My 10 Freelance Design Business Goals + Tips for Setting Yours ...

Your design business will DIE without solid goals. April?s new post today is a must-read for any designer who hopes to get anywhere in business.

After April shared such a great personal experience about naming her design business (read here), I asked her to write more great content with personal stories and experience.

If you enjoy posts like this one, be sure to tweet, like, +1 and comment to show April your support. Enjoy!
-Preston

I hope you?re not tired of hearing about my freelance business just yet because today I?m going to share with you not only my first 10 business goals for Greer Genius, but also tips for how to develop and set your own freelance design business goals.

By now I?m sure you know that I purchased Preston?s ebook, From Passion to Profit, shortly after it was published in 2011.

The first chapter talks about setting business goals, but I wasn?t sure exactly what type of goals I needed to set, so I first thought about the criteria involved in setting good, attainable, measurable business (not design) goals.

Below, you?ll find my goal-setting criteria. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment!

My Goal-Setting Criteria

Be specific. Goals need to be specific so that you know when you?ve achieved them ? and so that you can?t cut corners.

How do you measure ?doing well? or ?a lot of business??

I knew my goals had to have specific, measurable details so that I could check them off (and set new goals!).

A healthy mix of short-term, long-term and ongoing. If I only set long-term goals, it?s easy for me to get discouraged.

If I only set short-term goals, I?m not really thinking far enough ahead to sustain a business.

Some people stop there, but I wanted ongoing goals too: something that could never really be checked off, but that would be a timeless bar of achievement I?ve set for my business now and in the future.

If I really want Greer Genius to be successful 5-10 years (and more!) down the road, I?d better start thinking now about how to get there, and how to stay on track when the going gets hectic.

Fulfill the following categories

• Income Level: I have a standard of living I?d like to continue to pursue, and I need income to be able to sustain that lifestyle (I promise you, it?s not extravagant.).

  I needed to determine what ?successful? meant to me right now in terms of dollars.

• Acquiring New Business: I can?t grow my business without new clients, so I knew some of my goals needed to pertain to finding them.
• Organization: I hate (HATE!) being the designer that is always behind, that others are always waiting on, that has to push back the deadline, that isn?t prepared.

  Whether its on client projects or my own internal administration, I?ve worked for two companies that operated on a last-minute (and subsequently high-stress) policy daily, and Greer Genius, to the best of my ability, isn?t going to operate like that.

  I needed some goals to quantify exactly how I am going to stay organized.

• Good Business Policies: It sounds silly that I?d need a goal to prevent me from doing something I know isn?t a good idea, but how many times do you eat a third cookie when you know you shouldn?t?

  I needed a goal that locked me into never, not even once, letting good business practices slide.

• Paying it Forward: No man is an island, and neither is a business. If you want your community to support you, you must support your community.

  I wanted at least one goal related to doing good for a cause, non-profit, or organization I believe in.

Be a little scary.

Yep, that?s right.

I wanted to write some goals that I was afraid might be a little bit far-fetched and out of reach. My goals can?t be too easy or I?ll never push myself to find that source of passive income, start up a blog, write an ebook, or learn how to program mobile apps.

Then I got to work.

Armed with my criteria, I sat down with my archaic tools ? a pen and a notebook ? and developed my goals for Greer Genius.

My 10 Business Goals for Greer Genius

1. I will make $50,000 gross income in one year. (Long-term)
2. No one client of mine will make up more than 20% of my income. (Ongoing)
3. I will spend at least 12 hours a week marketing my business. (Ongoing)
   1. Originally, I started with 5 hours as a short-term goal. After talking with my business consultant and easily meeting this quota, I set a new goal. (You should really look into getting a mentor too.)
      
4. I will devote up to 2 days (16 hours) of time per month to charity design. (Ongoing)
5. I will average one new letter of interest/response for quote need per day. (Ongoing)
6. I will earn $5,000 gross income in passive income in one year. (Long-term)
7. I will keep my business money separate from my personal money, and my financial records will be in order and ready for my accountant for April 15. (Ongoing)
8. I will have a business website/blog/portfolio with at least 1,000 monthly visitors on average. (Short-term in setting up website/blog/portfolio, ongoing in visitation)
   1. Originally, it was the short-term goal of finding my business name. Short-term ? Achieved!
9. I will never, ever do work without a contract or written agreement. (Ongoing)
10. I will have an active client for over 5 years. (Long-term)

As you can see, I like ongoing goals.

Ones that I can continually measure Greer Genius against to see if I measure up to the standards I?ve set for my business.

These also function similar to short-term goals in that I follow many of them on a daily or weekly basis.

Also, I felt that these goals met my criteria. Number 7 probably ought to be 7a and 7b, so I cheated a little and shimmied two goals together.

Overall, though, I like how many compliment one another and form a foundation for Greer Genius? success.

What do you think?

Do you have business goals of your own you?d like to share? Leave a comment on this post and share with me some of your goals for your design business.

This post was written exclusively for GDB by?April Greer : April is a freelance graphic/web designer with over 10 years of industry experience. She has both considerable knowledge of the printing industry and fluency in multiple web languages, a rare combination of creative expertise and technical savvy. April prides herself not only on producing top quality design but also on her excellent customer service with a cheerful, professional personality.
To contribute a guest post to GDB, click here.

Source: http://www.graphicdesignblender.com/my-10-freelance-design-business-goals-and-tips-for-setting-yours

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