Most business owners we’ve met are achievers. They’re in it to win it, and they’ve always got a set of goals in mind that they’re shooting for.
The thing is, if you’re like us, you can get REALLY particular about the things you care a lot about… you know, like your goals for your business. It’s easy to spend wayyyyyy too much time on our goals, to pick them to pieces and put them back together, to worry, worry, worry about getting them juuuuuuuuust right.
You’ve got a clear vision for where you want your business to go, but here’s a little secret: your goals don’t have to be super detailed to work!
Goals aren’t the time to get into the nitty-gritty of how you’ll achieve them. It’s better to think of them as a huge target that keeps you moving in the right direction and focused on the future. That’s it.
If you start allowing your goals to be messy, you can focus that highly strategic, highly granular mindset on the thing it needs to be most focused on—the strategies that will actually help you reach those big ole’ goals.
But messy only works when it’s done consciously as part of an overarching plan—that’s where the Vision Value Model™ comes into play.
The Vision Value Model™
Let’s start with the basics of our proprietary model for helping businesses develop marketing strategies that really work: the Vision Value Model™. Think of it as your roadmap to success, helping you focus on what truly matters:
- Vision: where are you and your business going in the next 5–10 years? This should be guiding every decision you make
- Values: what matters most to you? What will you protect as you grow? These are the non-negotiables that we break into 4 major categories called PiPP:
- People
- Impact
- Process
- Profit
- Goals: what do you want to accomplish in the next 12 months? These are your immediate targets
- Next Steps: develop a strategy that aligns with your vision and protects your values. This is where the rubber meets the road
By keeping these components in mind, you can ensure that every step you take is aligned with your long-term vision and values.
Embracing Messy Goals
Let’s talk about being messy.
We spend way too much time trying to perfect our goals, worrying about getting every detail just right. But here’s the thing: goals are meant to be big, bold targets that keep you moving forward. They’re not where you get lost in the weeds of how you’ll get there—that’s what your strategy is for.
Messy goals have 5 key characteristics:
- Mission-Aligned: goals should support your long-term vision and values (PiPP)
- Exponential & Earnest: ambitious yet pursued with dedication
- Sifted From the Heap: focus on 1–3 core goals, filtering out the less important ones
- Simple & Memorable: easy to remember and guide daily decisions
- Uniquely Yours: tailored to your specific needs and circumstances
Let’s break these down a little more.
Mission-Aligned
First and foremost, your goals should be mission-aligned. This means they support where you’re going long-term and keep you on track to your vision. Your goals might also protect what you value most about your business.
For many of our clients, goals around process building help support their vision of spending less time in the business day-to-day while maintaining consistency and quality.
Exponential & Earnest
One reason we don’t focus on SMART goals is that we like to challenge ourselves to think outside of what feels attainable today.
But remember, setting arbitrarily huge goals doesn’t mean much if you don’t have the dedication and discipline to go after them. It’s all about believing in the impossible and working diligently to make it happen.
Sifted From the Heap
Sometimes, when you sit down to work on your strategy, you end up with a massive list of goals. But the truth is, you can’t have a whole page of priorities. You need to sift through the heap and pick the 1–3 goals that truly matter.
Think of it as panning for gold—you want all the dirt to fall through and leave you with just a couple of valuable nuggets.
It’s easy to focus on KPIs, but KPIs aren’t goals. These are just data points that show the direction you’re moving in. Hitting a KPI isn’t a goal—the result of hitting that KPI could be though.
Simple & Memorable
If you asked every person in your business what your goals are for this year, how many would know?
Would you even know?
Complexity can make goals pretty useless. They should be simple enough that everyone can remember them. Simple goals are easier to keep in mind and guide daily activities. Aim to state your business goals in just a couple of sentences.
Uniquely Yours
Your goals should be as unique as your fingerprint. They need to reflect your business’s unique needs, strengths, and aspirations. They’re yours! You can set them however high or low you want.
Don’t be afraid to set goals that are different from the norm. After all, what works for one business might not work for another.
Struggling to Set Goals (or Even Worse, to Reach Them)? We Can Help
Some people love setting goals and creating strategies, some people don’t. And if you’re like most business owners, you’re not a marketing person—you’re really, really good at something else (which is why you built a business doing it in the first place).
If this is the kind of stuff you’d rather leave to the experts, we can help.
We’ll create a marketing strategy for you that uses our proprietary Vision Value Model™, including marketing SOPs designed to be used by any marketing professional.
It’ll be customized to your unique goals for your business and your future, no matter how big or “small” they are.
Learn more about the Vision Value Model™ here.
What Are Your MESSY Goals?
Tell us about your MESSY goals and we’ll check in with you in 3 months to see how your progress is going!