#111 #GirlBoss Framework Part 1: Set Bold Goals

When I asked my community to define #girlboss, I loved what some of the answers were. “Someone who is driven to do their best to guide their own destiny.” For me personally, I think of unstoppable, courageous badass women. Last week, we introduced the #girlboss framework to reclaim this idea about #girlboss and the whole reason I built a community around it. Well, for me, there's five essential parts that come up with every client I've ever worked with. We ask these types of questions and dive into these parts of their businesses. We do the strategy work around that. Today is about the very first step we have to take. We figure out where we're going, and what this looks like that we're actually building. Now, if you remember, the five pieces of the framework that we introduced last week were: Setting bold goals Embracing the numbers Loving your marketing and sales Protecting your time by building systems and processes Not letting our inner mean girl keep us small Setting Bold Goals This is week one, so I want to redefine what setting bold goals actually means. I think we often we get it wrong. It gets personified and glorified as writing things down by yourself in silence in your favorite notebook. Now, while that is super fun, (and I do have a plethora notebooks), that's not actually it. Setting bold goals is about knowing where we're driving our businesses and being able to map out the steps to actually get there. It's about guts, and it's about vision. It's about following the path that you set for this business. But today, I want to break it down further. First, I want to give you permission to not do things traditionally. You don't have to. If that's how you've grown up, then that's how you typically do it. And you're feeling like you're in a rut right now, you are not alone. We have been in the throes of COVID-19 for almost six months now. I imagine that you've probably noticed that your business has had an insane number of pivots that we definitely could not have predicted in January. The problem many business owners are experiencing is that they just wanted to throw everything away that they had planned in January, right when this pandemic happened. Setting bold goals does not have to require you to buy a pretty planner, take a whole weekend off, or tax your brain so much that you break out in hives and hate setting goals for your business.  The very first step is to evaluate where you are in your business at this very moment. Literally, right now - pause and think. What you really need to set bold goals is to be aware of where you are in your business, so that you can set goals that are important to you. They're flexible, and most importantly, they're actually doable. Bold goals require you to actually put them on paper or speak them aloud. They are the things that you really want to have happen in your business. Bold goals are in your gut. What is the thing that gets you excited at night? What gets you excited to wake up in the morning? What are you hoping, dreaming and wishing for? Where do you see yourself? That's what we actually want to be working towards. So, I want you to think about it differently. We need to make sure that we are actually setting goals that inspire us. That's the whole bold part. Looking at the goals I set for myself at the beginning of 2020, things had to drastically change when COVID-19 hit towards the end of quarter one. I had to stop and ask myself – how do I show up and move my business forward when everything is shut down? And in panic mode? How do I dive back? Based on my previous goals, what was I ultimately heading for? Even as an obsessive goal setter, I didn't go back and revisit my original plan. I even had a bunch of quarters and other things mapped out for the entire year. But, none of it became relevant anymore when the pandemic happened. Instead, I had to adopt bold moves. All four of my kids came home from school and started virtual learning. My husband came home from...

When I asked my community to define #girlboss, I loved what some of the answers were. “Someone who is driven to do their best to guide their own destiny.” For me personally, I think of unstoppable, courageous badass women. Last week, we introduced the #girlboss framework to reclaim this idea about #girlboss and the whole reason I built a community around it. Well, for me, there's five essential parts that come up with every client I've ever worked with. We ask these types of questions and dive into these parts of their businesses. We do the strategy work around that. Today is about the very first step we have to take. We figure out where we're going, and what this looks like that we're actually building. Now, if you remember, the five pieces of the framework that we introduced last week were: Setting bold goals Embracing the numbers Loving your marketing and sales Protecting your time by building systems and processes Not letting our inner mean girl keep us small Setting Bold Goals This is week one, so I want to redefine what setting bold goals actually means. I think we often we get it wrong. It gets personified and glorified as writing things down by yourself in silence in your favorite notebook. Now, while that is super fun, (and I do have a plethora notebooks), that's not actually it. Setting bold goals is about knowing where we're driving our businesses and being able to map out the steps to actually get there. It's about guts, and it's about vision. It's about following the path that you set for this business. But today, I want to break it down further. First, I want to give you permission to not do things traditionally. You don't have to. If that's how you've grown up, then that's how you typically do it. And you're feeling like you're in a rut right now, you are not alone. We have been in the throes of COVID-19 for almost six months now. I imagine that you've probably noticed that your business has had an insane number of pivots that we definitely could not have predicted in January. The problem many business owners are experiencing is that they just wanted to throw everything away that they had planned in January, right when this pandemic happened. Setting bold goals does not have to require you to buy a pretty planner, take a whole weekend off, or tax your brain so much that you break out in hives and hate setting goals for your business.  The very first step is to evaluate where you are in your business at this very moment. Literally, right now - pause and think. What you really need to set bold goals is to be aware of where you are in your business, so that you can set goals that are important to you. They're flexible, and most importantly, they're actually doable. Bold goals require you to actually put them on paper or speak them aloud. They are the things that you really want to have happen in your business. Bold goals are in your gut. What is the thing that gets you excited at night? What gets you excited to wake up in the morning? What are you hoping, dreaming and wishing for? Where do you see yourself? That's what we actually want to be working towards. So, I want you to think about it differently. We need to make sure that we are actually setting goals that inspire us. That's the whole bold part. Looking at the goals I set for myself at the beginning of 2020, things had to drastically change when COVID-19 hit towards the end of quarter one. I had to stop and ask myself – how do I show up and move my business forward when everything is shut down? And in panic mode? How do I dive back? Based on my previous goals, what was I ultimately heading for? Even as an obsessive goal setter, I didn't go back and revisit my original plan. I even had a bunch of quarters and other things mapped out for the entire year. But, none of it became relevant anymore when the pandemic happened. Instead, I had to adopt bold moves. All four of my kids came home from school and started virtual learning. My husband came home from work. He's a physical therapist and has patients who are no longer coming in for appointments. My sitter wouldn't come to my house anymore. Everything seemed upside down.So, my business goals had to drastically change like everybody else's. I had to stop and ask myself – how do I show up and move my business forward when everything is shut down? And in panic mode? How do I dive back? Based on my previous goals, what was I ultimately heading for? How do I still make those things happen? To do this, you have to be flexible and know the pulse of your business. You need to know when it's time to change tactics. It's not going to work in the same way it typically does. Because I'm not the same person I was in January, to be honest. And you aren't either. So for me, that means getting smarter with the types of clients I'm bringing on and the types of offerings I'm putting out there.  Eventually I can look back on my 2020 goals and think gosh, this year really sucked. Instead, because ultimately I know where I'm going, I know that where I'm taking my business is the same path. I'm on the same trajectory. Goal-Setting Framework It's so much easier to reinvent your business goals when you are in alignment with where you are in this moment. To get there, ask yourself these three questions: Where you are right now, in this moment?  Where are you taking your business? What strategies and tactics are you using to get there? This framework will enable you to set realistic goals.But I want to caution you not to set too many goals at one time. Identify two or three big projects in a three to four month span. That's it. If you set too many at once, you're going to get back into setting meaningless goals and lackluster things that you have no excitement about. Your business is not going to grow like it really could. So, I want you to do the things that you're thinking about in your gut right now, but you actually aren't setting as goals because it feels scary. When you feel that nudge. That's a bold goal. That's a big move that you want to be making in your business right now. Set that as one of your priorities for the next few months, and run at it with all you've got. Let's go Girlbosses! About Marketing Magic: The Marketing Magic podcast is where women entrepreneurs trying to do all the things come to get inspiration, business strategy, and on-air coaching on how to get their business noticed and growing. If you have a business that people need to know about in order for it to grow, you’re in the right place. This is the place to uncomplicate your marketing. Be sure to listen, subscribe, and leave a review! Join the conversation of other unapologetically successful women in her Facebook community, The #GirlBoss Club.