Table of Contents
Establishing Goals and Milestones
All this talk of business-planning documents and SWOT analyses may be making your head spin, and you’re forgiven if you find yourself glossing over them in your rush to make a tangible start on your own business. However, I strongly advise that you take an instant to write down some easy goals and then define some milestones. goals and milestones
Goal-setting helps filter all of the thousands of thoughts and ideas you have into a list that’s far more manageable. High achievers in each field from sports to business systematically recommend that goal-setting is an invaluable part of the method. Goals can help you define your objectives, help you to understand what’s important to you, motivate you towards achievement, and build your self-confidence. goals and milestones
Goals and Milestones
THE SKILLS REQUIRED FOR BEING A GREAT FREELANCER
Find goal-setting is most useful in distinguishing what’s vital and what’s unsuitable. This helps me focus on what really is crucial to me, and offers me the freedom to pay less time on the remainder.
SMART
Many people use the acronym sensible when making goals, also as for alternative project management strategies. SMART stands for:
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Specific: is the description of the goal precise?
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Measurable: do you explain how you will measure results?
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Attainable: is it possible to achieve, with some effort?
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Realistic: do you have the power to control the results?
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Timely: do you have a deadline for the goal?
The reasoning behind sensible holds that an imprecise goal is a nearly useless goal. As an example, say I am required to win a lot of projects; I could outline a goal as, “Get a lot of web site projects.” Sure, this is higher than nothing, however how much more inspiring would it be if I modified it to mention, “Win 5 additional website projects this quarter.”
See the difference? I’ve been specific (I wish to win additional more); I’ve been measurable (I wish 5 more within the next 3 months); my goal is possible (who couldn’t win 5 projects in 3 months?); my goal is realistic (I understand I can deliver 5 projects within that time), and it’s timely (it has a three-month deadline). goals and milestones
Setting an excellent goal ought to challenge and stimulate you. If I downsized my goal of winning one project in the next two months, I’d be more likely to slack off. It additionally needs to be realistic, though, so some not possible expectations of obtaining 10 projects in 3 months would set up nearly certain failure. It’s a good idea to limit yourself to just a handful of short-term and medium-term goals writing an exhaustive list of everything you would like to complete prior to your death is a sure way to demotivate yourself. goals and milestones
Now, once we think of milestones, we ordinarily recall a large internet project we’ve been involved in. consider a milestone as a landmark towards your longer-term goals.
A typical milestone is to understand a scenario where you’re earning over your current salary within a year of going solo. There are some smaller milestones you’ll be able to place along the way to see how you’re shaping up. goals and milestones
The first milestone would be having the ability to pay yourself enough to survive. Let’s say that’s about half what you earn these days. Set a milestone based upon how long you suspect it should take to reach this point—it may be a month, or maybe 3 months, betting on your scenario.
Now, let’s consider your return on investment, which is at first to reclaim all of those start-up prices involved in your transition to the freelance life. These vary, of course, from person to person, but you must have a plan of how long this would take. goals and milestones
The third milestone is that of bringing home the same salary as you currently earn. Will this take six months, or 9 months, or maybe longer?
Write down your milestones and refer to them over the coming months you’ll be surprised how quickly you reach them, exceed them, and find yourself setting more goals for future success!
This post contains the content of book The Principles of Successful Freelancing By Miles Burke below is a link of the complete book The Principles of Successful Freelancing