Five Ways Work at Home Moms Can Set New Business Goals for the New Year

As a mom who’s an entrepreneur juggling a blog and a thriving business, the end-of-the-year is special for me in more ways than one. Not only is it the perfect season to slow down, celebrate and just kick back with the family but also to sit down with pen and paper {yes, I’m old-fashioned} and jot down business goals for the next year.

While goals for every work-at-home mom will look different, there are some ways to ensure that you set the right goals for your business.

Here are the goal-setting techniques that have helped me establish successful businesses, over the last 5 years:

1. Choose Goals That Work for YOU

One of the big mistakes that I made in the early years of my work-at-home life was to choose goals that worked well for others. I would see other WAHMs aka work-at-home moms set goals that included things like, attending conferences or speaking engagements or even, tripling their income and I’d quickly put them down as my goals too. BIG mistake.

Your goals are yours. They depend on where you are in your business or work-at-home job. They depend on your family’s season of life. They depend on your unique personality.

This step is probably the hardest and will take you the longest. Spend time thinking about what’s important to you not just as a professional or businessperson but also, as a mom, home manager, wife and woman.

If it helps, think about your core values and create goals for every aspect of your life and you’ll see that everything meshes well together.

2. Commit To Your Goals

Goal-setting is not enough. You need to commit to those goals so that you can actually work on them, take action and make them happen. I commit to my goals in many ways to make sure I can’t back out later.

One, I share them on my blog for public accountability.

Next, I share them with my mentors and mastermind buddies so that they can really keep me accountable.

And finally, and most importantly, I share them with my husband and yes, my 5-year old because they’re an integral part of my work-at-home life and help keep me focused and inspired.

3. Break Goals Into Short-Term and Long-Term

Writing down a big-picture goal can seem overwhelming. Once I’ve committed to a goal, I like to break it down into short-term actions and long-term ones.

Knocking off short term goals are quicker, easier and make you feel so good about taking action. They build momentum and before you know it, you’re chipping away easily and quickly at those seemingly huge long-term goals as well. So, yes, break those goals down!

4. Measure and Track Your Goals

Goal setting isn’t just about writing down goals or taking action but also about measuring and tracking your progress and seeing how far you’ve come or how much you lag.

Life happens and there will be times when you’ll need to revisit your goals to see if they’re still in sync with what you want or need and who you are. Many times, I have dropped goals in the middle of the year because they no longer mesh well with other aspects of my life.

Measuring and tracking your goals also keeps you focused and motivated. You have something to aim for, aspire to and action.

5. Reward Yourself

My favorite part of goal-setting each year is figuring out what my rewards will be for achieving these goals. Yes, rewards are important. Sometimes, just reaching a goal is reward enough.

At other times, you need something external to celebrate with. For instance, when we tripled our newsletter list, I rewarded myself with a good book on email marketing. **smiling** Yes, it doesn’t have to be big but something meaningful to make reaching a milestone can make a difference to your motivation!

What goals will YOU be setting for your work-at-home business for the new year?

Written By: Parenting Contributor, Prerna Malik, themomwrites.com