If you’re anything like me, you love a good checklist. An organized plan to help you achieve your goals and keep you on track. And January is the time to do it as you’ve got a fresh calendar and twelve whole months ahead of you that are unwritten. So, here are a few things to avoid when planning 2023 domination.
Forgetting your baseline
We’ve all heard about making our goals measurable, which is impossible if you don’t take a sense check of where you are currently. That could mean a quick check of your POS reports so you can see your current sales levels or client count, or something more intangible like writing down how you feel about the subject and what you are trying to fix. Journaling is a great way to make something hard to measure, more concrete giving you something to reflect back on. Without a snapshot of where you are starting from, it becomes impossible to set a realistic goal that also keeps you on track as you progress.
Not involving others
When setting goals in a collaborative business like a salon, spa, or barbershop, don’t forget that you steer the ship, but your team also has ideas and desires for the year ahead. Along with annual reviews and regular one-on-ones, it’s important to be open to suggestions from the team on what is important to the future of your business. One salon in New Jersey puts an anonymous idea jar for her staff in the back room every January where team members can suggest ideas for improving the workplace. This does a few things, but most importantly it brings empathy to your leadership and makes your team feel valued, and it also improves the likelihood that any change required will be well received.
Forgetting the ‘Why’ of your goals
‘Objective’ is the fancy word for the purpose of your plan, but it’s more important than you’d think. Too often we get to the end of the path, checking all the boxes along the way, only to not feel the sense of satisfaction or see the outcome you desired. Be clear about what you expect as the result and think about how important the outcome is to you.
Overcommitting
This is the one that always gets me. Whoops! I get excited about a new project and forget about all the other stuff I do on a day-to-day basis as a business owner. Make sure to really consider how much time, resources, and investment something will take and pace yourself. Instead of retrofitting your bathrooms and your basins, stick to one or do them one at a time. Goal setting rarely needs to be everything on the buffet and doing one thing well instead of half doing three projects is always better for you overall. If you need inspiration on a few easy-to-do options to help you be more sustainable and save money in 2023, download the >>Sustainability Salon & Spa Checklist<< which has ideas from salons and spas around the world.
Giving up too early
Speaking of overcommitting, if you have already realized you’ve bit off more than you can chew, don’t be too proud to revise your goal. By implementing regular reviews of your progress helps you see if you were perhaps too ambitious, or not ambitious enough. Take a step back and be proud of what you’ve already accomplished, don’t despair if you’ve not been able to do more than you have, and double-down on a new plan that will keep you moving forward. No one is judging you for taking time to get to the finish line, so ditch the guilt and keep doing good. I guarantee people are impressed by your passion and commitment to change, no matter the time it takes.
