Set Yo Goals, Make Yo Money

Photo: Kaytee Lauren

I've always been a big vision board (post coming on this!) and goal setting person. Every New Year's Day, my husband Andrew and I sit down and look over the goals we set for ourselves the previous year and plot out the goals we want to achieve in the coming year. This includes everything from professional to personal. We then stick it to the fridge and pretty much forget about them.

Since I am now in full-on business owner mode with my focus on Chic Stripes at 100% - goal setting and vision boarding has never been more important. It has been amazing to me how even the most simple goal setting, when written down intentionally, comes to life.

How 'bout I give ya'll a real life example?

I've been doing a ton of reading lately with You Are a Badass at Making Money being at the forefront. At the end of each chapter are money related exercises. Now, it's easy to dream big and want to make a million dollars, have a beach home, and travel all the time, but those lofty goals need some small action steps. And that is exactly what these exercises did. I remember one distinctly. It said, "Write down a REALISTIC monetary goal that you want to make this month." The month in question for me was August 2017 and my goal was $3,000. I wanted to replace the income I was receiving from my freelance job ($2,000) that I was quitting at the end of August. Now. Making $3,000 out of nothing compared to a semi-retainer based job seems really hard (while also attainable which is why I didn't say $10,000 K right off the bat). So where did I end up in my month goal? $3,650. WHAT THE WHAT. I don't even know how I made that honestly.

Well, actually I do.

I did a lot of the pre-prep work to position my business and services to make money (like real, real money - future post on importance of income streams coming soon!) and of course I had been out there before hand marketing, reaching out, and networking.

But the biggest thing I did was write down a number that was my goal And client prospect calls came rolling in. I had income come in from two previous month's clients, booked TWO new clients and a stand alone service. 

So now I've set my September goal for double that. Yep, $6,000. And as of the time I'm writing this - 9/5 - I've already made $1,200 of that goal with 4 prospect calls in the pipeline, 1 pending client booking, and a ton of prospects to follow up with.

I know that talking about money can be taboo - but if you dream of owning your own business or doing your own thing, then you need to get realistic about the numbers and embrace them, talking about them, make them real. $1,000 from a side hustle is great money but that is NOT going to pay the bills when you are running your own business. 

Here's to BHAGs (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) - that always start with realistic, achievable steps.