Reverse Engineer Your Creative Business Goals

English

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Have you ever written out exactly what you want your creative business to look like in the future?

If you haven’t, you’ll gain a lot from doing this exercise. Stick with me.

About one month ago, I sat down and wrote out exactly what I wanted my business to look like in one year. I included sales goals, how I would spend my time, what services and products I would offer, how I would market my stuff, and how I would be seen by my target market. I included every detail I could think of and it ended up being about 3 pages long typed.

Then, I spent time thinking about the picture I had painted for my business and the steps that I would need to take to get there. I listed every task that I would need to accomplish to make that painted picture a reality.

For instance, one of my goals is to grow my email newsletter list to 10,000 subscribers. So, I listed content that I would put together to offer specifically to my email list to grow it, and I’ve started to put some of it together. I had an entire task list devoted to this one goal.

Next, I started scheduling all of those tasks. I want to make sure that my daily to-do lists lead me to reach my creative goals. Since I’ve done this, I’ve seen more success with my creative business, and can see that many of these creative dreams will actually come true. I might not reach all of them within a year, but I’m much more likely to reach them, because I’m working towards these goals daily.

So, here’s how you can do this, too:

1. Take a notebook and pen somewhere inspiring and peaceful. Sit and write all of your creative dreams and business goals. Think big. Write down everything that comes to mind even if it seems impossible. You want to be a New York Times bestseller? Write it down. You want to sell 15 products a day? Write it down.

2. Now that you’ve done some dreaming, think about what you can realistically accomplish by this time next year. You might not be able to become a New York Times bestseller if you’ve never written a book, but you might be able to take a writing course, write a book proposal, and find an agent. Push your boundaries a little, but don’t set overly crazy goals.

3. Head back to your computer and write an entire picture of what you want your business to look like one year from now. Try to think of everything. Do you want to have an assistant who packages and ships your products for you? Do you want to take the weekends off? Do you want to have enough money to hire an accountant and someone to clean to your house? Do you want to double your sales? Do you want to be featured in magazines? If so, which ones? How much time do you want to spend creating each day?

4. Look at the picture that you’ve painted, and reverse engineer it. Get extremely specific. For example, if you want to be featured in Somerset Studios, you need to write down the steps you need to take to make that happen.

5. Schedule those specific tasks. It won’t happen unless you make room for it to happen. You can say, “I want to be featured in Somerset Studios.” But, it’s not likely to happen if you don’t submit your work.

When you’ve gotten clear on your goals and figured out how to make them a reality, you’ll feel more focused and you’ll be more likely to reach them.

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April BowlesAbout April
April Bowles-Olin helps creative entrepreneurs turn their dreams into reality through her website, Blacksburg Belle, where she writes about marketing, blogging, and increasing business success. She uses her background in psychology to help creatives reach their goals, take charge of their inner critic, and build businesses around their dream lifestyles.

Italiano

Organizer set  Reverse Engineer Your Creative Business GoalsOrganizer set by Bubbo on Etsy

DECODIFICA GLI OBIETTIVI DEL TUO BUSINESS CREATIVO

Hai mai scritto come vuoi che sia il tuo business creativo nel futuro?

Se non lo hai fatto, ne guadagnerai molto da questo esercizio. Ascolta.

Circa un mese fa, mi sono seduta e ho scritto esattamente come vorrei che il mio business diventasse nel giro di un anno. Ho incluso obiettivi di vendite, come vorrei spendere il mio tempo, quali servizi e prodotti vorrei offrire, come vorrei mettere i miei prodotti nel mercato e come vorrei essere vista dal mio target di mercato.
Ho incluso ogni dettaglio a cui potevo pensare ed è finita col diventare una lista di 3 pagine digitate.

Poi, ho speso del tempo a pensare all’immagine che avevo dipinto per il mio business e i passi di cui avevo bisogno per arrivarci. Ho creato una lista di tutti i compiti che avrei dovuto portare a termine per rendere quest’immagine dipinta, una realtà.

Per esempio, uno dei miei obiettivi è far crescere la lista degli iscritti alla mia newsletter a 10,000. Perciò ho fatto una lista dei contenuti che dovrei creare specficatamente da offrire agli iscritti per far si che aumentino, e ho iniziato a metterne insieme qualcuno. Avevo un’ intera lista di compiti unicamente dedicata a quest’unico obiettivo.

Dopo, ho iniziato a programmare tutti questi compiti. Voglio essere sicura che la mia “lista giornaliera delle cose da fare” (to do list), mi porti a raggiungere i miei obiettivi creativi. Da quando ho fatto questo, ho constatato più successo nel mio business, e ho visto che molti di questi sogni creativi si sono effettivamente avverati.
Potrei non raggiungerli tutti entro un anno, ma in questo modo è molto più probabile che li raggiunga, perché mi impegno tutti i giorni su di essi.

Perciò, ecco come puoi farlo anche tu:

1. Prendi un notebook e una penna e mettiti in un posto pacifico e che ti da ispirazione. Siediti e scrivi tutti i tuoi sogni creativi e gli obiettivi del tuo business. Pensa in grande. Scrivi qualunque cosa ti venga in mente anche se sembra impossibile. Vuoi essere un bestseller nel New York Times? Scrivilo. Vuoi vendere 15 prodotti al giorno? Scrivilo.

2. Ora che hai sognato un pò, pensa a cosa puoi realisticamente raggiungere entro un anno da ora. Potresti non essere in grado di diventare un besteller del New York Times se non hai mai scritto un libro, ma potresti essere in grado di seguire un corso di scrittura, scrivere una proposta di libro, e di trovare un agente. Spingi un pò i tuoi confini, ma non impostare obiettivi eccessivamente pazzi.

3. Torna al tuo computer e scrivi un immagine completa di come vuoi che sia il tuo business a un anno da ora. Cerca di pensare a ogni cosa. Vuoi avere un assistente che fa i pacchetti e spedisce i tuoi prodotti per te? Vuoi essere libera nei week end? Vuoi avere abbastanza soldi da assumere un commercialista e qualcuno che pulisca la tua casa? Vuoi duplicare le tue vendite? Vuoi comparire in delle riviste? Se si, quali? Quanto tempo vuoi dedicare ogni giorno alla creazione dei tuoi prodotti?

4. Guarda l’immagine che hai appena dipinto, e decodificala. Sii estremamente specifico.Per esempio, se vuoi comparire su Somerset Studios, hai bisogno di scrivere i passi che ti servono per farlo accadere.

5. Programma quei specifici compiti. Non accadrà finché non crei lo spazio per farlo accadere. Puoi dire, “Voglio comparire su Somerset Studios”, ma è molto probabile che non accada se non presenti loro i tuoi lavori.

Quando sei stato chiaro a riguardo dei tuoi obiettivi e hai capito come trasformarli in realtà, sarai più focalizzato e avrai più possibilità di raggiungerli.

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April BowlesChi è April
April Bowles-Olin aiuta gli imprenditori creativi a far diventare i loro sogni realtà attraverso il suo sito, Blacksburg Belle, dove scrive di marketing, blogging, e di come aumentare il successo della vostra attività. Usa il suo background in psicologia per aiutare i creativi a raggiungere i loro obiettivi, a prendere atto del loro senso critico, e costruire un’attività plasmata sullo stile di vita che sognano.

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14 comments to Reverse Engineer Your Creative Business Goals
  • What’s up to all, it’s in fact a good for me to visit this
    website, it consists of priceless Information.

  • mich

    wow… brilliant… I have to do that tonight. thanks. I always wanted to have a blog. I have a blog but I have never made any content. *sigh* still afraid, I guess…:( but I have to start now. Thanks

    • You should Mitch! Set some goals and take action!
      If you have a big passion, you will be able to see things become more clear only working on it (mistakes and fears included) :)

  • BRILLIANT!!! Another great post by April.
    Thanks Irene for having such a WIZ in the creative World on your Blog!
    HUGS
    Char.x

    • Hey Char, what a beautiful comment! Thank you for stopping by!

      Reading your words give me the energy and the enthusiasm to keep on filling IB with all the things that can be useful and helpful for your creative business.

      I’ll do my best :)

      Thank you!

  • This post is just what I needed to read. I’ve not got a crafty business yet, but that is my dream. This will still help me get there.

    Thanks so much!

    • Hey Kelly, happy to hear your “voice” here on IB!
      I know that if you’re planning to get a crafty business, these tips will be helpful to find your own goals and the tasks to accomplish them.

      Please, I’d love to hear how your project is evolving. Stay in touch!

  • I like this post !
    Because I think that it is necessary to stay in touch with its project. To define the purposes to reached and how to reach them. For me it is also a good way to understand really its project and thus of being perfectly in agreement with it.

    I indeed think that her own personality guides the way of finding methods to reach her objectives.
    We all have a different potential and an originality for have success even when for example we have not necessarily the good cards in his game. For example not enough money to open immediately her shop (it is my case). But finally I try to use this waiting time to cultivate my ideas.
    And I hope that I shall soon be in the case to say I want to increase my sales!

    • You’re right to use this time to cultivate your ideas!
      Don’t forget then, that the next step is to take action! :)

      Thanks for your precious feedback. Your thoughts on the topic are really appreciated.
      Good luck with your project!

  • Sam

    That is the best advice and so timely for me right now! I’ve just finished putting together a vision board, so with this reverse engineer exercise I think I’ll be pretty unstoppable! Fantastic motivation, thank you ;)

    • Happy it’s been motivating!
      ehehehe and yes, you can be definitely unstoppable! :D

      I think this exercise is a gem. We should keep it in mind always, making it the base of our journey.

      Thanks for your comment Sam! :)

  • You always have great things to say, April. I really appreciate the idea of reverse engineering and I can definitely see how that can help me with my goals for the next year.

    • Hi Erika, thanks for your feedback.
      I must say that “decomposing” goals in smaller tasks it a thing that’s is really helping me SO much.
      And this April’s article is inspiring as always!

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