If you want to achieve great things in life, you have to set goals, right?
But sometimes, that’s easier said than done.
We get it, but we’ll be honest with you: our industry hasn’t just changed…it’s revolutionized. Meaning setting clear, achievable annual goals is more important than ever.
But where do you start?
Today, we’re breaking down the six key steps to creating an annual plan that moves the needle forward in your life and business!
Step 1: Find your North Star
The North Star is what all of this is working towards. It is the end goal, the guiding light, the ultimate dream. It may shift slightly from year to year, but it generally remains in a fixed position.
If you’re thinking, “Well, that’s nice, but I don’t really need that,” imagine this: we give you a brand new car and tell you to drive for 2,000 miles. If you find us at the end of those 2,000 miles, we’d give you $6 million.
But here’s the catch: the car has no GPS, no map, and we didn’t tell you even what general area we’d be in.
Would you ever find us? No…because you don’t know where you’re going.
That’s how many stylists and salon owners are living right now. You’re driving the fancy car that looks great on social media, you’re doing the work, but because you’re unclear on the destination and why it matters, you’ll never get there.
That’s why the first step of setting achievable goals that push you forward is deciding your North Star.
Step 2: Set your social content strategy
Do you ever see something cool and think, “Oh, I love this. I should talk about it on Instagram”? That’s the path to popular, not profitable, because it’s easy to find topics and content that will give you a lot of likes, comments, and DMs.
Posting the content that will get you closer to your North Star is much harder. Think about how you’re using social, why you’re using the channels you use, what your messaging is on each. Then define your voice message and strategy for each platform so you don’t lose your way.
In short, having a solid social content strategy is key to every single business goal you have. Period.
Step 3: Reflect
You can’t know where you’re going until you look at where you’ve been.
As you live week-by-week in your business, you’re feeling the feelings and reacting to things as they come up, right? That’s why reflecting is so important. Using that hindsight at the end of the year to see why this broke down, why this failed, why this is the way it is.
When you actually take the time to reflect and troubleshoot, you’ll be amazed at what you discover and how, through that discovery, you can plan for a brighter tomorrow.
Step 4: Dream
Dreaming is what most people think of—and do—when it comes to goal planning.
Which is great, but it is a big, fat waste of time unless you’re going to get strategic.
So dream. Dream big. Lean into the wild, the ridiculous, the never-gonna-happen. Because in the next step, you’re going to lay the groundwork to make those impossible dreams come true.
Step 5: Strategy
You’ve probably noticed there’s been two common themes running through each of these steps: North Star and strategy. That’s because it’s impossible to have one without the other. You need strategy to get to your North Star.
If you don’t include a North Star-oriented strategy to make those dreams happen, they won’t. You don’t have the support to ensure that dream happens. But if you create the strategy, your dreams can actually come together.
Step 6: Execute
The first five goal-setting steps are important, but we’ll be honest: execution is actually what fails most people.
Have you ever been so fired up at the end of the year to start a life-changing journey…then mid-January rolls around, and it’s, “Oh, I’ll get to that later,”…then later never comes? It’s a tale as old as time, right? Or “later” comes, but you just chip away at pieces of it and never make real progress on that goal?
We’ve all been there.
Two pieces are missing when that happens: strategy and execution. But when you get strategic about execution, you can make sure it won’t all fall apart.
These six steps are crucial to creating an annual plan that helps you move forward, create the wealthy life you’ve dreamed of, and—best of all—reach that North Star.
You’ve got this, friend!
Want a little help getting started? Join Wealthiest Year Yet to get the industry’s top annual planning system today!
