02 May Why You Need Metrics to Accomplish A Goal
This month, people all throughout the world are committed to “New Year’s Resolutions” -goals for themselves- personal, professional or otherwise. But the first step in creating an effective goal, so often overlooked, is determining challenging but possible, measurable metrics.
A dream without a goal is just a wish.
Don’t just dream or wish, make it happen, with a SMART metrics-driven professional goal. Yesterday, I shared exactly how I’m going to make my goal happen. Here, I spoke with 11 young leaders from the Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC), asking them each:
What is your personal, metrics-driven resolution or goal for 2014?
1. Increase Sales by 25 to 50 Percent
I always strive for continued growth, and we have a bunch of big initiatives planned for 2014 that we think could really move the top line.
Josh Weiss, Founder and President, Bluegala
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2. Have 52 Lunches With Interesting People
While running a business in which most of my communication happens through email or phone, I sometimes forget there is a world outside of the virtual world. To combat my tendency to be a social hermit, I am committing myself to have at least one in-person lunch meeting each week. I am targeting potential mentors, mentees, investors and other interesting people.
- Lawrence Watkins, Founder & CEO, Great Black Speakers
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3. Make 10 Sales Calls Per Week
Our main focus in 2014 is to grow our revenue. We have great licenses such as MLB, and we have customized products for major brands such as Google, Sega and MailChimp. I am running corporate sales for our business and shy away from calling folks because email feels safer. I know that sales is personal, though, so I have set a goal to call at least 10 prospects per week.
Aaron Schwartz, Founder and CEO, Modify Watches
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4. Read One Book Every Two Weeks
There is so much incredible information written for entrepreneurs and company builders, but sometimes as founders, it’s hard for us to make time to read. I want to enrich my mind and expand my creativity this year by reading non-fiction and fiction books — one book every two weeks. If I can meet this goal in 2014, then I know I will emerge as a better person.
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5. Sleep and Exercise Regularly
I want to sleep
eight hours per night
and work out one hour per day.
Jordan Fliegel, Founder & CEO, CoachUp
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6. Bring on 100 New Customers
It’d be great to bring on some new customers in 2014 and see our business continue to grow. Nothing is a better indicator of success than more happy customers.
Russ Oja, Co- Founder, Seattle Windows and Construction
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7. Write One Million Words
Although my goal is both personal and professional, I’ve committed to making sure that my writing is my central focus in 2014. It’s not an impossible goal, but I will need to write about 3,000 words every day of the year.
Thursday Bram, Consultant, Hyper Modern Consulting
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8. Double Our MQLs
I want to double our marketing qualified leads in 2014. We’re re-launching our website, adding tons of new content and driving larger businesses to our expanding sales team. This is the single biggest lever we have for our business, and I’m excited to see our marketing team succeed!
Ryan Buckley, COO & Co-founder, Scripted, Inc.
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9. Be a Thought Leader
I want to write one book and present at at least four conferences, thereby becoming a thought leader. The only way to help is to share.
Kuty Shalev, CEO , Clevertech
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10. Double Our Site Traffic in 2014
My goal for 2014
is to double our site’s
traffic and revenue.
Sarah Schupp, CEO & Founder, UniversityParent
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11. Maintain CMRGP
Our company’s compass metric is cumulative monthly recurring growth profit, or CMRGP. As we grow, it’s become increasingly difficult to keep this number growing at the same rate. Each month, we have to do more in sales to keep the number stable. If we could keep the same growth number at the end of 2014, I think we’d all be very excited about that.
Liam Martin, Co-Founder, Staff.com
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These represent different goals, but they’re all similar in that they have specific metrics attached. My professional goals in 2014 include writing 100 articles, publishing 1 more book and leading our newest company to triple in size. My personal goal is to remain within 3 pounds of my goal weight each month. What is your personal, metrics-driven resolution or goal for 2014? How will you get there? Please let me know in the Comments section below!
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