What is SMART? I saw it mentioned repeatedly, but I haven’t heard of it.
Actually - some worthwhile tips in here. (And some not so much - for me anyway.)
SMART is an acronym for:
Specific
This is the foundation of your plan. You will need to have a good foundation for your business plan. Without it, your whole business could tumble and fall. You might want have a plan to stop working in a job. But a specific plan would say you want to quit that job in 1 year’s time. Then you have something to aim for. Or you might say you want to earn money online. But a specific plan says you want to earn $100 per day and you want to reach that goal within 3 months.
Measurable
Here you need to have set a time scale to your specific plan. Remember that if you don’t reach the goal within the time scale, you can move the time scale or change the goal. Don’t quit just because in 3 months you are only earning $90 a day and not the $100 a day. Quit and you will never see the goal achieved.
Actionable
Action is always needed to see a goal fulfilled. It doesn’t matter what the goal is, unless you plan and take action it will never, ever happen. All our goals are different, and you shouldn’t be concerned about having a goal which is less than someone else’s goal. The best thing about this type of business planning is you will keep making goals. You might say this week I want to earn $100 and to do that I am going to do xxxxxx. When that is achieved then you can rewrite the goal and also the action needed.
Realistic
Being realistic is something a lot of IMer miss. I have seen many people saying that they haven’t earned any money online. Some will say they need to get money, yesterday. And they suddenly have a goal to raise $100 in a short time. If they are unable to raise any money then, this target isn’t a good goal. They might be able to do it, but it is better to be realistic when it comes to setting your goals. Don’t be like them, be realistic as you build your business plan.
Timed
This will be excellent training for you. You need to set a time for seeing your goals achieved. As a writer I have to manage my time and give client’s deadlines. I have to know what I can achieve in the weeks ahead of me. Again this is something you will learn as you go along. You might think you can write 40 articles in a day. But then you realize that each article takes 30 mins to write. That means you need to spend 20 hours writing these articles. 4 hours left for eating and sleeping.