While many New Year’s resolutions focus on lifestyle and personal habits, entrepreneurs and business owners often have different goals in mind.
If you’ve ever set a goal, be it at the start of a new year or any other time of the year, you may have noticed that the pursuit of longer-term goals often fizzles fast. There is one primary reason why this happens: unsustainability!
The Weight Loss Resolution
Let’s say your goal is to lose 20 pounds (9.072 kilograms) by April. However, you work ten hours daily, care for your family for three hours, and need eight hours of rest and sleep. Right? This pattern has been your life for as long as you can remember. You might think, “That leaves me three hours each day to work out and meal prep. This is doable.”
However, the reality is that in addition to time, you need a supportive family, a conducive schedule and budget for buying healthy food options and gym equipment or a membership, and time to drive to and from work, the market, and the gym. But most importantly, you need the energy and willpower to do this a certain number of days per week for the next three months without neglecting your other needs and priorities.
The Revenue Resolution
For entrepreneurs, it’s as easy to fall into this same trap. For example, we might set a goal to increase our revenue by 10%. “All signs” point to this being very achievable. We have the advertising budget, a good strategy, and even the human resource capacity. Yet, sustainability evades us. The level of complexity we didn’t consider, the fires we don’t yet know we have to put out, the budget overages we didn’t anticipate, and personal problems that steal our time and drive. And just like that, the goal becomes as empty as a weight loss resolution.
While we can’t eliminate all the variables that impede our progress toward sustainability, we can make our goals more sustainable.
Implement Flexible Strategies
Our weight loss resolver might consider the difficulty and build in flexibility and a weight loss range rather than hard-fast rules and objectives and consider what they’ll do when a gym trip is not feasible.
Likewise, the entrepreneur should create an environment of flexibility, reduce complexity, and create conditions that allow for quick adaptation to changing conditions and new information. Additionally, using automation in repetitive processes that will help achieve increased revenue can free up time and eliminate many problems that are likely to arise with human resource capacity.
Is Your Plan To Achieve Your Business Goals Adaptable?
Ask yourself, “Can my plan work if all my employees catch a contagious stomach bug that shuts down the office for a week? What can I do to ensure it does?” “Can it work if one of my children or I become sick and I cannot work full-time for some time?” “Will it work if the budget is shorter than expected for a few months?” “Will it work with the number of staff I currently have, or will we have to hire new people to meet the demand I anticipate?”
Our goals are a great starting point, but developing and implementing a practical, flexible, and thoughtful strategy and eliminating as many potential hurdles as possible make our goals sustainable.
The more difficult a goal is to achieve, the more likely we'll miss the mark. Make it as doable as possible.
Deshina Buck, CEO @ Stratinuity & Biz Ops Rranda Tweet
Applying the rules of sustainability
Sustainability results from three primary ingredients: Strategy, Simplicity, and Supportive Mechanisms such as built-in flexibility, practicality in planning, effective tools, adequate resources, and people and skill sets that support the goals.
That said, here are the top three New Year’s resolutions goal categories on many entrepreneurs’ minds for 2024 and ways Biz Ops Rwanda can make your goals more sustainable and achievable.
📈 Growth Goals:
- Increase Revenue and Profitability: LevelUp's powerful marketing tools and data-driven insights help you attract more customers, convert leads, and boost sales: no more guesswork, just laser-focused action for maximum impact.
- Attract and Retain Top Talent: Manage and automate your hiring and team communication seamlessly with LevelUp. Create a thriving business culture that keeps your A-players happy and engaged.
- Expand into New Markets: LevelUp gives you the tools to reach a global audience and tailor your marketing materials to those audiences with ease. The world is your oyster!
⏳ Efficiency Goals:
- Automate the Grind: Free yourself from repetitive tasks with LevelUp's automation features. Schedule appointments, send emails, and manage projects, all on autopilot. Focus on what you do best while Biz Ops Rwanda and LevelUp handle the rest.
- Make Data-Driven Decisions: Don't fly blind! LevelUp equips you with comprehensive analytics and reporting so you can understand what's working and what's not. Make informed decisions based on real data, not just gut feelings.
- Delegate and Collaborate: LevelUp makes it easy to assign tasks, track progress, and communicate with your team in real-time—no more playing email tag or chasing down updates.
⚖️ Work-Life Balance Goals:
- Schedule Downtime: LevelUp helps you manage your work time effectively to take those well-deserved breaks without feeling guilty. Schedule your vacations, set boundaries, and maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Build Your Support Network: Connect with other entrepreneurs and industry experts through LevelUp's built-in community features. Share tips, learn from each other, and build a network of support that will help you thrive.
LevelUp isn’t just about another platform. Biz Ops Rwanda is your success partner, rocket fuel for growth, and secret sauce for slaying those business goals. And for a limited time, you can Level Up your business success resolutions for half the price!
Get 50% off all of 2024 on LevelUp plans and business, marketing, and development services now! Just click the button below.
Cheers to a year of sustainable progress, growth, and success! Let’s ditch the fads and Level Up together