Jean Noisette, owner of Atlanta-based Dazzle Me Parties, who uniquely carved a niche with her brand, has garnered widespread attention from celebrities to cable networks like VH1. She has shared with us 10 goals every entrepreneur should set.
CREATE BUSINESS OBJECTIVES
This is vital to the success of your brand. Setting clear, measurable and realistic objectives can help entrepreneurs avoid the pitfalls of failure. The reality is a business is lost without effective goals and strategies.
SET A BUDGET
Writing a financial plan enables you to meet quarterly and yearly sales goals and help determine whether your business is thriving or barely surviving. It also serves as a tool to provide calculations on the costs versus value over time in evaluating your break-even point and return on investment (ROI).
BUILD A TRIBE
Make time to network with like-minded people who understand the complexities of life as an entrepreneur. You’re going to need someone who can listen and provide constructive criticism and feedback.
SET FIRM DATES
Regularly check in with employees, because sustaining a solid team is beneficial. Provide adequate training, and keep your employees up to date with customer service goals, feedback and process improvements. This encourages teamwork.
UNDERSTAND THE MARKETPLACE
Use social media as a tool to build a strong online presence. If you plan, strategize and execute well, social media can broaden your reach and generate buzz.
WORK-LIFE BALANCE
Although work-life balance is very difficult to achieve, you have to make it a priority to practice self-care. Long days, early nights and stressful moments can take a toll on your mental, physical and emotional well-being. Work-life balance does not happen naturally. It is something that you have to create.
GET A MENTOR
Establishing a relationship with a mentor, inside or outside of your field, will prove fruitful in many ways. A mentor is a motivational driving force to help you succeed beyond your greatest dreams. My mentor encouraged me to continue honing my skill set. If you currently don’t have a mentor, I strongly urge you to make it a priority to pursue mentorship.
IDENTIFY BENCHMARKS
Determining small benchmarks to measure your success can help you better appreciate the big picture. Success and notoriety don’t happen over night, but the minor victories build the framework leading up to your goals in 5 to 10 years.
LEARN FROM MISTAKES
Study past mistakes and learn from them. No one wants to revisit a failure, but it’s important to understand how something didn’t work and improve to prevent it from happening again.
GET PAID
Set a goal to include yourself on the payroll. As entrepreneurs, we invest all we have in building our business and neglect to pay ourselves, even a small stipend. When building an overall budget, incorporate a line item for you.
Words by Ailene Torres.