider.  And one part is, you know, like, obviously work hard and do what you want to do and move it to long term but also have fun along the way.  That’s one thing I think of.  I think I’ve been pretty regular, you know, like a lot of people just, they do the nine to five, they do the grind, they’re always working, always working.  Man, you got to have some fun.  You got to relax.  I travel a fair bit, which gives me the opportunity to go out and have some fun and, you know, spend some time with friends and co-workers and family and it’s really good.  You’ve got to make time for that.  So, also include that in your goals when you’re planning everything out, you know, how are you going to sustain yourself because staying focused and growing your business, it takes a toll on you.  It’s not something that you can just do nine to five.  Well, not more than nine to five, we’re talking 9 A.M. to like 12 A.M., you know?  I know some people work ridiculous hours.  They see massive results, but eventually it will take a toll on their body and you need to feel refreshed.  It’s a long-term game.  It’s a marathon.  It’s not a sprint.  I’m massive on sprints, I’m a big person that likes, you know, go hard, get everything done, be productive, but business is a marathon.  There’s no way around that.  So you’ve got to kind of plan to perfection.  You’re going to be in this game for a while.  How are you going to make it work?  How are you going to get the most out of yourself, year in, year out?  You know, that’s kind of your sprint, but then over the 10, 20, 30-year plan, how are you going to make sure you’re going to make the most money possible in your business and personally and everything like that?

[00:06:52] So, few things to think about when your planning your 2017.  These are some of the questions that I ask myself.  So hopefully it gives you guys a bit of insight and tell what you can be doing and how to plan.  If you got any questions and you want some help with this, shoot me an email or send me a message on my website or through Facebook and I’ll be happy to help.  But I think it’s critical.  If you’re not starting your goal setting now, you leave it to the last minute, it’s just going to go buried in your to-do list.

[00:07:20] So, hopefully that helps, guys.  Looking forward to a massive 2017.  Got some big things lined up and I hope that you guys do, too.  Would love to connect.  And if you guys could share this podcast, I don’t often ask for a share but if you do find my podcast valuable, then let me know and share it, because I’m not trying to build this huge, huge audience with it, but it’s kind of cool to know that there’s some people listening.  And podcasting is a weird, weird thing because a lot of people that podcast, you don’t hear them.  These people just drop to work and podcasting you don’t even know they’re there.  So, yeah, if you guys like the content, let me know.  Share around and I really appreciate that.  All right, guys, take care! I’m at the office and I’ll talk to you soon.