Solopreneurs are often the first to create lofty goals that push them to the limit, but have you ever considered how effective those goals are at actually helping you achieve them?

We've all heard about SMART goals (those that are specific, measurable, aggressive, relevant, and time-bound), but there's one more element that can make them even more effective for you as a solopreneur, and that's to make them meaningful to you.

It's common for entrepreneurs and small business owners to lay out arbitrary financial targets, like making $100,000 per year, and think that that's enough to keep them focused and moving forward.  Granted, it's a challenging goal that's aggressive and still within reach, but what is $100,000?  Does that really mean anything to you?  Can you say, specifically, how to go about getting $100,000 today?

You have to break down financial goals into metrics that are actually meaningful.  Money, to our minds, is arbitrary.  It has no meaning, but if you talk hours or number of clients, all of a sudden, there's meaning.  By focusing on things you can wrap your mind around, you create actionable steps and metrics that are able to move you toward the financial goal.

I'll use my own business as an example.  Say I wanted to make x dollars per year.  I need to break that down into goals that are meaningful to me, so in my business, I have three primary sources of revenue - Upstart Smart (the game), Brown Bug Project (web projects), and writing (paid writing gigs).  Therefore, I have three "rings" that I have to "jump into" each day.

If I break down my financial goal, I know that Upstart Smart contributes about half of my income, and my web projects and writing gigs contribute the other half.  When I break it down even further, I can see exactly what that means to me.

• I need x number of players for the upcoming Upstart Smart game.
• I need x number of hours of web work for the upcoming month.
• I need x number of articles for the upcoming week.

This gives me something real, something concrete to track and work toward.  If you asked me how much money I made this week from writing, I would have to think about it, but if you asked me how many articles I've written, I could tell you that right off the top of my head.  Both metrics are important, but one is more meaningful to me.  If I hit either of them, I succeed at achieving my goal, but by concentrating on the one that's most meaningful to me, I'm more likely to reach it.

Think about it.  In your business, what numbers mean something to you?  Is it number of clients, number of jobs, number of readers or subscribers?  Is it articles, words, or posts?  What numbers make most sense to you AND give you a clear target to keep in your sights?

Image from Flickr by ogimogi