Planning your 2022 Business Goals

As we enter Q1 of 2022, it’s the ideal time to prepare a strategic plan or evaluate the one you already have. This year isn’t just a new decade, in numerology the number 20 represents clarity, so what better time to build a plan of action to take your business to the next level.

The tricky part is always how to build a plan that is exciting and ambitious, but practical and realistic enough to achieve. Here are a few things to consider when putting together your 2022 business strategy.

Review 2021

We’re in a new year, but don’t forget the last 12weeks of 2020. Take some time to look at your successes and your failures and list about five things that you need to work on from the beginning of this new year. Make sure you face all your lessons and plan to work through them over the next 3 - 12 months. 

Once you’ve tackled the events of the last 12 weeks, start working on how to advance throughout this year. Ask yourself or your team for the top five things that went well and what five things you or your team would do differently. Write a list and have it centre place so you can see them every day. By having your goals in plain sight, you are able to remind yourself and tick them off as you go. This will give you the momentum you need to take on each task and make the right decisions based on the direction you have planned out.

Have a Clear Vision

It is essential to set your planning for this year with your overall vision at the forefront, this should give a lot of clarity as you work through your list. Any goals or strategies you have for 2022 must actively contribute to you achieving your vision further down the line. This offers a great goal post for preparing your work. Should your vision feel out-dated or inadequate, now is the time to shake it off and start again.

As Marie Kondo would say: “Does it bring you joy?” Ask yourself this question when you look at your overall vision. Does it excite your team and why you started in the first place?

Make Annual Goals

Decide what your three primary goals are for this year. Remember, with every goal you accomplish it should be a clear indication that you’re getting close to achieving your overall vision. It could be customer acquisition, marketing strategies or monetary. Typically goals that can be measured are easier to track making them more achievable. For instance, if your goal is to increase customer retention by 30% across 6 months, as a goal it is easier to achieve than perhaps wanting to achieve great communication with your clients.

Break down your goals 

Look at each goal individually and set a time frame to achieve them. Brainstorm a handful of strategies to bring you closer to achieving each target on your list. Breaking down each goal with their own individual strategy will increase focus and drive to ultimately realise your annual goals. If you can successfully execute each strategy across the next 12 months, you will be well on your way to making it all happen for yourself.

Build your list based on Priorities 

Executing every goal on your list at the same time would be great, but it’s not realistic. The truth is most startup teams are quite small with limited resources. Which means you will need to prioritise each goal on your list, along with the strategies you will need to implement to make them happen. List them in groups of ‘urgent’ and ‘non-urgent’. You will need to look at each task and work out whether they will compete for resources, then work out which will be labelled ‘urgent’. 

Accountability and Adjustments

If you have a team, then break your goals up into groups and assign someone who will be accountable for execution. If you’re working solo, it’s still possible to find an accountability partner within your networking circle - other solo entrepreneurs. Check-in on each other on a weekly, fortnightly or monthly basis, share your milestones and what you will need to do to complete your list by the end of the year.

Lastly, review, review, review and review again. This is to prevent your well thought out plan from ending up locked in a folder somewhere, set intermittent dates to check in on your overall vision. Additionally, remember to be open to changing and pivoting when needed as your plans for 2022 progresses.

This article was originally published in our January 2020 Print Magazine Issue.