Small Law Firms

How To Effectively Use Goal Setting To Grow Your Business

The people who really slay their year are working on their goals right now.

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If you are a business owner, the end of 2018 rapidly coming to a close means that you are reflecting on your end of quarter and end of year numbers and starting to think about what you want to accomplish in 2019.

But, if you run a law firm, you might not be thinking about these things in the right way. In my experience, most lawyers treat themselves as lawyers first and business owners second. I do not wish to downplay the importance of the role of the lawyer or the responsibility and ethical standards that come with that role, but when you are the the owner of a law firm, it is absolutely critical to the success of your practice (and your ability to do all the aforementioned things well) that you treat yourself like a business first. Prioritizing the fact that you are in a business to make money is the way that you continue to stay in business.

One important tool that successful business owners leverage is the power of goal setting. They cast their vision to the future and think about the direction that they want for their business and, to a much larger scale, their life. And the really successful business owners are doing this now in December and not waiting until January. While most people associate January with goal setting, planning, and new beginnings, the people who really slay their year are working on those things right now.

I used the exact framework I am about to share with you to set goals that allowed my business to more than triple its revenue from 2017 to 2018. Not only that, but I also did things more efficiently, with greater purpose, and with far less stress.

The first step in leveraging goal setting to build the business and life that you love is to set the right types of goals. Maybe you’ve heard of the SMART goal setting method, which calls for goals to be specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time bound. Lara Casey of Cultivate What Matters says that the best goals are “SMART goals with heart.” I love this description because it perfectly captures the sentiment that even the best planned goals won’t get executed unless you have a deeper purpose and meaning behind them.

When I set goals, I like to plot them out from broad to narrow, so that I can break each larger goal down into bite-sized, more manageable pieces as I go. Be sure to set goals for yourself in each of the following categories and go in order:

  • Legacy: These are your big picture goals for your life and your business. Think about your overall vision and mission. Ask yourself, “What is the impact that I hope to make on the world?”  
  • Annual: In order to break down your legacy goals into annual goals, ask yourself what needs to be true that isn’t true now to make those things happen. Examples of areas that might need changing, upgrading, or fixing to reach your goals are finances, technology, you, your team, the products or services you offer, your marketing, or your clients.
  • Quarterly: Now, turn your annual goals into quarterly goals by determining which projects on your list need to happen first in order to build momentum and make all the other pieces fall into place.
  • Monthly: On a quarterly basis, break your quarterly goals down further into specific monthly goals.
  • Weekly: On a weekly basis, look at your monthly goals and break them down sequentially into what needs to happen that week.
  • Daily: Finally, on a daily basis, break your weekly goals down into what needs to happen on any given day.

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All the goal setting in the world won’t move your business or life forward if you don’t have systems in place to implement the goals you’ve set and to evaluate your progress along the way. Here are the strategies I use to ensure that my goals become my reality:

  • I block off time on my calendar to revisit my goals on a daily, monthly, quarterly, and annual basis.
  • I practice the “eating the frog” method. This means that I tackle the task I least want to deal with first thing in the morning.
  • When I get stuck on what to do next, I focus on the smallest possible step I can take in the direction of my goal and execute it as soon as possible.

I hope you use this system to bring focus, organization, and growth to your business. If you are intentional about implementing and sticking to this system, I know firsthand that it can change your business and life.

Kerriann Stout is a millennial law school professor and founder of Vinco (a bar exam coaching company) who is generationally trapped between her students and colleagues. Kerriann has helped hundreds of students survive law school and the bar exam with less stress and more confidence. She lives, works, and writes in the northeast. You can reach her by email at info@vincoprep.com.

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