Mid Year Goal Setting

We’re midway through the year and things are going pretty well. Actually, things are going great! The pet care business bubble has finally hit us. I’ve talked about the bubble in previous articles. The demand for pet care is exploding right now for three big reasons.

First, nearly everyone is itching to travel and, with restrictions being lifted and the country getting back to a little bit of normal, they are booking trips. They’ve been waiting for over a year to use those airline miles and travel vouchers that were put on hold back in March of 2020 and they can’t wait to get away for some R&R.

Second, there were record numbers of pet adoptions over the past year. This is great news for animals finding their forever homes but it’s also created a large need for pet care as people head back to the office or out to travel.

And third, unfortunately the pandemic was a very difficult time for the pet industry. Many of the smaller pet care businesses and solo pet-preneurs didn’t make it through the crisis and have closed up shop. This is leading to a deficit in the market of pet care providers at a time when the need is ramping up.

The good news is that if your business is still standing, chances are you’re seeing a LOT of new clients and new business. So today I want to talk about goals, specifically the goal setting process. I love setting goals. It’s a time to reflect and think strategically. I’m usually doing my goal setting in December for the coming year and last December was no exception. The thing is though, in December of last year we were still in a very uncertain place. The vaccine was starting to take hold but we still had a long way to go before people felt more comfortable getting out and about and we really had no idea what 2021 would bring. This made goal setting for 2021 a challenge and many of us, myself included, took a conservative approach. I assumed my business wouldn’t see the growth rates we saw before the pandemic. Or like many others, you might have figured why bother setting goals at all, 2021 is just too uncertain.

Jump forward to halfway through 2021. We’re not out of the woods (we may never be completely out of the woods) but we are in a much better place. The pet industry bubble is in full swing and the goals you set back in December may not be relevant anymore. That makes this a great time to take a midyear look at the goals you set at the beginning of the year.

If you want to take another look or even if you want to start fresh here are three easy steps to setting goals and setting yourself up to achieve them in the next 6 months.

Step 1 – Set the big picture

This is the place you want to be in 6 months. For example, you might set a goal of getting 3 new clients on average per week through 2021. Or you might make a revenue goal and say you want to be earning $10,000 revenue per month by the end of 2021. Notice in both these examples the “what” and the “when” are answered. In the first example the what is 3 new clients and the when is each week through 2021. In the second example the what is $10K in revenue and the when is the end of 2021. What you don’t see in these examples is the “how”. We’ll get to that in step 2.

Remember this is THE big picture so you don’t want more than 1 or 2 at the very most.

Step 2 – Break it up into buckets

Now that you’ve set the big picture the next step is to break it up into more digestible pieces. A handy way to do this is by month. Using our example from above or 3 new clients per week we’ll figure out the “what” that we need to accomplish each month to make that goal a reality. For example, you may say that in August you’ll complete a marketing calendar for your marketing activities. For September you may say you’ll explore paid advertising such as Facebook ads or Google paid ads. In October you may plan to locate and sign up for 2 in person marketing events.

This is where we’re starting to get into the details of the “what”. Do this for each month but be realistic, don’t load up each month so heavily that you have no hope of getting the items done. These should be high enough level goals so that you can plan for 2 to 3 at the most each month.

Step 3 – Get into the weeds

This final step is where you can and should go hog wild with the details. This is where the rubber meets the road. For each of the items you put in each month you want to put together a detailed task list to get it done. Continuing with our example:

Step 1 – 3 new clients on average per week

Step 2 – Complete a marketing calendar

Step 3 – Fill in the detail:

1. Identify who your ideal client is.
2. Research and identify what marketing vehicles you want to use to reach them (Facebook, email, Instagram, in person, etc.)
3. Create content specific to each of your marketing channels
4. Plan out on your calendar when you will be posting or distributing your content
5. ??
6. ??

The more detailed you can get with the tasks, the better. Aim for things that you can complete in one day.

Setting yearly goals is always a good idea but as we all know, things in this business change rapidly. Take a few minutes to refresh and reframe. Follow these three easy steps and you’ll have a set of achievable goals designed to move your business forward!

Another great article you might enjoy

Independent Contractor verses Employee

https://www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog/independent-contractor-v-employee-which-one-is-right-for-you/

About Eliza

Eliza is the owner of two successful pet related businesses; Preferred Pet Partners, a pet sitting and dog walking company, and The Pet Business Coach, offering coaching and resources to aspiring or current pet related business entrepreneurs. She maintains two awesome blogs. One for pet parents https://preferredpetpartners.com/blog/ and one for pet business owners https://thepetbusinesscoach.dog/blog-page/.  Eliza also supports various animal rescue and shelter organizations. Eliza and her husband have three furry family members. Visit her websites: www.preferredpetpartners.com or www.thepetbusinesscoach.dog.